Hey, there! Log in / Register

Boston to resume expanded outdoor dining in April - except in the North End

The mayor's office announced today that restaurants across the city, except in the city's most restaurant-heavy neighborhood, can once again apply for permission to use city sidewalks and parking spaces for outdoor dining starting April 1.

The city is holding off on the North End for now because residents of the densely packed neighborhood have been raising holy hell about what the program does to their on-street parking spaces along streets such as Hanover and Salem. Or as the mayor's office more politely puts it:

The North End is currently undergoing a community review of the outdoor dining program as special considerations are needed due to the density of the restaurants in the neighborhood. North End restaurants can still submit an application while awaiting follow-up information from the City of Boston on how the program will proceed in the neighborhood.

This year's version of outdoor dining has a few regulatory changes, including a closing time for temporary outdoor patios of 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, beefed up barrier-safety and insurance requirements and a requirement that restaurants supply an evacuation plan for their tempoary tables.

Neighborhoods: 
Topics: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

The North End is currently undergoing a community review of the outdoor dining

Translation: We're going to have a bunch of meetings where residents whine about having to park their cars a few blocks away. We'll pretend we care, but in the end CrotchetyKaren and her right to park her gas guzzling SUV in front of her over priced condo is more important and there will be no outdoor dining

jfc we really need to stop giving preference to cars... make people g-d walk. The earth is heating up.. caused by cars.. yet we're still giving them preference. (yes I know this issue is different but the end result is the same.. giving preference to cars)

up
Voting closed 0

Do we know that cars are actually the reason for the review? I was hoping it was because the vast majority of North End restaurants repeatedly violated Boston's covid restrictions in 2020 & 2021, both regarding masks & group size.

Nothing would make me happier for North End restaurants not to have outdoor dining...and my opposition has nothing to do with parking.

up
Voting closed 0

although that was less evident at the time. I'm happy to let that go.

up
Voting closed 0

There was a globe article about it a few weeks ago

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/02/18/metro/outdoor-dining-boston-wants...

so your argument is because restaurants violated covid restrictions that they shouldn't have outdoor dining?

whut?

up
Voting closed 0

There are several issues North End residents had with outdoor dining in their neighborhood that had nothing to do with cars or parking.

"Neighbors aired a laundry list of grievances they’ve amassed over two previous seasons, including late-night noise, public drunkenness, trash, traffic, and hard-to-navigate sidewalks."

up
Voting closed 0

which the city already is imposing for late-night dining in all other neighborhoods (see the original post)

up
Voting closed 0

...now do the sidewalks.

Many a time I've looked at a sidewalk that was occupied by a restaurant and thought it would be pure hell for a person in a wheelchair to navigate.

up
Voting closed 0

or expanding sidewalks. We wouldn't need to worry about limited sidewalk space if people in wheelchairs could use the whole width of the street.

up
Voting closed 0

With regard to this specific neighborhood, the presence of a fire station precludes shutting down the streets to traffic.

For that matter, if you look at any of these "pedestrian areas", you'll notice that they keep a clear lane big enough for emergency vehicles (for example DTX). You can do that if the street was big enough to begin with. In the North End, while you might be able to expand sidewalks some and still keep a single clear lane down the middle, I don't think it would work in practice, with a fire station right there (i.e., frequent calls, pedestrians needing to clear out for emergency vehicles).

up
Voting closed 0

None of those issues are related solely to outdoor dining. The city has regulations and tools at its disposal to deal with problem patrons and establishments without wiping away the program entirely.

up
Voting closed 0

Leaving the always fraught issue of cars aside, I thought some North End restaurants effectively took over the sidewalks to the extent that pedestrians including people in wheel chairs, parents with strollers, etc... had to go into the street. If that's what the issue is, then I'm fine with the limitation.

The answer would be to close Hannover St to non-emergency vehicles and then there's plenty of space for tables and pedestrians. Edit - I think this isn't practical for various reasons though?

up
Voting closed 0

Not Hannover you twit.

up
Voting closed 0

.. and a few other things, you twit.

up
Voting closed 0

I hear it in Pee Wee Lee's voice.

You never fail to entertain, like the freak you are.

up
Voting closed 0

Biggest complaint I've heard has nothing to do with cars and parking, it's that the restaurant seating areas extend contiguously for the entire length of the block, with an unbroken barrier between the traffic lanes and the seating areas, it's literally impossible for pedestrians to cross the street. And hard to walk down the sidewalk, between patrons waiting for tables and servers running back and forth between the tables and the restaurants.

up
Voting closed 0

These people will never be happy. That is not a neighborhood for cars. It’s not 1975 any more. I can’t believe the rest of us are being held up by a group of a few hundred loudmouths.

up
Voting closed 0

This is why the public meeting needs to be overhauled. This is what happens... a group of people who have no life go to every single meeting, and voice their self serving concerns, while the rest of the working class do not go. Half the time the meetings aren't posted well, or at times when the rest of us can't go (Covid & Zoom meetings have helped this some but still)

Furthermore.. a small group of people who show up shouldn't be able to take control of an issue. This happens all too much and why so much NIMBYism exists.

Sometimes progress doesn't need public input.

up
Voting closed 0

... if there weren't a fire station on upper Hanover Street. Because it's there, the city can't entirely close the street to traffic, which would otherwise be the best solution to this problem.

Even when there are summer festivals, the street is closed only north of the fire station.

up
Voting closed 0

Park the truck 30 feet away on a side street during evening dining hours? This shouldn't be an unsolvable problem.

up
Voting closed 0

It’s a lot easier for pedestrians to move out of a fire trucks way than it is for a bunch of SUVs.

up
Voting closed 0

are a bit harder to suddenly move out of the way.

up
Voting closed 0

You will see tables, chairs, umbrellas, etc. -- but you won't see them in the middle of the street. It's kept clear of objects, for obvious reasons.

up
Voting closed 0

Great News!

up
Voting closed 0

…. working in the North End. If I lived there I’d be railing against on street parking AND against on street dining. It was hellish there both because of the drivers and because the annexation of sidewalk space. Not a pleasant place to be. They should make the streets pedestrian only and limit the outdoor dining. It works in many European cities that have streets as narrow and convoluted as the North End.

up
Voting closed 0

I.e. give parking spots to restaurants (as has been done all over the area) and keep the sidewalks clear, since they have a specific, intended design.

up
Voting closed 0

And the vocal minority typically is really just opposed to change.

If they allowed outdoor dining now and in a decade tried to take away these same nut jobs would be complaining then too.

up
Voting closed 0

The vocal minority wins again

It's not the "vocal minority", it's the people who put the work in and who bother to show up. That's kind of how democracy works: the people who show up to vote have a bigger influence on the outcome than those who don't.

up
Voting closed 0

But I agree.

Someone somewhere suggested they do away with Presidents Day and make Election Day a national holiday instead. Among other things, that would better honor our presidents.

up
Voting closed 0

Assuming you mean a federal holiday (I don't think "national holiday" is a thing), I don't think this will have the effect you desire, for the simple reason that if you're not a federal worker, you only get federal holidays if your employer feels like giving them to you. I think we're pretty far away from being able to create a class of holiday that every employer must grant to employees -- hell, we can't even get basic voting rights legislation passed, no way anyone in Congress has the stomach for this.

up
Voting closed 0

What I see as a problem with that idea is that like Presidents Day, people might just decide to take a vacation week and not even be around to vote.

I still like it though. Because it would be one way of making voting easier and it would celebrate voters and the democratic system as much as those they have elected.They get enough recognition already.

up
Voting closed 0

Missing the point, PAL. The point is that you can call it whatever you want to call it, PAL, but people still don't get the day off. So what's the point of the designation?

up
Voting closed 0