The owners of 21 North End restaurants and the North End Chamber of Commerce yesterday sued the city over its 2022 fees for restaurants in the neighborhood that wanted to use public sidewalks and streets for patio seating - and its ban on such patios last year - alleging the Wu administration and a local residents' groups hate Italians for some reason.

The 168-page complaint, filed in US District Court in Boston, echos similar complaints raised in an earlier suit by the owners of five North End restaurants, which they withdrew earlier this year, but adds the North End/Waterfront Residents Association to its list of people who, for some reason, want to crush the very life out of the North End's Italian restaurants.