STATEN ISLAND, New York (WABC) Some embattled bar owners on Staten Island, who have refused to comply with COVID restrictions, are now planning to sue Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The owners of Mac s Public House claim Governor Cuomo s COVID restrictions defied logic and they have declared their business an autonomous zone.
Naveen Dhaliwal reports from Staten Island where sheriff s deputies shut down a bar and arrested the general manager.
The bar has been closed since December, but now the owners are planning to reopen without enforcing COVID regulations. Mac s is going to open and we re not going to follow any mandates, Mac s Public House co-owner Dan Presti said. If you wanna wear masks, wear mask if you don t, you don t have to. Nowhere are small business owners supposed to be the mask police and enforce these policies.
Lap Dances, Karaoke, Late Hours: The Speakeasies of the Covid Era
State restrictions, and a surge in enforcement, have pushed some bars underground. Many have been hit with violations and face a challenging winter.
At Deja Vu on Staten Island, investigators said they found 40 people mingling behind a rolled-down front gate. Credit.Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times
Jan. 6, 2021
In Brooklyn, investigators arrived at a bar in December to discover exotic dancers giving lap dances to patrons behind a locked door as music blared, state officials said.
At a karaoke bar in Queens, officers found eight rooms filled with people and a manager, none wearing a mask. Just three days earlier, police had discovered a nearly identical scene at the same spot.