End the fight over North End restaurants
The fight between the Wu administration and a group of restaurant owners in the North End over whether to allow outdoor dining on the neighborhood’s streets has dragged on for far too long. Basta! Before summer, when droves of tourists cram the North End’s narrow streets foraging for cannoli and pasta, the two sides ought to strike a deal that revives on-street dining but with reasonable limits to protect the neighborhood.
Such a deal is unlikely to completely satisfy the restaurant owners, who want the same generous access to street space that restaurants in the rest of the city get. But it makes sense to treat the North End differently, for the simple reason that the neighborhood is different: There are simply too many restaurants, packed too closely together, to operate under the same system as other parts of the city.
But those unique circumstances are reasons to tailor specific street dining rules for the North End — not a justification to prevent on-street dining completely.
The dispute stems from the early days of the pandemic, when public health mandates prohibited indoor dining. As an emergency measure to help restaurants survive — and provide some relief for residents desperate to get out of the house — former Mayor Marty Walsh allowed restaurants to set up outdoor tables on street parking spaces. They were, in effect, patios on city property, a lifesaver for restaurants that didn’t have their own outside seating. The widely praised program was popular with both restaurateurs and diners, and the impact on parking was minimal.
With some modifications, that arrangement has now become permanent. In 2024, the city is again allowing qualifying restaurants in most of the city to claim a parking space (they have to pay a fee of up to $399 a month).
But the story in the North End has been different. Initially, in 2020 and 2021, the roughly 95 restaurants in the North End had the same opportunities as those in the rest of the city. Dozens participated. But some North End residents complained about noise, garbage, traffic, and other nuisances they said street dining had exacerbated. The city first limited on-street dining and charged restaurants extra fees in 2022 (fees that were higher than in other areas) and then banned it outright.
Restaurant owners in the North End feel singled out and say the complaints are unfair or exaggerated. But the over-the-top response of some restauranteurs hasn’t helped their case. They have accused the mayor of discriminating against them because they are of Italian descent. Some of them have also aligned with anti-vax protesters who picketed Mayor Michelle Wu’s house.
Still, if Wu didn’t think it was a problem for climate protesters to get arrested outside Charlie Baker’s house in 2021, she surely can’t hold it against the restaurant owners that some of them legally protested outside hers. And if the North End owners may lack polish, that’s sometimes the nature of the kind of mom-and-pop businesses the city claims to value.
So what would a viable compromise look like? We’re still partial to the idea of shutting down Hanover Street to car traffic, maybe just on peak summer weekends, which could create a nice European ambiance and provide plenty of outdoor dining space. The city could also go back to the old rules but make restaurants shut down their outdoor tables earlier. The majority of a task force the city formed to look into outdoor dining in the North End offered a list of other recommendations, including placing more trash barrels, hiring crossing guards, and keeping rideshare vehicles off Hanover Street. Drawing from all those ideas, it should be possible to work out a deal.
The exact details of a compromise, though, are less important than that an agreement be reached and the court battles end. From the city’s perspective, it’s no doubt difficult to negotiate with a group that’s also suing you. But North End restaurants are an important part of the city’s tourist appeal. Boston residents deserve fun places to dine, too. Restaurateurs shouldn’t expect outdoor dining in the North End to look the same as elsewhere in the city — but the city ought to be able to offer a better program than nothing.