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MRA open letter posted on Instagram on March 15, 2021, via MRA @ma_restaurants calling for Mayor Curtatone to change his lone policy on reduced restaurant capacities.
By Denise Keniston
On Monday March 15, Somerville Mayor Curtatone officially extended the 25% capacity restriction on Somerville businesses to March 30, while the rest of the state moves towards reopening.
The mayor’s policy decision flies in the face of Governor Charlie Baker’s March 1 announcement that he was dropping capacity limits on restaurants, but still requiring masks and social distancing of six feet for patrons. The Massachusetts Restaurant Association, with a membership of 1800 restaurants, has fired back at Curtatone with an open letter posted on Instagram.
MRA president Bob Luz says, “There are 351 towns and cities in Massachusetts and all of their mayors followed the Governor’s rules – the lone holdout is Somerville’s Mayor Curtatone. One city out of 351 in the state of Massachusetts does not have access to differential data, nor does one mayor have any more knowledge in regards to the fact-based strategy for safely re-opening businesses than the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” He continues, “With this said, this unfortunate distinction led by Mayor Joe Curtatone seems to be solely based on political vanity and is at the expense of the business community and its hard-working citizens. The Massachusetts Restaurant Association publicly and formally demands that Mayor Joe Curtatone immediately lifts all capacity limits on businesses in compliance with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
Joe Cassinelli owns restaurants in Davis Square, including Rosebud. He says, “We’re losing staff and patrons. We’re at an incredible disadvantage while the rest of the state is reopening.”
Joe Cassinelli, who owns Alpine Restaurant Group, which includes popular Somerville restaurants like The Painted Burro, Posto and Rosebud, all located in Davis Square, says, “The capacity limits set by Mayor Curtatone are incredibly frustrating! As a constituent and taxpayer, I’ve tried everything to appeal to Mayor Curtatone but, my calls are going unanswered by his administration.” Cassinelli continues, “What this means for Somerville restaurants is that we’re losing staff who are ready to get back to work at other restaurants in other towns and patrons who are seeking out restaurants that can accommodate them in other towns and cities. It’s killing us!”
MRA President Luz weighs in on what he’s seeing across the state, “I have spoken to guests and employees alike who state they feel safe and comfortable and appreciate the concerted, science-based approach by the state to re-open restaurants safely for residents and put employees back to work.” He continues, “In stark contrast, I have ventured into Somerville restaurants and have found employees in sparsely seated dining rooms lamenting that their normal guests are venturing to surrounding cities while they lose needed income to simply survive.”
Leandra Meneves and her husband Aditya Gidh earlier this year in Somerville.
Leandra Meneves and her husband Aditya Gidh are avid restaurant foodies and faithful patrons of many Somerville restaurants. Over the past year they’ve avoided indoor dining, leaning more towards outdoor dining and takeout. However, recently they ventured out to The Daily Catch on Boston’s waterfront where a reservation took two weeks. “We’re still very cautious about indoor dining anywhere in Massachusetts, but I can see where Somerville restaurants feel they are at a competitive disadvantage with all other restaurants,” says Meneves. “Those of us who love restaurants are looking for the safest restaurant with the best accommodations and I can see where 25% capacity feels limiting to Somerville restaurants.”
They are “being cautious” but “can see” where Somerville restaurants feel they are at a disadvantage.
Mayor Curtatone says he is trying to avoid rushing into reopening and creating a fresh wave of new COVID cases. He relies, in part, on advice from Somerville’s Health and Human Services Director Doug Kress who says he is hopeful, but cautious about potential COVID flareups.
According to Kress, “Embracing hope does not warrant abandoning caution. Just as we are eagerly looking forward to reopening, we are just as committed to holding on until more of our most vulnerable are vaccinated and scientists better understand what impacts the variants may bring.”
Mayor Curtatone’s 25% capacity limit will continue until at least March 30. MRA President Lutz says, “There will be very little left of the restaurant industry in Somerville by then.”
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I used to like the mayor and thought he cared about the city. However, his abandonment of a science-based approach to dealing with Covid, in favor of always being more cautious than neighboring towns and the best scientific advice is really disheartening. He has done so much harm to Somerville students and businesses. Somerville is being devastated by two forces: a deadly pandemic and a mayor who seemingly has no regard for lives he is ruining by shutting things down longer than necessary.
I fully support the Mayor’s decision. Mr. Luz is being disingenuous when he claims that no one city has access to “differential data” — in fact, summary statistics at the city and town level are updated weekly and published on the state website. Each city and town presumably has access to the underlying data that supports those summaries.
The 351 cities and towns in MA are empowered to make local decisions like this precisely BECAUSE centuries of experience have taught us that local city and town government is best able to make these difficult local decisions.
A restaurant policy that is appropriate for Shelburne Falls, Adams, or Newton may not be at all appropriate for Somerville. Certainly the cities of Revere and Lynn suffered enormously in this pandemic because their city government did not respond effectively to their local needs while the GOP-led state and national policies were disastrously incompetent.
The policies of Mr. Curtatone have helped Somerville ward off the worst of this pandemic with as little impact as possible. Those policies are FAR more effective and science-based than those of the governor.
Well-managed restaurants in Somerville will survive this pandemic. The policies of Mr. Curtatone ensure that they will thrive as the people of Somerville continues to recover from this pandemic.
I eagerly await warm weather and the re-opening of the newly-established sidewalk eating areas that make Davis and Union Square so inviting — all thanks to Mayor Joe Curtatone.
The state will greatly benefit if Mr. Curtatone replaces Charlie Baker as Governor.
The mayor is like all other pols, it isn’t a concern for individuals, it’s politics. He is trying to differentiate himself form Baker in almost every way and this is a big (public) way of doing it. You can’t run for Governor if your policy is essentially the same as his on something this immense. He needs to come off as wiser and more thoughtful than the big bad Republican in the statehouse.
Btw way Joe open the GD parking office. Put a police officer outside the building to make sure there are no more than 3 or 4 people inside at one time. Have people make appointments and show them to the detail officer outside before entering. It’s not difficult.
What science is the MRA looking at?? The CDC and Dr. Fauci who are making science based recommendations are warning states that they are opening too soon. Period. This reopening everywhere is going to cause a new wave. i applaud Mayor Curtatone for not abandoning science and hoping on the politically expedient bandwagon.
I do not live in Somerville, but worked at a flower shop on Highland Ave off and on over the past decade. My impact I’m experiencing from this is my daughter before COVID was receiving home therapy through an agency based out of Somerville twice a week. Since COVID it’s been online. Because online school isn’t online enough right? My daughter has not seen her therapists in person in a year. Other people I know with home therapists or seeking have had their therapy in person resumed. Their office is giving the same excuse as the mayor, for fear of different COVID strains and variants. Kids need mental help more than ever now yet the agency is refusing to let my daughters therapists come back to the house. Because other counseling agencies have resumed in person therapy for kids, I assume it’s the city of Somerville and the mayor that is keeping these restrictions in place. As far as I’m concerned, Joe Curtatone is put my daughter’s mental health at risk when she needs it the most, during the worst year of a lifetime. Who does he think he is? It’s infuriating to see other kids therapy resume while my kid is suffering bad. Our children need help more than any of us. Why is this guy turning a blind eye to all of this???
Are some professions at higher risk than others? Why is it that if you work for the city, state or federal government you can’t go to work but if you work in Target, Walmart, Starbucks, or Market Basket you’re good to go? No one to my knowledge in a government office who hasn’t been to work in a year has lost one paycheck. Not one. And in an urban area, it is ludicrous to have different rules by city/town. Do they think people from Cambridge or Medford never come into the city of Somerville? “well-managed restaurants in Somerville will survive” ???? You have no patrons, but if you manage that well you’ll be okay. This has all become just one big joke, except no one is laughing.
The saber rattling by the MRA is ridiculous. Guaranteed our local restaurant industry will come roaring back in a few months. Everybody I know has been making a point of getting regular takeout to help out our local favorites. Eating indoors at restaurants, where you’ve got to take off your mask to get anything in your mouth, has been a terrible idea during an airborne pandemic. My only problem with the city is that it’s been allowed at all. Yet I’m happy I’m in a place where the death rate is way below the state average.
The ‘industry’ may come roaring back, but many of the jobs (waiter/waitress, bartender, dishwashers) will not. The fact that you think ordering takeout occasionally can keep a restaurant afloat tells me that you know nothing about the running of a restaurant. Are you aware of the number of restaurants who have already closed permanently?
It’s a tough business. However, most of them are going to make it through. The city, state and feds all have floated money to help them. And if the businesses come roaring back, then by definition the jobs in those businesses will come back with them.