The Huntington News April 15, 2022
The independent student newspaper of the Northeastern community
@HuntNewsNU
WORKERS, STUDENTS PETITION AGAINST CREATION OF RESIDENCE HALLS IN SHERATON
By Grace Comer Campus Editor
Northeastern students joined together with Sheraton hotel employees to create a petition in protest of the creation of permanent dormitories in the Sheraton
Boston Hotel, a move that could result in the loss of over 100 union jobs for the hotel employees. The Sheraton Boston Hotel is one of several hotels in the Boston area that Northeastern has leased as temporary dormitories for undergraduate students. During this time,
Photo courtesy UNITE HERE Local 26 Sheraton employees and members of Boston’s Local 26 sat in on a March 23 city council meeting where councilors unanimously passed a resolution opposing the conversion of hotel rooms into dorms.
the previous owners, Host Hotels & Resorts, sold the hotel to the joint venture between Värde Partners and Hawkins Way Capital Feb. 2. Recently, reports indicated that the new owners are considering converting 427 of the rooms in the Sheraton Hotel into permanent housing for students. The employees who would be affected by this change did not find out about the potential change until it was introduced at a neighborhood meeting. “It should be the new owners who should be broaching the subject with the workers when they want to [make this change], but they did not. There was no discussion about this at all,” said Chui Law, an employee of the Sheraton Boston Hotel for more than 30 years. Law was among the employees, all members of the union Boston’s Local 26, who protested this change and brought it to the attention of both Northeastern student groups and Boston city councilors.
In response to the news, members of student organization Huskies Organizing With Labor, or HOWL, created an online petition to “Save Sheraton Jobs,” with the goal of spreading awareness among students and eventually sharing the petition with the university administration and the owners of the Sheraton to convince them to stop the conversion. Although HOWL members said they are in favor of improving student access to housing, they recognize the damage that converting the Sheraton Hotel to dormitories would do to the employees. “I’d like to emphasize the fact that this could cost 60 to 100 good, full-time union jobs,” said Noble Mushtak, a third-year computer science and mathematics combined major who is part of HOWL’s events team. The possibility of converting these rooms evoked a similar response from city councilors as on March
23, employees and union representatives gathered at the Boston City Hall Chambers to advocate for their rights as union workers, asking for city councilors to support the Sheraton Hotel employees. The resolution offered by City Councilors Ed Flynn, Ruthzee Louijeune and Tania Fernandes-Anderson indicated that the City Council would stand with the employees to prevent job loss and encourage recovery from the pandemic. The resolution was passed unanimously at the March 23 meeting. “The driving force behind my vote was how said conversion would likely eliminate over 100 jobs, jobs largely held by people of color, women, and immigrants,” Fernandes-Anderson wrote in an email statement to The News April 7. “These workers, who were there for us during the worst days of the pandemic, have done nothing wrong, and deserve to remain PETITION, on Page 2
North End outdoor dining fees enrage restaurant owners, potential lawsuits By Sarah Liu News Correspondent Before patrons can bring their business to the North End for outdoor dining this summer, restaurants will have to open their wallets for the City of Boston. In a meeting with restaurant owners March 17, city officials announced that North End restaurants will have to pay a $7,500 fee to open a patio space for outdoor dining. Restaurants must pay an additional fee of $458 a month per parking space that is unusable because of outdoor dining. On top of the newly imposed fees, the start of outdoor dining in the North End will be delayed until May 1, nearly a month after the original date of April 8. In response to the new policy, restaurant owners banded together to form the North End Restaurant Community and released a letter
March 23 detailing their grievances and alleging discrimination by the city. The primary question asked by the group is why the fees afflicting the North End do not apply to any other neighborhoods. It’s the principle, or lack thereof, that is the cause of the North End’s outrage, said Kim Fontaine, owner of Rabia’s Dolce Fumo. Her restaurant suffered losses of 15-22% in revenue per week at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. While the business is recovering, Fontaine said, she still finds the new fees to be exorbitant and unfair to the community. For small restaurants, the monthly cost of a parking spot could significantly eat away at profits that have already taken a hit because of the pandemic. “I’m not worried about us. We’ll be fine,” Fontaine said of her restaurant. “It’s the smaller restaurants that won’t be able to afford it.”
Fontaine said she plans on suing the city, as a growing number of North End restaurant owners are considering pursuing litigation against Boston and Mayor Michelle Wu. About 60 restaurant owners met with a lawyer over Zoom March 25, and others have sought legal counsel. After much public outcry, Wu held a press conference at City Hall March 29, standing alongside state Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, state Sen. and City Councilor Lydia Edwards and North End restaurant owners Nick Varano and Philip Frattaroli, clarifying and announcing rectifications to the policy to support restaurants still struggling from the slowed business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “What I love about this job and city government is that everything we do, we are trying to meet people where they are, and that means that equity doesn’t mean equality
all across the board,” Wu said in the press conference. “One of the particular quality of life issues in this neighborhood, in the North End, was related to the impacts of outdoor dining.”
Wu stated that restaurants will not be required to pay the $7,500 fee upfront — the program was designed with the intention that participating restaurants could pay EATERY, on Page 4
Photo by Jess Silverman Restaurants in Boston’s historic North End have erected outdoor patios for the past two summers to keep up with dining despite the pandemic.
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