North End restaurateurs’ dispute with Mayor Wu is about more than outdoor dining
Holy cannoli. The bitter fight between Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and a group of North End restaurant owners rages on, with little hope of a happy ending over a cup of cappuccino at an outdoor table on Hanover Street.
In January, the owners of 21 Italian restaurants filed a civil lawsuit in federal court, arguing that the mayor’s decision to ban on-street dining in the North End is unfair and showed bias toward people of Italian descent. Last week, the city filed a motion to dismiss, saying the ban does not show antiItalian bias because it treats all restaurants located within the North End the same way and does not target businesses “having Italian ethnicity and/or Italian national origin.”
But if it’s not anti-Italian bias, it does seem like bias against businesses in one specific Boston neighborhood, since the mayor’s on-street dining ban applies only to the North End. “I’m not sure if there’s a constitutional right to be feeding people on your sidewalk,” said Larry DiCara, a former city councilor and longtime chronicler of Boston political history, as well as the history of the city’s Italian Americans. “But from this observer, it appears the North End is being treated differently than everyone else. “
DiCara also said he doesn’t understand how the battle got so ugly. “If I were mayor, I’d figure out a way to make it work,” he said in an interview. “It’s
At a time when Boston faces a range of challenges, this seems like a fight that Wu doesn’t need.
not a good use of the legal system.”
City officials insist the on-street dining ban is triggered by issues unique to the North End, from the high density of restaurants and narrow sidewalks to traffic, parking, trash, and rats. The restaurant owners offer data to rebut all those arguments. But I think this fight is about something more than the width of North End sidewalks versus those in other neighborhoods. It’s about neighborhood power — and who has it in Wu’s Boston and who doesn’t. A similar fight over who has clout with City Hall can be seen in the battle over Wu’s plan to renovate White Stadium in partnership with a professional women’s soccer team, over the objections of some Franklin Park neighbors.
In the North End neighborhood battle, power does not seem to lie with the loud, raucous, and more politically conservative group of restaurant owners who filed suit against the city. It is likely to be found with those residents associated with the North End/Waterfront Residents Association, which, according to its website, “works with residents and city agencies to enhance and preserve this historic Boston neighborhood” — and which, according to the complaint filed by the restauranteurs, is a “politically powerful community organization that had openly opposed the North End restaurants and pressed for the ban.”
NEWRA has never taken an official vote on an outdoor dining ban. But during a conversation I had with two members who did not want to be named, and who said they were speaking for themselves, it was clear that they are not fans of outdoor dining in the North End or of these restaurant owners, who one described as “bullies.” Meanwhile, if you run the names of current NEWRA board members through the database at the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, you will find political contributions to Wu.
Like all mayors, Wu is making a political calculation about who is important and whose needs should be addressed. In this case, there also seems to be a little extra spice in Wu’s sauce. For example, at last year’s St. Patrick’s Day breakfast, Wu joked about the original lawsuit filed by the restaurant owners in which they claimed they were intentionally discriminated against because they are white and have Italian heritage. As reported by boston.com, Wu told the breakfast attendees, the North End has always had “a really special place in my heart” because it was the site of many firsts, including where she was served her first subpoena. “When they gave it to me, I said, ‘What is this? I thought I ordered the veal milanese,’ and they said, ‘You did, but instead, we’re giving you the vaffanculo,’ ” she added, mentioning the Italian slang for “f— off.”
Funny to some, but not forgotten by those restaurant owners. They dropped last year’s suit but filed a new one this year. They are not backing down now. “We just want what everyone else has,” Carla Gomes, owner of Terramia Ristorante and Antico Forno, told me. Is there any hope for compromise? Gomes said she doesn’t know what that could be. “The mayor has never sat down with us,” she said. A spokesperson for Wu said a lunch was scheduled, but the lawsuit was filed before it could take place.
At a time when Boston faces a range of challenges, this seems like a fight that Wu doesn’t need. No matter what happens with the lawsuit, the agita spurred in the North End by her outdoor dining ban isn’t going away.