Corby Kummer on the Dining Shed Dilemma

Award-winning food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio on Wednesday to explain why outdoor dining could destroy neighborhoods, following a recent New York Times article on issues with outdoor dining sheds in the Lower East Side.

Small business owners in the neighborhood have lodged complaints about high noise levels, increasing rat populations, and trash generated from restaurants’ outdoor dining sheds, claiming that the area has become “unlivable.”

“It's other businesses that are trying to keep alive next to [outdoor dining sheds] now,” Kummer said. “I hope that Boston will do a better job of responding to complaints. [Small businesses] are on margins as thin as a lot of the restaurants.”

While outdoor dining has served as a boon for restaurants throughout the pandemic, Kummer notes that long-term solutions for both restaurants and local businesses must be found.

“Cambridge, for example, has been so ahead of other cities in terms of bike-friendly lanes and pedestrian zones,” Kummer said. “I think the answer is going to be a great parking lot behind Central Square — just making things pedestrian zones over the long run.”

Kummer is the executive director of the Food and Society policy program at the Aspen Institute, a senior editor at The Atlantic and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.