They ‘aren’t playing’: KC cracks down on bars and restaurants violating COVID order
Kansas City’s liquor control authorities found two dozen bars and restaurants in violation of the city’s new COVID-19 restrictions after a weekend sweep of 185 establishments.
The city’s Department of Regulated Industries, which governs liquor licenses, used to rely primarily on complaints to enforce restrictions. But as the latest set of rules issued by Mayor Quinton Lucas took effect Friday — limiting bars and restaurants to 50% capacity and a closing time of 10 p.m. — the city became more proactive.
Staffers will be out every weekend checking on businesses, said Jim Ready, manager of Regulated Industries.
“We’re doing it — not to pick on the business. It’s because the COVID-19 numbers in Kansas City are really scary,” he said. “The hospitals are getting stretched to the max.”
Though the reports are not yet finalized, the department told the mayor’s office that it spotted 23 violations of the mask orders and that six establishments broke curfew last weekend.
At one, staff members weren’t wearing masks, Ready said. Another was open past 10 p.m. with live music and half of the occupants not wearing masks.
Ready said once supervisors in the department finalize reports, he will review them, speak with managers of the establishments and decide whether to issue a citation or warning. Some of those potential cases might not stick.
The stricter enforcement comes as Kansas City resumes strict measures to limit a second wave of the coronavirus gripping the area.
As of Monday, the average daily increase in COVID-19 cases in the metro was 1,182. Almost 1,000 area residents have died from COVID-19.
In addition to the restaurant rules, Lucas barred indoor gatherings of more than 10 and strengthened the city’s existing mask mandate.
On Tuesday, Lucas noted the messages he gets from residents — some demanding he not shut the city down and others begging that he does. The orders, he said, allow the city to maintain “some level of normalcy” rather than shutting down entirely.
“I will continue to push these orders as not just something that mitigates the spread of disease and infection,” Lucas said, “but as something that actually helps our city stay open, that helps businesses survive and that helps us get back to normalcy whenever that time will come.”
For the most part, Ready said, bars and restaurants have done a good job complying with the new order.
But he said city staffers “aren’t playing.”
Ready said he knows businesses are hurting because of the pandemic and doesn’t want to make things worse, but they have to do their part to bend the steep increase in coronavirus cases in Kansas City.
“It will cost you your liquor license if you continue to violate the mayor’s emergency order,” he said.
Wyandotte County in Kansas and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri adopted rules similar to those in Kansas City. But Johnson County’s latest order allows bars and restaurants to stay open until midnight and doesn’t limit their capacity. The county also allows larger indoor gatherings, up to 50 people or 50% capacity, whichever is smaller.
However, Johnson County officials voted last week to impose fines of up to $500 on businesses in violation of the new orders.
