North End restaurant owners revive charge the mayor hates Italians in new suit over pandemic-related patio fees and bans

The owners of 21 North End restaurants and the North End Chamber of Commerce yesterday sued the city over its 2022 fees for restaurants in the neighborhood that wanted to use public sidewalks and streets for patio seating - and its ban on such patios last year - alleging the Wu administration and a local residents' groups hate Italians for some reason.

The 168-page complaint, filed in US District Court in Boston, echos similar complaints raised in an earlier suit by the owners of five North End restaurants, which they withdrew earlier this year, but adds the North End/Waterfront Residents Association to its list of people who, for some reason, want to crush the very life out of the North End's Italian restaurants, in a move they charge has forced them to lay off workers and led to the decline of the North End as a tourist destination.

The ban was discriminatory because it treated Italian American restaurants differently than similarly situated restaurants in other parts of Boston. The ban also was facially discriminatory because it targeted a white ethnic group for disparate treatment and was not keyed to a legitimate state interest. ...

The City's policies, which are contrary to law, have tarnished its image, its culture, and its sense of citywide community by discriminating against Italian American citizens who own and operate most of the North End's restaurants. The reputational damage to the City is both immense and ironic, as the City's policies clash with a host of anti-discrimination policies and laws on its books.

Part of their proof of the mayor's Italian hatred beyond the patio issue:

On October 6, 2022, days before Columbus Day, Mayor Wu issued a Proclamation that October 10, 2022 - Columbus Day - would now be celebrated in Boston as Indigenous Peoples' Day. While the celebration of a new City holiday to recognize an ethnic group is commendable, the Mayor decided the City's new holiday would be celebrated in Boston on the same day as the only longstanding federal Italian holiday. The Mayor easily could have chosen one of hundreds of other days of the year on which Bostonians could celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day but intentionally chose Columbus Day and made her announcement four days before Columbus Day. Many North End Italian Americans, including the plaintiffs, considered the Mayor's act as a deliberate ethnic affront meant to overshadow or symbolically replace the only federal Italian holiday.

Plus, there was Wu's "problems that are expensive, disruptive and white," crack at the 2022 St. Patrick's Day breakfast, an event at which Boston's elected officials have been cracking bad jokes for decades.

The suit alleges that Wu and her minions tightly controlled news of the impending $7,500 North End-only fee and then ban - to the point of excluding angry restaurant owners from a press conference at which she announced the fee - rather than letting North End restaurant owners and their supporters in the neighborhood have their say, and that they ignored repeated requests from the neighborhood for input into the proposal.

The restaurant owners also allege that money from the 2022 fee - which city officials said was necessary because of the unique sanitation, parking and policing issues in the tightly packed North End - went to buying a $552,000 battery-powered street sweeper, which would be used all over Boston, not just in the North End. Why, the city's own Public Works Department tweeted a photo of it sweeping Causeway Street one night..

It got even worse as the city was getting ready to announce a ban on the use of public spaces for patios in the North End for 2023, the suit alleges:

Importantly, the process by which the City made its decision was highly irregular, unfair and the product of political favoritism. The City gave no advance notice to the plaintiffs that it was investigating or even contemplating the ban. The City did not organize or hold a single public meeting to collect comments or opinions on the ban. The City afforded no process or opportunity by which the North End restaurant owners could present evidence and advance arguments in support of their position. And the City provided no process to appeal or challenge the imposition of the ban.

By contrast, the City provided biased and favored treatment to NEWRA, which it knew was antagonistic to the North End restaurants. It maintained continuous communication with NEWRA’s leadership, engaged in back-channel decision making with NEWRA, and even hosted private meetings with NEWRA leaders at City Hall.

The suit alleges that NEWRA is only a small group of people and mainly represents ultra-rich people living in luxury condos along the downtown side of the waterfront, not the family-oriented "tight-knit bonds between generations of neighbors" - Italian-American neighbors - that represents life in the North End.

Numerous NEWRA members, including members of its leadership, are not Italian Americans. Some reside in waterfront luxury condominiums along Commercial Street. Although several influential NEWRA members have been largely unaffected by the City’s outdoor dining program, they have steadfastly opposed the concept of outdoor dining in the North End.

And the city's stated reasons for banning patios on public sidewalks and streets in 2023 were mere ruses - the closure of the Sumner Tunnel was really only an issue for East Boston and the city had never before raised concerns about traffic due to the ongoing replacement of the North Washington Street Bridge - the suit alleges. The sheer density of restaurants in the North End? Please; not all North End restaurants sought permits and other neighborhoods had a lot of restaurants with patios on public property, the suit claims. Sanitation? The North End has far less complaints than other neighborhoods, the restaurant owners say, pointing to statistics which show far, far more complaints from Dorchester, which the suit does not note also has more than ten times as many residents. There is also no evidence that more outdoor patios made North End streets harder to navigate for people with mobility issues, the suit says.

The suit formally claims a violation of the restaurant owners' rights to equal protection and due process under the 14th Amendment and alleges discrimination against people because of their ethnicity. The restaurant owners seek a court declaration that the city's fees and ban were "arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law" and that the fee was an illegal tax. They also want the city to return of any fees they paid in 2022, pay damages for the money they say they lost without patio dining in 2023 and reimburse their three attorneys for their work.

Among the restaurant owners: The Mendoza family, owner of Monica's restaurants, and Carla Gomes, owner of Antico Forno and Terramia Ristorante, who were involved in the first suit. New to this suit is Frank DePasquale, who owns a number of North End restaurants named as plaintiffs, including Umbria, Mare Oyster Bar, Dulce, Aqua Pazza, Trattoria Il Panino, Brico and Frank and Nick's, a restaurant he co-owns with Nick Varano, whose Rina's and Strega are also listed as plaintiffs.

The complete list of restaurants bringing the suit: Ristorante Euno, Antico Forno, Aqua Pazza, Assaggio, Casarecce, Dolce, Mare Oyster Bar, Quattro Ristorante, Trattoria Il Panino, Nico Ristorante, Monica's Trattoria, Monica's Trattoria, Monica's Restaurant, Vinoteca di Monica, Strega, Carmelina's, Rina's, Terramia Ristorante, Tresca, Umbria, Bricco Ristorante & Enoteca, Ristorante Villa Francesca.

Complete complaint (2.1M PDF).