Hermosa Beach bans restaurant lines, restaurant owners’ object
La Playita owner Harold Cohen welcomes customers Gerard Ravel and Jeff Ginsburg to his restaurant’s new outdoor dining area, occupying two 14th Street parking spaces in front of his downtown Hermosa Beach restaurant. He described the city’s new ban on lines in front of restaurants as “one too many regulations.” Photo
A new city ordinance that prohibits waiting in lines in front of restaurants came as a surprise to restaurant owners and magnifies problems they already face, several restaurant owners said this week.
Last week, the city council voted unanimously to follow a staff suggestion to enact the ordinance, aimed at freeing up pedestrian traffic on Pier Plaza and other areas, and “reducing congestion.”
A March action by the council, a “proclamation of local emergency,” allows passage of a resolution or ordinance without explicit public notice or subsequent readings, as required in routine ordinance enactment.
Long lines at popular beach restaurants are common sights; social distancing requirements in recent months have extended the length of some of these lines.
One longtime city observer opined, “Lines are part of the character of Pier Plaza.”
The restrictions were proposed by Police Chief Paul LeBaron and Community Development Director Ken Robertson. During his presentation to the council, Robertson referred to the county’s “recommendation” for maintaining proper social distancing.
According to Robertson, police officers and enforcement officers “have observed a trend where customers of dine-in restaurants are congregating and lining up outside the check-in stands … and entries to outside dining areas in a manner inconsistent with physical distancing guidelines.”
Robertson told the council that “supplemental requirements are warranted to ensure compliance with physical distancing requirements of the LA County Health Officer order.”
Methods of complying for restauranteurs, said Robertson, include texting customers who wait elsewhere; and taking names and asking customers to come back at a certain time.
Council member Stacey Armato made the motion to approve the ordinance. Progressive fines await owners in non-compliance.
The agenda item specified the council was to “receive [a] report on emergency measures to ensure compliance with pandemic-related health orders from both the city and the county of Los Angeles Health Department.”
The county’s guidelines for safe operations of restaurants only recommended changes such as those that have been integrated into the new local ordinance.
No other business types in the city are impacted by the new city ordinance.
Restaurant owners who discussed the situation with Easy Reader said city officials did not share their plans before presenting them to the council. One said the only notice he got was a “tip” from an enforcement officer to an employee that “some restriction” was pending with the council.
Harold Cohen, owner of La Playita Mexican restaurant, said the new rules create “the possibility of things being very confrontational. By this stage of the pandemic, one should be aware of the importance of wearing a mask and social distancing. This is one too many regulations.” He echoed observations by other owners that complying with the ordinance will require additional staff.
Hennessey’s Tavern owner Paul Hennessey said he didn’t know why city officials didn’t contact owners: “I don’t know what the problem is supposed to be. Where are they [patrons] supposed to go? To the local liquor store while they wait? Tell them to wait and come back later? They walk away and they don’t come back.”
Hennessey questioned the ordinance’s purpose. “If we knew what the problem was, we probably could have come up with a solution. Patrons don’t mind waiting in line 15 or 20 minutes, but where are they going to go? Now we are policing them.”
He described the situation facing his employees as “a nightmare. They need to enforce the masks, people going to the bathroom… it’s just one more thing that the customer has to be mad at us about. A bunch of people standing in line, properly distanced… is that a problem? It’s crazy.”
Ron Newman, owner of Sharkee’s and Palmilla on Pier Plaza, said he was surprised the matter “even came up.”
“It should have been brought before the city’s Economic Development Committee, which it wasn’t,” Newman said.
He noted that studies have shown that “fifty percent of those who are asked to come back later, don’t.”
And he has noticed that local businesses are under no such restrictions.
“Somebody got this bright idea without discussing it. So it just kind of slipped through. I think when [city officials] think it through… they will have to make an adjustment on it,” Newman said. ER