Emergency Meeting Held For North End Restaurants After Outdoor Dining Complaints
BOSTON (CBS) - The Licensing Board of the City of Boston is telling North End restaurants to follow the rules or they will lose their outdoor dining options.
"Public health and safety is of the utmost importance to the board," said Licensing Board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce.
Owners were given permission to expand their seating to public spaces to prevent the spread of Covid-19 during the reopening process.
"As I've said this before at hearings, your right to occupy a city space for outdoor dining is a privilege extended to you by the city, you have no right to it," said Joyce.
The board held a mandatory emergency informational hearing through Zoom for all license holders Wednesday afternoon.
The city said it's getting complaints that some North End restaurants are using outdoor spaces they weren't approved for, having loud music, not following social distancing, allowing customers to smoke and have dogs.
Frank DePasquale owns several restaurants in the North End. He's glad the Licensing Board held a meeting to go over the guidelines.
"We will just follow the rules like everybody else in this neighborhood," DePasquale said. "We are excited to be where we are at this point and we definitely don't want to turn back."
The board says it'll be doing random inspections to make sure owners are following the rules and the social distancing protocols. If they aren't they'll lose these outdoor extensions immediately.