BOSTON (WHDH) - Restaurant owners in Boston’s North End are looking to expand legal action targeted at the city of Boston over the city’s outdoor dining policies.
City officials announced Thursday that outdoor dining on roads in the North End will not be allowed this year.
The announcement drew a mixture of reactions. Some residents celebrated, saying outdoor dining has represented an inconvenience in recent years. Some restaurant owners, meanwhile, expressed frustration over the move.
Frank Pellino of Casarecce Ristorante told 7NEWS that business owners in the North End are angry over dining restrictions they say are unfair and not inclusive.
“We’re very, very upset about this,” Pellino said Friday.
A group of restaurant owners already filed a lawsuit against the city last year. Pellino said he has now joined the effort.
Speaking this week, he said the lawsuit will be “a cyclone coming at City Hall.”
Pellino said “smaller guys” like him who make up a large portion of North End restaurant owners are especially frustrated.
“They cannot take and give competitive advantage as they see fit,” he said. “That’s just not correct.”
Pellino called new city policies “an abuse of power,” saying they give advantages and disadvantages to different neighborhoods.
“I think the only way we can be heard is to take legal action,” Pellino said.
City officials say the change in rules is in response to concerns from North End residents about noise, congestion and a lack of parking. Officials have also cited nearby construction on the Charlestown Bridge and the Sumner Tunnel as factors.
While North End restaurants will have to take their tables off the streets, other neighborhoods will see continued on-street outdoor dining.
Restaurants can still apply for patio and sidewalk seating under new rules. Restaurant owners say private patios barely exist in the North End, though. They’ve added that there is simply not enough room on sidewalks for outdoor dining.
“Why are we being targeted?” Jorge Mendoza of Vinoteca di Monica said. “Why are we being targeted? Why are we less important than other neighborhoods? And why is it that the minority of the Italian Americans in the North End doesn’t have the same rights as other minorities in the city of Boston.”
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