North End restaurants go another round with Wu over outdoor dining
Slam mayor for playing ‘political bingo,’ double-down on discrimination claims
The battle between North End restaurant owners and the Wu administration over outdoor dining escalated again on Friday, when angry restaurateurs amended a federal lawsuit to include another 100 pages of grievances about “retaliatory” measures they say City Hall launched against them.
Jorge Mendoza-Iturralde — owner of Vinoteca di Monica and one of the business owners involved in the suit — led the speeches at a morning press conference at the Paul Revere Mall, skewering Boston Mayor Michelle Wu for again banning alfresco tables for the neighborhood’s 90some restaurants this summer.
“Mayor Wu plays political bingo,” Mendoza said, standing beside a makeshift outdoor dining table with a black tablecloth, plates, and two people pretending to eat dinner. “Her policies have already put small businesses out of business.”
“[Wu] uses our tax dollar to defend herself,” he continued. “She seems to have very deep pockets when she plays with other people’s money.”
The original lawsuit, filed in January, took issue with the limitations on outdoor seating in the North End in 2023; the impact fees the city charged businesses there in 2022; and a smattering of complaints about Wu’s alleged “anti-Italian” behavior. (It closely mimicked allegations in an earlier complaint that the restaurants backed out of in June.)
The amended filing demands further compensation for losses that the 21 restaurants incurred from the $7,500 annual fee and from two seasons without streetside tables.
The North End is the only neighborhood where the city has been so restrictive on outdoor dining, pointing in part to the density of restaurants there and complaints from residents. But some restaurant owners there say they’re being singled out.
“We will not accept anything less than any other neighborhood has,” said Carla Agrippino Gomes, owner of Antico Forno on Salem Street. “This starts today because as you can see, we are all united and we are fed up and we are not going to take this anymore.”
A second summer sans outdoor dining will cause North End restaurants to “to incur massive loss of revenue and income,” the lawsuit says. “It will steer patrons who prefer to dine outdoors away from the North End,” giving other restaurants “an unfair competitive advantage.”
When Wu in February announced that North End restaurants would be again barred from outdoor seating, she leaned on the city’s conversations with a small group of appointed residents and restaurant owners on the North End Outdoor Dining Task Force. City officials also released a letter that it ultimately intends to rework the neighborhood’s alfresco guidelines based on the group’s suggestions, but was unable to craft them in time for this year.
Aggrieved restaurateurs snapped back in the lawsuit, claiming that the task force was nothing more than a “charade” and “a dog and pony show.” In fact, the amended complaint says that most members “firmly and unequivocally supported the resumption of on-street outdoor dining.” At Friday’s press conference, Mendoza said the task force “was a complete sham.”
Two members of the task force, who declined to share their names out of fear of retaliation, refuted that assertion when reached on Friday and added that the task force never reached a consensus on how to move forward.
At a breakfast celebrating International Women’s Day Friday, Wu echoed her earlier sentiments about outdoor dining in the North End. The debate, she said, requires balancing the opinions of residents with the needs of businesses.
“We need a targeted solution,” she said, “and we’re not there.”