Court agrees Wu did not discriminate against North End restaurants, but may have illegally taxed them

Дата публикации: 31-07-2026 19:54:18

Thursday’s decision marks the latest in a longstanding feud over pandemic-era outdoor dining regulations in the North End.
The post Court agrees Wu did not discriminate against North End restaurants, but may have illegally taxed them appeared first on Boston.com.

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Local News Thursday’s decision marks the latest in a longstanding feud over pandemic-era outdoor dining regulations in the North End. Outdoor tables were set up in the North End in August 2022. David L Ryan/Boston Globe Staff, File

A federal appeals court has sided with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration in the city’s longstanding feud with North End restaurants, upholding the dismissal of a lawsuit over pandemic-era outdoor dining regulations.

Thursday’s decision from the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals, first reported by Universal Hub, rejects the restaurant owners’ assertion that Boston violated their constitutional rights with the outdoor dining policy and unjustly targeted them because they are white and Italian. 

“While many restaurants and residents supported outdoor dining, the implementation of the program also sparked complaints about issues including parking, traffic, noise, trash, and rodents,” the decision notes, later adding, “Addressing such quality-of-life issues is plainly a legitimate state interest.” 

The appeals court also found that the complaint was “both repetitive and rife with irrelevant detail,” and while the plaintiffs argued they needed extra space to support their “anti-Italian” discrimination claim, “they cover the history of Italians in the North End in a mere eight paragraphs, much of which is entirely unnecessary.”

Nearly two dozen restaurants and the North End Chamber of Commerce filed the federal lawsuit in January 2024, challenging the city’s outdoor dining plans for the neighborhood. The complaint followed a similar lawsuit lodged in 2022, the same year Wu’s administration levied a one-time $7,500 impact fee and charged restaurants $480 per month for each parking space their outdoor section occupied. 

The complainants in the 2022 suit ended up dismissing it voluntarily, and the city later banned on-street dining outright in the North End for subsequent seasons.

According to the appeals court decision, Boston said it collected about $300,000 in impact fees from North End restaurants and spent almost $800,000 on the neighborhood’s outdoor dining program during the 2022 season. However, the appeals court noted, almost 70% of those costs were linked to the purchase of an electric street sweeper that was used citywide. 

While the appeals court agreed with the lower court’s decision to toss five of the lawsuit’s six claims, it did offer hope for the restaurants’ allegation that the 2022 fees constituted an unlawful tax. The appeals court ordered a dismissal without prejudice for that count, meaning the restaurants could resurrect their complaint on those narrower grounds.

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