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Did Mamdani Wipe Little Italy Off the Map? (Patreon)

Published:
2026-08-05 08:50:00
Imported:
2026-08

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VR39 - Vapid Response Wednesday returns with a tasteful pairing of stories about alleged anti-Italian discrimination that go together like chianti and red sauce.

Today's specials include:

Aperitivo: a tasteless morsel from the least deserving recipient in the history of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

Primo: a chef’s kiss Washington Examiner oped on how NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani “erased” Little Italy

Secondo: a spicy molto grosso meatball of a Boston lawsuit over alleged anti-Italian-American discrimination gives a federal court indigestion

Dolce: our patrons! Listen ad-free and support the show at patreon.com/law

“Mayor Mamdani, Why Did You Erase Little Italy?” Anthony Colombo Jr., Mike Crispi, Gerard Marrone, Washington Examiner (7/10/26) 

Second Amended Complaint in North End Chamber of Commerce et al v. City of Boston, filed 3/7/24

Order on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss in North End Chamber of Commerce et al v. City of Boston (12/20/24)

North End Chamber of Commerce et al v. City of Boston, No. 25-1063 (1st Cir., 7/30/26)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

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Comments

Gmork

Matt: I don't think Italian American discrimination is a thing anymore. Thomas cues up a supercut of Eli Bosnik quotes.

Golden Mantled Howler Monkey

Now I can reveal the source of my palindromes was a Weird Al song, "Bob" a Bob Dylan style parody. My current palindrome is not from that, but is my last.

David in Brooklyn

Sorry, I have to contradict Thomas. I lived in Boston from the mid-1960s through the 1970s. I didn't own a TV set back then, yet I remember the Prince spaghetti ad ("In the Italian North End of Boston, every Wednesday is Prince spaghetti night") just from seeing it on _other_ people's TVs. The moment you read the first mention of it from the legal complaint, I knew which ad they meant. And I'm not even Italian.

Junk Bonds and Junk Law

Why a full hour podcast? The right answer is obvious. “Footnotes” for multiple notes in one footer. “Feetnote” for one note spanning multiple pages, and thus multiple footers. “Feetnotes” for multiple notes spanning multiple footers. Don’t even need to listen to the rest of the podcast.

Mark M

Oh man, I miss Hanover St and the North End. Sure, I live in NYC now amongst apparently the hordes of oppressed Italians yearning to breathe free or move to Long Island, but it doesn't make me less wistful for a meal at Antico Forno. Also I love watching these on YouTube specifically to watch all the facial reactions. It's wonderful.

Michael

Normally love Matt’s Boston/Mass takes, but tangent: the Wu/North End spat is more of an “everyone sucks here” situation. The anti-outdoor dining crowd was a loud minority (according to polls) that could show up to public meetings at 4-6pm on weekdays. On street parking in the north end is free (absolutely shouldn’t be) for residents, and as a consequence of the outdoor dining, the city paid for garage spots for north end residents. The restaurant owners also suck, and mostly don’t even live in Boston. But I don’t think it’s worth lionizing Wu for a political vendetta à la Menino.

Matt Cameron

fair comment! As I'm sure you know by now I have been on the Wu Train from the earliest days of her first campaign, so I am a bit biased here. But I did also intend to convey a bit more than I probably did that the neighborhood group involved here was also pretty annoying in its own way--and that the restaurant owners weren't totally out of line to say that these people didn't necessarily speak for the neighborhood. But having indulged in my own share of Boston neighborhood politics, the reality remains that the loudest and most committed voices are often heard the most in these things and at the end of the day this entire lawsuit was so stupid and so aggressively frivolous that I thought it deserved the thorough public mocking that we gave it here.

Matt Cameron

that's a good point about the Menino-like behavior though--the troll with the street sweeper was very much that (although of course Menino would never have done the North End that way) and something I would have had much less tolerance for under other circumstances. But Wu's most vocal opponents are more often than not at least willing to tolerate racist opposition to her (and often to perpetuate it) and the North End establishment always seemed to me to be in that category. There are absolutely legitimate criticisms to be had here of how City Hall handled this though, and I definitely could have engaged them better here!

Michael

No worries! I appreciate your commentary and thoughtful responses here. At the end of the day, I'm just a cranky Boston resident and former city employee with my own (street safety) shaped biases. I do certainly agree that Wu's critics are often motivated by less-than-honest reasoning because she's a nonwhite woman. I voted for her twice with high hopes, and I think I've been more often than not disappointed on the specific issues I care about most, but those issues certainly don't include outdoor dining...though I do wish there was more of that, including in my neighborhood! Aside from that, the restaurant owners in the North End are nearly Todd Blanche-sized taints as far as I'm concerned. The lawsuit was and is colossally stupid and a waste of everyone's time and energy. Sadly, they get to take up a lot of oxygen because they're wealthy white men.