New York State Liquor Authority board members are under fire for failing to wear face coverings during a meeting where they issued fines to businesses that did not observe the mask-wearing edict.
The state liquor authority board members, who in recent months have shut down bars and restaurants that violate coronavirus-related safety regulations and imposed hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines on others, appeared to break the rules they have so strictly enforced during a meeting Wednesday, reports The Times-Union.
The meeting, streamed live online, with SLA Chairman Vincent Bradley and commissioners Lily Fan and Greeley Ford issuing fines while non-wearing masks.
SLA spokesman William Crowley issued an elitist response:
The format of the meeting was designed to provide for social distancing, and we have advised everyone that COVID-related protocols must be followed at all times. But let’s be clear, comparing this isolated lapse during a distanced board meeting to a crowded bar or restaurant where alcohol is present and patrons are literally shoulder-to-shoulder is a stretch.
According to The Times Union, in recent weeks, Andy’s Place and The New Elbo Room in Albany and Mark’s Place in Schenectady have all shut down after the SLA board suspended their liquor licenses for violations including staff and patrons not wear masks or observing social distancing. The same penalty was imposed on Hudson River Brewing in Hudson over Memorial Day weekend for similar violations.
The records show the agency has suspended licenses of at least 168 establishments across New York for what it terms "egregious violations" and issued more than 900 citations for less-serious charges, almost all of which were identified during COVID-related compliance checks by a multi-agency state task force. Businesses found to have broken the state’s COVID-19 regulations face fines up to $10,000 per violation, according to the governor’s office.
In the same announcement, the agency apologist Bradley was quoted as saying, “we're still in the middle of a global pandemic, and the task force will continue taking action against the small number of establishments who willfully violate the coronavirus-related regulations."
-RW
It seems to me, more and more with these types of stories coming out, that if there is a revolution it will look very much like the French variant.
ReplyDeleteThere are four certainties in life. Death. Taxes. Baptists not recognizing each other in a liquor store and government officials will always life by different standards they set for the rest of us.
ReplyDelete"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" Orwell, Animal Farm
ReplyDeleteWheres the cancel cancer when they should be doing their job?
ReplyDelete