Five owners of restaurants in Boston's North End, a historically Italian neighborhood where 88% of residents are white, are suing Mayor Michelle Wu on claims of sexual and ethnic discrimination after her announcement that summer outdoor dining guidelines will prohibit the use of street space for outdoor dining tables in the neighborhood.
According to the city's new ordinances, there will be only a few restaurants that will have adequate sidewalk space to allow outdoor dining, which will leave the North End businesses less competitive, reports The Daily Caller.
The restaurant owners claim in the lawsuit that Wu has singled them out "because of their sex or national origin/ethnicity." They also point out that it is "commonly known that the traditional owner of a restaurant in the North End of Boston is a white male of Italian descent" and that "the North End is generally regarded as the last true ethnic Boston Italian neighborhood."
Last year, in a case that was dismissed, four of the five restaurant owners sued Wu, a Democrat, after she ordered that North End restaurants, but not others, would need to pay $480 per parking space being used and a $7,500 license to host outdoor seating, reports Boston 25 News. This led to high costs that left restaurant owners unable to collect a salary, the complaint read.
Wu is defending the recent decision by saying that outdoor dining in the North End is creating challenges for traffic, parking, trash pickup, and pedestrians. She also said it frustrates residents in the neighborhood and is increasing costs for the city.
"We need to make sure first and foremost that Boston and every other neighborhood is a place for the people who live there," she said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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