Kansas City bars need ‘frickin’ small business relief’ — not a later COVID curfew

Maybe The Blue Line hockey bar, whose owner is trying to get a court order to let Kansas City taverns stay open as if we weren’t at the peak of a pandemic, just needs to start holding boozy prayer services, since the Supreme Court recently ruled that public health considerations needn’t apply to churches.

Also, those who want to stay late at the bar with deaths soaring and hospitals already at capacity need all the prayers they can get.

More seriously, just as the coronavirus doesn’t care whether you’re praying or playing, it also doesn’t care whether it’s noon or midnight, so if anything, the current curfew is too lax.

While we’re sympathetic to what small businesses of all kinds are going through, the evidence says that bars are one of the most dangerous places to be right now, because the longer you stay, the less you tend to care about COVID-19 restrictions.

And with vaccinations available soon, now is not the time to take chances.

The Blue Line, in the River Market, is arguing that the city order enforcing a 10 p.m. curfew for all bars and restaurants as of two weeks ago is unlawful because Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas lacked the authority to issue such an emergency order. Blue Line wants to go back to its usual 3 a.m. closing time.

The bar’s owner does have a serious problem, but he does not have a legal case: Local officials have broad powers to protect public health in emergency situations, and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has only strengthened those powers, approving local mandates to avoid having to make unpopular decisions himself.

County health officials just shut down four restaurants for violating a St. Louis County health order temporarily banning all indoor service in restaurants and bars.

Now, some Republican state lawmakers want to respond by limiting existing local emergency powers. You know, because they’re all for local control unless local officials make decisions with which they disagree. But isn’t the virus claiming enough lives without lawmaking that would allow it to do even more damage?

The White House COVID-19 task force is asking Missouri to strengthen its health orders, but Parson as usual isn’t interested.

Again, there’s no question that bars, restaurants and other businesses are struggling to stay open, and that hurts all of us. Kevin Ryan, the owner of Waldo bar and grill Governor Stumpy’s, says, “It’s a very fine line we walk; I don’t envy the mayor, God love him.” Like others, Ryan wants more flexibility, too, but has opted to close his doors at 9 p.m. for now.

He said there are ways to stay open safely, and acknowledged that not all owners are doing everything they can on that front.

While we don’t see that the current local order goes far enough, in what looks like the home stretch of this nightmare, the curfew’s “logic is based in science and medicine,” Lucas said in an interview.

Because, just as you’d expect, “our evening actors are less compliant,” after a few drinks.

“We’re trying to protect people as best we can,” Lucas said. “We’re here to mitigate the spread of a deadly virus and wish bar owners would remember that — or just come clean and say, ‘What the hell, people are going to die.’’’

The answer to the very real conundrum facing The Blue Line and every other small business isn’t what Lucas rightly calls “COVID roulette,” but the “frickin’ small business relief” that our representatives in Washington, D.C., and Jefferson City seem to show little interest in.

Missouri Sens. Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley, as well as Gov. Parson, have told Lucas that the relief for cities that Republicans oppose is unlikely, he said.

That’s “because in July or August, cities became evil” amid civil rights protests, the mayor said. Only, those hurt by the GOP’s lack of interest in COVID-19 relief for cities include small businesses and local police departments, which will be impacted by cuts along with all other city services.

Instead of blaming the mayor for trying to respond to this no-win situation, let your elected representatives know that their indifference to suffering here is cruel. And is punishing even those they always claim to care about.