Defend the North End

Our

Story

In 2020 restaurants in the North End, along with restaurants all over Boston were granted outdoor dining areas. These soon became a big hit among residents and individuals from all over. This gave a new, even more authentic Italian feel, to the North End. It helped small businesses recover from the pandemic, it allowed people to spend more time outside, and it contributed to beautifying Boston. Due to its success, the program continued the following year. This led to businesses and customers believing outdoor dining was here to stay.

However, in the years to come some changes were made. The businesses of the North End were to pay a $7500 fee if they wanted to take part in outdoor dining that spring/summer season. This came as a shock to the business owners of the North End, and what came as an even bigger surprise, was that only the North End was given this price tag. This portion of the city filled with entrepreneurs, and small family businesses were now singled out and told to pay up or be the only part of the city with no outdoor dining. So they did just that, those that could, payed the price and participated in yet another year of outdoor dining. Although their spots had been secured for that season it left lots of people wondering what would happen next year, and sure enough, that was the last time Little Italy would see the success and joy of outdoor dining.

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