Taking@Issue: VP picks, Steward Health Care group buyers and North End outdoor diners

NBC10 Boston's Cory Smith, Sue O'Connell and Matt Prichard bring coverage and analysis of politics and government from Beacon Hill to Capitol Hill every Sunday on @Issue — but there's always more to talk about.

"Taking@Issue" offers a glimpse of the conversations that happen behind the scenes, bringing you insight on the issues that affect Boston and Massachusetts, and the context behind the coverage.

This week Matt and Sue are Taking@Issue with third-party candidates. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. taps Nicole Shanhan for his third-party bid VP pick. Who is she? We explain. Plus,  Steward Healthcare is looking to sell its physician group to Optum despite fierce criticism from local, state and federal leaders. We also dive into the North End outdoor dining
debate and why opinions are so strong about tables being placed on crowded street corners.

Watch the podcast in the player above or subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

RFK Jr. makes a pick for VP

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Nicole Shanahan as his vice presidential pick, adding a wealthy but nationally unknown figure to his bid for the White House.

"I think that as, as far as her political experience is, there isn't any, and her business experience, certainly she's she's established and I always hate to point to someone spouse, but her ex-spouse was, one of the founders of Google. So she's been in that world of business, which has been highly successful and profitable," Sue said.

Shanahan was formerly married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin and is familiar with the big business of Silicon Valley. But Sue has concerns about what she calls Shanahan's "wacky" medical opinions, pointing to comments she'd made about vitamin D and IVF. But those beliefs could align her well with RFK Jr., who has faced criticism for his anti-establishment views and skepticism about COVID-19 and the government's response.

"RFK this whole campaign from the very beginning is sort of been built on skepticism. Yeah, it's being skeptical of of everything, whether it's in the health care sector or, or in our politics in day-to-day life," Matt pointed out.

How could a Steward Health Care deal affect patients?

A proposed sale of the Stewardship Health physician group to OptumCare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, has lawmakers talking. But what are the potential impacts to the patients who rely on Steward hospitals for their care?

"It seemed like when we were sort of talking with everybody about this earlier on in the week was that, you know, it could make it so that it's harder to find a primary care doctor. It could make it harder for you to keep your current primary care doctor if they switch off of the current health insurance, your current coverage over on to Optum. And that shakes up things," Matt explains.

The congressional delegation also expressed concerns that the proposal, which sells the physician group only, will that devalue the rest of Steward - the hospitals and real estate - and therefore make it harder for Steward to sell off the pieces and leave the state.

"It's like this press release comes out and it seems optimistic, right? That's how they word it is. You know, we've found a buyer, but for only one component. And it's so much more complicated than that."

This also compounds existing care shortages in the state, Sue says.

"I know it's always hard to accept that we live in this hub care, this hub capital, this of health care in the world. And it still takes if you're with some of the established, health care providers, 6 to 8 months to get a doctor's appointment already."

What's up with outdoor dining in the North End?

Some North End restaurant owners continue to protest restrictions that prevent their businesses from offering outdoor dining - a regulation specific to their neighborhood of the city.

"Part of the problem here is everyone wants to be in the North End, the North End restaurants. They want to be able to have outdoor dining like a lot of other places are able to have, which means cutting away parking. It means being on the street in an already compacted area," Matt explains. "They had a protest earlier on in the week where they basically shut down their restaurants from 3 to 5 and had a community meeting to try and prompt Mayor Michelle Wu to come and have a conversation with them about maybe doing this. But there are a lot of people who are against this, including the residents who live in the North End."

It's an old neighborhood with very narrow streets, hard to navigate by car and with limited parking without the added factor of outdoor dining.

"The people who actually live there, and they are many of them don't want to expand this already, because it's already a little bit like Disneyland when you go there now. Okay, so I put it on the residents to decide what they can, the businesses, many of whom don't live in the neighborhood, the businesses, it's their business, but they don't live there to decide and and tell their city councilor and tell the mayor what they want, don't want," Sue said.

And remember, the North End is already a tourist destination, often packed between the Bruins Celtics and other events at the Garden.

"I'm not going to the North End for outdoor dining, I'm going to the North End for the North End. And if all the restaurant restaurants in the North end don't have outdoor dining, then there's really no issue of competition, right? Right. I don't really think they're losing any business to restaurants that have outdoor dining in other parts of the city."

This is just a sampling of this week’s conversation. Watch the full podcast in the video above or subscribe to follow along wherever you listen to podcasts.