Hey, there! Log in / Register
North End restaurant owners hope enough 311 calls will change City Hall's mind on outdoor patios; similar campaigns by Gaza protesters and anti-vax screamers failed
By adamg on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:47am
Banner across Salem Street. Source.
Some restaurant owners in the North End have thrown up banners in the neighborhood to get visitors to make reservations for outdoor dining via 311, which might confuse out of towners who don't know 311 doesn't handle restaurant reservations.
As first noted by Politico, the banners are, indeed, generating calls and posts to 311, but not all of them back the restaurant owners, such as the one that included the photo above:
Please remove banner. Please inform restaurant owners that diners don’t want to be involved in their petty infighting with the City of Boston. They are killing the North End vibe. We will dine elsewhere!
At issue is City Hall's current North End-only ban on restaurants being allowed to install temporary patios on public sidewalks and curbs.
As the Covid-19 pandemic burst into Boston in 2020, the city allowed restaurants in all neighborhoods to apply to put in such patios. Then the city said it would levy a special fee on North End restaurants because of what it claimed were unique North End costs associated with trash and parking.
Some restaurant owners sued the city and accused Mayor Wu of hating white Italian men. Those owners (several of whom were neither Italian nor men) withdrew their suit.
Then the city announced last year it would not allow any patios on public property at all in the North End. A larger group of restaurant owners filed a new suit, this time accusing Wu of hating Italians in general, regardless of gender, but of also discriminating against the North End as a neighborhood and charging that, among other things, the special street sweeper the city bought with the extra revenue was being used outside the North End.
Some residents, though, have supported the city, saying the last thing the already clogged narrow streets of the neighborhood needs is more clogging.
The 311 campaign is not the first time groups have tried to use it as a protest method rather than a way to report potholes and graffiti.
Last fall, anti-Israel protesters flooded the system with protest messages about Gaza. 311 workers soon began deleting them almost as fast as they came in. In the spring of 2022, people opposed to Covid-19 vaccines and masking requirements tried a similar approach.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Gaza protestors
they wanted outdoor patio dining too?
I just called…
I just called to complain about these whiners fake Italian food.
Close Hanover to cars
put tables on the sidewalk
Wheel Chairs and Baby Carriages
What about people in wheel chairs and pushing baby carriages? You need to think about everyone.
There will be more room for
There will be more room for them if Hanover is pedestrian only. The city of Boston should be ashamed for how pedestrians are treated on Hanover. Suburban drivers get 4 total lanes on Hanover while pedestrians get a sidewalk thats not even wide enough for two people to comfortably walk.
One problem
Getting in to buildings means that people need to be able to get up on the curbing. Montreal has dealt with this by deploying portable ramps at locations along the closed streets.
They cant
Because of the firehouse. Or I suspect they would. It would be a great street to completely close off.
Better response times
The fire house would have better response times if there wasn’t the crazy traffic. Pedestrians can get out of the way easier.
As a North End pedestrian, I
As a North End pedestrian, I say please do not put tables on the sidewalks. They are hard enough to navigate as it is. Also, please do not put tables on Hanover Street either. Our fire station is there, remember? And if you think restaurant paraphernalia can be moved quickly and easily for emergency vehicles, it can't. If you doubt this, try obstructing the fire station in your own neighborhood and let us know how it works out. I'm not sure why so many people think we should be put at risk just so they can sit in the gutter and eat Sysco cuisine. Last summer we had at least 15 outdoor dining venues and will probably have as many this summer. Why is that not enough? Is there any comparable neighborhood which has more?
The fire station is already
The fire station is already obstructed by people in SUVs. You put the tables on the sidewalk or edge of the road and you make the street for pedestrians and the few times a day the fire trucks go down there they drive down the middle. Pedestrians can quickly get out of the way of fire trucks, big dumb vehicles who should never have been allowed in the North End cannot get of the way quickly.
311 also doesn't handle
311 also doesn't handle policy discussions. It's for potholes. If you want to advocate for a policy change, contact the relevant city officials directly.
Oh, look at that: they found
yet another way to make me not want to give them any of my business.
Right?
I can open a can of pasta sauce on my own, at home. No need to pay their staff to do it for me.
Sure
Like you can afford to eat out. You live in your mom's basement
You really don't know
You really don't know who MC JB Slim is do you....
Oh boy
Have you ever got the wrong tiger by the tail.
I've been known to have a meal or two out,
even at sub-mediocre North End Italian-American restaurants.
And like most anonymous nobodies here, you sound like someone who knows a lot about living in their mother's basement.
Monica’s espresso martini’s
Are about as good as they get.
Enjoy your Big Mac at your local eatery.
"espresso martini's[sic]"
"espresso martini's[sic]" are not cuisine.
The Monica'ses were among the better of the
North End's quasi-Italian eateries, in my opinion.
I stopped giving them my business when they outed themselves as racists with no concern for the health of their staff or customers, or any consideration of how the people that actually live in the North End feel about outdoor dining on its main drags.
Ah yes
McDonalds or Monicas. No in between. No choices other than fast food or fascist food.
You need to get out of your car more. Walk around, find out what your other options are.
Espresso "Martinis"
Espresso "martinis" are not a valid determinant of culinary function. They are not martinis, not espresso, and very likely not found in Italy.
Politico reports that, in
Politico reports that, in response to this campaign, residents are now calling 311 to express their support for the Mayor's policy on outdoor dining in the North End. (It's not banned.) Anyone who is tired of this group of greedy, loudmouth, MAGA antivaxxers should do the same.mchhal
Right
North End restaurants that have access to privately owned spaces can use those for patios. And many restaurants have those large window storefronts that can be rolled up or folded to basically bring the outside into the restaurants (granted, not exactly the same as a patio where you can get even more lungfuls of exhaust fumes on Hanover ...).
What is banned is putting patios on public sidewalks or in parking spaces in the street - which is allowed, with a permit, in other neighborhoods.
Let's not forget why, too
The people who actually live in these areas do not want the tourist traps to dominate their environment more than they already do.
Much easier to launch racist and sexist tantrums than to actually talk to your neighbors!
Tha's some some serious
Tha's some some serious privilege at work in the North End.
Hanging banners across a street ...
Doesn't that require City approval?
Get'em, Michelle!
She Won’t.
The banner isn’t a 20 year old college student exercising political speech.
I’m Sorry. That Was Mean.
How about the banner won’t come down because it’s way above her head, just like the position of mayor.
Okay
How would Mayor John Costello do better?
They can't fit it
Plain and simple. The neighborhood layout was built for horses & carriages. It's unfortunate, but they need to move on. It's not a right / it wasn't even 'a thing' prior to COVID.
Thats why cars should be
Thats why cars should be banned from much of the North End. The neighborhood wasn't designed for them and driving is not a "right".
So what's the truth about
So what's the truth about local support other than restaurants owners and their backers? How much is "Some residents, though, have supported the city..." and Isn't there a residents committee or something that weigh's in on a lot of neighborhood issues, where to they stand?
It's a small group of people
It's a small group of people who own multiple establishments and are suing the City with wild claims of discrimination. One of the plaintiffs owns at least 8 places and is in the process of acquiring more. Another just paid $7 million for a building on Hanover Street to house yet another restaurant. They have plenty of money and have hired a well-known PR firm to air their grievances. That's why you see stories about their sorrows popping up everywhere. Most residents do not support them and wish they would shut up. From what I hear, most of the other restaurant owners feel the same.
The current federal lawsuit
The complaint, which you can read in its entirety here, makes a big deal opposition to the sidewalk patios from the North End Waterfront Residents Association - and claims it's all driven by members living along the (non-North End) waterfront, so they should butt out.
There's another neighborhood group, the North End Waterfront Neighborhood Council, which used to just be the North End Neighborhood Council, but I don't know if they've taken a position. Anybody?
NEWRA (residents association)
NEWRA (residents association) and NEWNC (neighborhood council) co-sponsored a public meeting on the issue several years ago but neither has taken a formal vote on it. Both groups have members who live in the middle of the neighborhood and on its edges. The area is only about one-third of a square mile and Hanover Street is the "Main Street" for everyone so most people are impacted in some way. Local restaurants can use public sidewalk space for outdoor dining if there is sufficient footage. The Sail Loft on Atlantic Avenue received permission for this with the support of both groups. I think a few more are in the works. This is not the burning issue that the local media makes it out to be.
I am waiting
I am waiting to hear from the Judean People's Front.
They're kind of busy this year
with all the protests and stuff ...
The JPF? What a bunch of splitters!
Everyone knows that the People’s Front of Judea are the real deal!
Mayor Wu & North End Restaurant Owners
I wish there was a way for all of them to lose.
Maybe the restaurant owners
Maybe the restaurant owners and their patrons should wear keffiyeh scarves and covid masks while spray painting phrases about freedom of speech and oppression on the sidewalks? From the Charles River to the Atlantic Sea, Outdoor dining for you and me!
There are people to feel bad for in all this…
I feel bad for one group in all this: the back of house staff who get dragged to every press conference by the restaurant owners to be extras in their narrative.
There are many restaurants in Boston
Why do a group of folks who apparently were doing very nicely before Covid need to spend so much money, create so much bad will and destroy their reputation throughout the city to bring in more money? And communicate to the city as a whole to avoid them - and worse, to avoid all North End businesses, since their ugliness now covers all North End businesses with a foul stench.
This is no longer a rational complaint. This is now vendetta. Personal, vicious and ugly. And why? There are two obvious reasons. The mayor is neither "white," as Trump and the restaurant owners would accept, nor is the mayor male.
These stronzo can't stand the idea that a woman (bad enough, but they have to be modern and accept that unpleasantness), but also looks like somebody from a part of the world that to them is sub-human can be mayor. And worse, they can't make her kiss their collective ring.
The racism and sexism and Trumpian bankruptcy in this ugliness is obvious.
Welcome to Boston Politics, 2025
Fortunately, this is mostly the province of some loud mouthed cranks, but yeah, it's quite ugly.
Impressed by the bias here
I knew the audience here tilted progressive but I didn't realize everybody was so in the tank for Wu.
Not allowing outdoor dining here reeks of political payback. The city has been eagerly ripping up asphalt and removing street parking all over the city, and nobody but delivery drivers has any business driving through the north end anyway.
The restarateurs here may have gone out of their way to earn their spot on Wu's $#@! list but dictatorial power plays set a bad precedent. Some day an Ed Flynn or Erin Murphy type will win and then y'all will be screaming for the rule of law. Be consistent!
lol
you think people here like the mayor?
You see political payback; I see
common sense. The North End is physically different from other neighborhoods that are allowed more outdoor dining.
All you have to do to see it is walk around them all — pick any other Boston neighborhood for conparison — during prime time dining hours. It’s really not hard to figure out.
You really think if Bay Village had 80 restaurants it would get special treatment on outdoor dining because it voted more heavily for Wu? Please.
No, I think Bay Village would
No, I think Bay Village would be allowed more outdoor dining because it didn’t pick a huge, public, and kind of bratty fight with the mayor, not because of voting.
The North End survived the Great Experiment of anything-goes outdoor dining mostly intact. Sure, it’s messy, but it’s the city, you want manicured perfection go move to Belmont.
Besides, delete the 80 restaurants from the North End, and what are you left with? Two social clubs whose membership won’t see 2030 and a bunch of condos filled with Tuckers and Maddies who summer on the islands? It’s one of the last neighborhoods in the city that retains even a whiff of character that wasn’t designed yesterday by some investment group. Is the food mid? Sure, but so are 90% of the “serious” restaurants in this city, and at least a lot of north end places are at a slightly more accessible price point, all of which is maybe why it’s swamped with people during high season. The City should be working to accommodate it and help restaurants there be more successful, as they should in every other neighborhood too.
You're repeating the same argument, that Wu's
action is politically motivated. I specifically used the Bay Village example because it also has a cramped, pre-automobile street layout where sidewalk / parking space patios would cause similar problems for pedestrians and public safety, and thus would earn similar limitations to the North End's.
You continue to ignore the obvious physical limitations here. Your Occam's Razor is badly in need of sharpening.
Um
You're talking about the North End? Yeah, that ship sailed years ago.
Perfectly reasonable way to do this
Just close down Hanover Street to cars like it would be if it were the main commercial street through any fucking city in actual Italy. Then put the tables there. Put in some nice pavers. Plenty of room for pedestrians and tables.
I mean, that won't work because parking, obviously.
Put in some "nice pavers" and
Put in some "nice pavers" and turn Hanover Street into the Piazza Navona? Hilarious! Since we are stating the obvious, the North End is not a city (i/3 of a square mile, remember?) and it is not in "actual Italy." And parking is an issue, yes, but it is only one of many.
Exactly. To say that outdoor
Exactly. To say that outdoor dining is not physically possible on Hanover St is BS and Mayor Wu knows it. There are ways it can be done.
The issue here is not logistical. It's political.
feels like we are beginning to lose the plot here
the mayor hasn’t said it’s impossible, just that there would be special fees for outdoor dining in certain neighborhoods
edit: in my winter avoidance of all north end related news, i missed that there is now an outright ban on outdoor dining.
"political"
If by "political" you mean that the mayor would have to ask the city as a whole to agree to creating special and expensive infrastructure for the North End (including relocating a fire station), then yeah, it's...uh..."political".