Mayor Jim Langfelder has called an emergency city council meeting for Wednesday to discuss COVID-19 and the recent state order that took effect today, shutting down indoor dining at bars and restaurants.
In email sent to city council members Sunday, Langfelder didn’t propose any specific actions or say exactly what, if anything, he intends to propose at the Wednesday meeting. But he said last week that the city would not immediately enforce the state mandate to shut down bars and restaurants beginning today.
“Thursday night, I participated in a call with mayors across the state that include Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other Chicago-area mayors,” Langfelder wrote in his email to council members. “There was shared frustration about the lack of reliable data, the mental and emotional stress on impacted business workers and business owners, the legal clarity enforcing the governor’s new order and the lack of resources to do so.”
Several Springfield restaurants were open Sunday and offering sit-down dining despite the state order aimed at lowering a rising number of COVID-19 cases in Sangamon County and around the state. Local restaurant owners and some elected officials want to see scientific proof that the virus is more prone to spread in bars and restaurants than other places.
The mayor told council members that police made spot checks of bars and restaurants throughout the day and night on Saturday, with a goal of visiting at least 50 businesses. “The results will be reviewed for a determination of follow-up actions,” the mayor wrote. “(Police) Chief (Kenny) Winslow has instructed officers to continue to do these COVID-19 surveillance checks during all shifts.”
But just what the city might do in the event of violations isn’t clear made clear in the mayor’s email to council members.
“On Monday, we will make an announcement with regards to the weekend enforcement measures and an update on how we intend to move forward with mitigation processes,” the mayor wrote.
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Best Of Springfield 2020.
Any elected official that values his or her ability to retain office when coming up for re-election REALLY needs to consider this seriously.
It is FAR PAST the time when customers and business owners need to put our public SERVANTS in their places.
We, as voters and residents of our respective cities, towns, states and this country, as business owners and the people who need these businesses, stand together and tell these idiot politicians to go home, stay there and don’t run for office again.
I hope everyone has thoroughly enjoyed this past year – it is a preview of your new normal LITERALLY if you don’t figure out what sort of people to put into these offices.