NEWBURYPORT — Fearful the city’s outdoor dining program could be coming to an end next year, the owner of State Street’s Brine restaurant has begun what is being dubbed the “Save Our Patios” campaign.
On Tuesday, Nancy Batista Caswell said the owners of a dozen other downtown restaurants will be joining her in the coordinated campaign to voice their support for continuing the parklet program.
The campaign, she said, will include signage on storefronts, on tables and posters on social media.
“We’re making some noise around the city of Newburyport,” she said. “We have a population that supports outdoor dining. And we want to remind the City Council they represent their constituents. Whatever personal interests they may have should be set aside for representing the people that have elected them.”
Caswell also asked that the people in the community who support the parklets reach out to the City Council directly by email to let them know they want to save what she calls, “the patios.”
The campaign comes on the heels of Ward 2 Councilor Jennie Donahue, who represents much of downtown, telling The Daily News she believes the parklets’ time may have come and gone.
About a week earlier, Mayor Sean Reardon also cast doubt on the program’s future, saying that while parklets will be returning next month, funding for next year is not in place. Since the parklets are city property maintained by the Department of Public Services, the mayor is now looking at the prospect of buying replacements.
In 2020, the city began offering small wooden risers more commonly known as parklets so restaurant owners could serve customers outdoors during the initial wave of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions. The program became more permanent a year later, thanks to a $280,000 Shared Streets grant from the state Department of Transportation. Although the grant has already paid for this year’s program, next year is another matter.
Restaurant owners currently pay $8 per square foot for a parklet. With the average one around 320 square feet, according to the city, that works out to $2,560 a season, not counting a $100 application fee.
During the 2024 season, the parklets brought in a net revenue of only $1,670, after taking in $31,787 against $30,117 in expenditures like maintenance, installation as well as replacement costs.
That tiny a profit margin prompted Ward 5 City Councilor Jim McCauley to sponsor an order that would increase the parklet rates to $9 per square foot in 2026, and then $10 per square foot in 2027.
The legislation is currently before the City Council’s Licenses and Permits subcommittee. It will next meet on Wednesday, April 2.
Reardon said he is 100% in favor of the parklets. He is only asking that the council revisits the program to make sure it is sustainable after 2025.
Caswell, however, took issue with Donahue’s prediction saying that when an elected official makes comments denigrating parklets, that affects more people than she realizes.
“I’d like her to retract her statements. Those comments reverberate,” Caswell said. “When that happens, it sets our economy back. Now people are hearing that Newburyport doesn’t have parklets. Newburyport doesn’t have outdoor dining, or doesn’t have enough parking, guess who receives those calls? Every single one of the hostesses at our downtown restaurants.”
Caswell’s efforts, according to Donahue, are misguided at best.
“This is a totally disingenuous campaign to ‘Save the Patios,’” she said. “People don’t even know what the difference between a patio and a parklet is.”
Donahue also pointed out that she never said she knew the exact future of the parklet program, adding she does know it will become unsustainable after this year.
“We’re planning to discuss the matter and to figure out how this can be made to work,” she said. “We’re talking about a fee schedule update for 2026. The idea that Nancy isn’t even going to give us an opportunity to discuss the plan before launching a campaign is just fear mongering.”
Caswell said she’s looking out for the livelihoods of her employees, her fellow restaurant owners as well as herself.
“We don’t want to look like greedy restaurant owners and that’s not who we are. We’re a part of the community and we think we add to the vibrancy of it,” she said. “But if we have to shut down one day and let the downtown go dark to prove to the community that is what the downtown will look like, then that’s what we’ll have to do.”
Although he hadn’t signed onto the “Save Our Patios” campaign by Tuesday morning, Angie’s Food and Diner owner Steve Luz said he was aware of it and his Pleasant Street restaurant has benefited greatly from the parklets.
His comments are born out by the city’s operating budget, where the meals tax revenue was up $34,750 at $830,000 in fiscal 2025, over fiscal 2024’s $795,250. In fiscal 2023, that line item rang in at $856,193.
“We don’t want the patios to go anywhere,” he said. “The outdoor dining has been fabulous.”
Luz added he’s aware of the city’s concerns about funding the program beginning next year. He said he’s spoken to his next door neighbor, Loretta owner Ted Epstein and the pair are more than happy to work with department heads to come up with a solution that benefits everyone.
“There’s revenue generated here, aside from just the fees,” he said. “We generate more meals tax and so on and so forth. We bring more volume to town and that means more sales tax for the city. I would hope that they see that as a benefit and I kind of think we can all sit down and work this out.”
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.