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North End restaurants not following Covid-19 requirements? Licensing Board to hold emergency hearing
By adamg on Tue, 06/23/2020 - 11:12am
The Boston Licensing Board has scheduled an emergency hearing for tomorrow on "the numerous complaints" both the board and ISD have gotten about lack of compliance with state requirements for social distancing, facial coverings and sanitizing and with city regulations allowing restaurants to put seats on parking spaces out front during the current state of emergency.
The board is requiring the managers of every single restaurant in the neighborhood to show their faces or screen names at a Zoomed meeting that starts at 2 p.m; failure to do so could mean having their right to expanded outdoor seating revoked or possibly, the board says, in all capital letters: "POTENTIAL ADDITIONAL DISCIPLINARY ACTION REGARDING ANY LICENSE ISSUED BY THE BOARD OR ISD."
Although the focus of the hearing is possible non-compliance with regulations aimed at keeping the crowded restaurant streets of the restaurant-heavy neighborhood from becoming coronavirus superspreaders, the board says it's also going to consider reports of people bringing their dogs with them to eat and then lighting up cigarettes or cigars.
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Comments
This feels like an
This feels like an underhanded tactic by people who don't support the outdoor dining, but I guess we'll see.
they arent doing 6 ft distancing.
You could clearly see in photos of the outdoor seating arrangements.
6 feet
North End restaurants are completely disregarding the 6 foot separation of tables. I’m really glad ISD is getting involved. The situation is dangerous for the residents that have to be in a neighborhood that is now a dining destination for the state. So many people are coming in, all rules for safety have to be enforced!
Disregarding the 6-foot separation of tables--irresponsible,
and dangerous, to boot. The restaurants in Boston's North End whose owners/workers are disregarding the 6-foot separation of tables, social distancing of people, and the requirement that all people who enter these restaurants wear masks is setting a dangerous precedent, first because it puts everybody, including restaurant workers, patrons and neighborhood residents, as well as their friends, family and neighbors at risk, and secondly, it could very well set the Bay State back, regarding progress in stemming the spread of Covid-19.
I believe that the restaurant owners/workers alike who wantonly disregard the 6-foot separation of tables should be forced to comply with the rules of face coverings and social distancing, or to go out of business, at least until they're ready to comply with the rules.
Make the patios bigger, then
if there isn't enough room now to keep the separation in place.
It's also on the customers
If the customers don't care or aren't turned off by the lack of distancing, that's notable too. If restaurant patrons got mad and left when they see crowding, the restaurants would be less inclined to push the limits. But from what I've seen the people going out to eat don't think it's a problem.
Basically, if you think a restaurant is unsafe, just leave. If it becomes crowded while you're there, just leave without paying and tell them you'll return to pay your bill when they enforce the distancing. (Invite them to call the police.)
Really, this can't be entirely on businesses. If the public doesn't care, neither will business owners. MA's infection levels haven't been increasing as the state reopens and lots of people are using that as their own guide for when it's safe to go out.
This approach treats
This approach treats customers and business owners as the only stakeholders. How are neighbors, for example, supposed to participate in this feedback loop? They can't; this is why market forces cannot be relied upon to enforce regulations which often exist to protect entities that aren't directly involved at the point money changes hands, and why the state specifically has told people to report concerns and violations to ISD.
"Basically, if you think a
"Basically, if you think a restaurant is unsafe, just leave."
Pah, this kind of personal responsibility has no place in a place like Massachusetts. The government has to have rules for everything.
Outside eating
Tried of all this stuff. Do what i have been doing - take my food and a bottle of wine and going to the park and enjoying Summer. Relax.
What park do you go to with a
What park do you go to with a bottle of wine? Sounds perfect! In Boston you'd get arrested.
People drink in parks all the
People drink in parks all the time and you didn’t notice because it’s not a big deal so maybe relax.
Says a white person
A good excuse for police to arrest you if you’re not. Especially in the North End
You misread my comment
You misread my comment Kinopio. I'd love sit down on the grass in a park and enjoy a glass of wine on the weekend, but it's illegal. I only see people smoking weed in Boston parks. So again, name these Boston parks where your average worker can have a glass of wine or a beer after work or on the weekends without someone calling the cops? I'm waiting.
That’s what Dunkin Donuts
That’s what Dunkin Donuts cups are for. I am in my sixties I fall under the radar.
Haven't a few towns around
Haven't a few towns around here relaxed those rules? Believe Needham is among them
Or
There are many people who live directly across, above, and next to these restaurants and don't want their densely populated neighborhood to become a hotspot.
Lifelong resident here, we
Lifelong resident here, we dont care.
Who's "we"?
Not every North Ender is a caricature, ActualPerson.
We shall see
Let's see what the evidence actually says, but watching certain North End restaurant owners on TV interviews during the full shut down I sensed big "let us do whatever we want" vibes. They were all pushing for full, unrestricted opening immediately at a time when MA still had one of the highest new infection rates in the country.
It is not easy running a restaurant; it's less easy now. The biggest motivation for these restaurants is to not get shut down. I promise that these new COVID guidelines and regulations will not be followed without oversight and enforcement.
Yep
"My family has been doing this for 47 years and [huge leap of internal logic] I don't know why some pencil pusher with a public health degrees should be able to tell ME how to run MY restaurant."
Make the patios bigger?
Maybe expand them around corners and close off side streets to make more room, to ease the crowding?
Why Hanover and Salem Sts aren't fully closed
Seems dumb to me.
I know fire trucks need to get places but keeping Hanover Street in two directions is absurd. One lane with a cop on each end to let the fire truck through, all others, take other streets.
Cutting the BPD overtime
Cutting the BPD overtime budget, except we need 48 hours of OT per day to keep Hanover Street closed to all but emergency vehicles.
Why then does it have to be a
Why then does it have to be a cop making overtime to direct traffic? Any idiot could do that job just as well, for less. Probably better in fact, because a regular old idiot would be doing it to put bread on the table and not just to fill their gravy boat. Hell, you could probably even tell them not to look at their phone while they direct traffic.
Well, John said it needed to
Well, John said it needed to be a cop at each end and there's no way you are going to be dedicating two cops on their regular shifts 24/7 to that post indefinitely.
The problem is not what John
The problem is not what John said or your math, it's the fact that we pay cops overtime to mind traffic instead of making it a normal job for regular people. This is why we can't have nice things.
And many times, in a city as
And many times, in a city as big and busy as Boston, those cops didn't chose to take the overtime. Their boss told them at the end of their shift, or called them at home and said "GUESS WHAT, you get extra work!"
Overtime is great in any job, as long as you actually want to be putting in that time. Once it's forced on you, the extra cash is not that appealing.
So, you agree with me that
So, you agree with me that somebody else besides cops needs to be directing traffic
Cops love OT
Because from every cop I know, I've heard detail work is the easiest thing ever to make OT. They're mostly sitting in their cruiser, or occasionally out on the street. This is why there are BPD officers who took home another salary in OT last (and probably every) fiscal year.
Source:
https://twitter.com/lauren_marietta/status/1269015797436907521
Different pay rate
Overtime is forced, details are voluntary.
Detail work isn't OT. It's
Detail work isn't OT. It's paid by the contractor or builder or utility company or whomever, not a part of the overtime budget.
That's something to look into, but
is that realistically possible?
Of course, it is possible.
Of course, it is possible. Hanover Street won't literally crumble into the ground if cars only travel in one direction. Sure, drivers will be inconvenienced, but like... remember the Big Dig?
maybe
But also have to allow construction/contractors working on all those condos and restaurants and the utility work in the street, and the vans that take seniors and the disabled to and from the health center on Hanover, and then of course, each and every restaurant gets a dairy delivery, meat, dry goods, fruits and veg, beer and liquor, refrigeration service, beer taps, etc. it adds up. If you restricted deliveries to before noon, say, that could help. Designate some curb space along each block for contractors and others with permits for that particular day. The only real traffic you could keep out are tourists (not many right now), residents (very low car ownership) and, wait for it...RESTAURANT PATRONS. If they could be taught to park in the relatively empty garages nearby, enticed with validated discounts perhaps, walk to Hanover, sit at a table in the now vacant street parking. voila! Or rather, ecco!
Ancient Italians
In Rome they only allowed ox carts in the city, for deliveries, at night.
That's an interesting idea,
That's an interesting idea, but I don't think it will really help, as not much traffic is made up of ox carts anymore.
The North End
Wasn't always home to a large grouping of Italians. or 'Little Italy'.
Would this work?
- Restaurant tables allowed on the existing sidewalk and in the parking spaces. Tables that are on the sidewalk must be moved out of the way after restaurant closing to allow pedestrian access during deliveries (tables in the parking spaces may remain)
- Pedestrian walkway in the middle of the street where the travel lanes are located. ADA compliance may be OK as long as there are curb cuts on either end? Pedestrians can step aside for emergency vehicles, and for vans for the elderly/disabled.
- Deliveries in the middle of the street before noon (pedestrians use the cleared sidewalks).
- Contractors are given designated spaces away from the closed portion of the streets, or possibly designated spaces
One wrinkle is emergency vehicle access during deliveries, though I'm not sure how that works currently.
The spaces are large enough, thank you.
Many of the restaurants have squeezed more tables outside than they ever had in their restaurants. This includes around multiple corners.
Restaurants have been granted:
- street space,
- space in a public park (Cutillo Park)
- North Square - the nations OLDEST public square. (The city just spent millions rehabbing this public space for the public use, now it is largely unavailable to the public after 12 noon.)
- outdoor dining until 10:30/11:30 weekdays/ weekends (yes the listed time is 10/11 but people can be in seats til the later time) with no food requrement, ie these are outdoor bars in residential neighborhoods at those times.
The entire reason these places were granted this widescale privatization of public space with ZERO community input was to mitigate the pandemic restrictions, not see it as a payday/space grab.
Instead of embracing the public health rules that allowed this expansion, restaurants have:
- staff serving food refusing to wear masks (they are nearby/accessible, but not worn)
- tables of people sitting shoulder to shoulder, definitely no plexiglas.
- permitted unmasked groups to crowd sidewalks while waiting for tables
- narrowed the already too-small sidewalks by placing monstrous cantilevered umbrellas on the sidewalk. (They don't want give up any of their allocated space, but are happy to take it from pedestrians - at least 4 restaurants have done this).
Strega has 4 couches in the street for god's sake. Of course the restaurants want this to be repeated next year. It is completely absurd.
Put the pedestrians in the street, take the cars off the street
Yes, this makes the sidewalks too small, but if you remove car traffic from the street, the pedestrians can walk there instead.
I'm OK with the restaurants trying to make up for lost time. If this experiment is successful in the North End, it can be replicated in other neighborhoods throughout the city and suburbs. We're trying a version of it in Davis Square now, and I've also seen it in Winchester Center.
Moody Street
It's absolutely possible! Waltham closed Moody Street to allow outdoor dining and retail. The street usually has 15,000+ vehicles travel down it daily, which I would wager is far more than Hanover.
Waltham preserved a 15' fire lane down the center of the street with removable cones and steel barricades.
yeah, I want my taxes to help
yeah, I want my taxes to help fund a private business.
I have some bad news for you
I have some bad news for you then...
I just want to point out if
I just want to point out if you go to Chinatown and go to North End, you will see a noticeable difference in Mask usage. Both in amount in what proportion you see that are wearing and how well everyone is properly wearing it.
Not trying to hate or be a Karen here. Obviously you can't wear and eat at the same time. And fortunately the data does say outside matters a lot in preventing spread, so the less-than-ideal execution is still not spreading much or at least too few to detect and thus fuel actual growth.
Just saying there's room for improvement. The better everyone follow and execute the recommended practices, the faster we bring these cases down. I think we all want that.
Tre Monte is doing it right.
Some of the others are boxed in with space restrictions but appear to be trying their best. Sometimes Alice Kravitz can't help herself.
Alice??
Don't you mean Gladys aka Happy Bottom...
There needs to be punitive action.
Happy that the City's Inspectional Services and the Licensing Board may take some action.
Can not Governor Baker use some of his powers at the State House? Mandatory "advisories" are nice and all that, but without enforcement there will be more flagrant violations.
No need to quote the latest news on increasing COVID19 cases among younger people, many of whom are asymptomatic. That reality is being ignored in too many corners of Boston.
The reckless will kill more of us.
No need for punitive actions
Just expand the seating area enough so that the restaurants can meet demand and still maintain proper distance between tables.
"just add a lane to the street and less traffic!"
only that doesn't actually reduce traffic.
same principle.
giving them more space won't meet some inelastic finite "demand".
people need to learn limits exist for a reason and they (customers and restaurants both) are not special.
Can't imagine why people wouldn't want to get out in the streets
Who's kidding who on "the need" for social distancing? Especially after the widespread rioting of May 31 led to no uptick of significance? While every life matters, we know that the mortality rate for Covid is essentially non-existent for healthy people under 60. Why are all age groups still being restricted while
looterspeaceful protesters are encouarged? Shocking TV news video of the city being destroyed showed no separation of the suspects on the streets or inside the burglarized stores as they were looted. The state is facing an unimaginable budget deficit that they willingly admit is $6B but is likely triple that. There will be little state aid to cities and towns with lottery sales non-existent for 3-4 months at the closed stores, bars and restaurants. It will take 20+ years for Boston to return to 2019 economic and quality of life standards (if ever) and Marty's City Hall is worried about social distancing? Ha!Who reads this stuff?
You can make the same incoherent and incorrect points in far fewer words and we’d all get the same out of it.
You sure filled that bingo card
Way to go, Fish! You got:
...and all in one post.
You're someone with a room temperature IQ who thinks everyone else is just a little bit stupider than he is. I don't know how to break it to you, Fish, but most people are a lot smarter and a lot more honest and ethical than you are. You have all the charm of a shoe scraping. Go fester elsewhere.
Impressive that Boston's
Impressive that Boston's downtown restaurants are overflowing with patrons coming from all over the region after the city was "destroyed" by "riots". Sounds like a bleak economic future to me!
Dogs in a dining area are worse than masks
There, I said it.
The city had 3 months to put
The city had 3 months to put out guidelines, require plans be submitted, review them and approve them.
They wasted that time.
Instead everyone acted like they had 24 hours to "figure it out" and are shocked that it didnt go smoothly