"They took our hard-earned money": North End restaurant owners question how outdoor dining fees are being spent
BOSTON (CBS) – Table Restaurant owner Jen Royle is $7,500 short. That's how much she, and other North End restaurant owners, paid to extend outdoor dining onto Hanover Street in Boston.
"They promised us the money would go back into the neighborhood," she told WBZ-TV. "HOW? How has it gone back into the neighborhood?"
The city promised the money would be spent on increased police patrols and cleaner streets.
"My sidewalks are dirty. I clean them, but they're still grease stained," Royle said as she was scrubbing the concrete.
Despite the City of Boston tweeting a series of photos of a city worker power washing sidewalks with the caption #NorthEnd, another restaurant owner in the neighborhood said not much has changed since the program started 10 weeks ago.
"The power washing, they have not been out here one day. I haven't seen them once," said Tresca Restaurant owner Richard Ansaro.
When WBZ-TV reporter Tiffany Chan told him the city claims the sidewalks are power washed weekly, Ansaro replied, "Not on Hanover Street!"
Lifelong North End resident Gina Lupo is feeling those same frustrations and said for the money these restaurants are spending – she doesn't feel any safer.
"We have no police – no details at all," Lupo said. "I'm telling the mayor, where is the money? Where is it being spent?"
A city spokesperson said they're working on making spending public in coming weeks, but Royle argued that she shouldn't have to ask or wait for that information.
"That information should've been available to us the second they spent a dollar of it," Royle explained. "This administration has to be held accountable. They took our hard-earned money and I want to know what they did with it."