SI ‘Autonomous Zone’ bar ‘bars’ city agents

The city on Sunday sent taxi agents to crack down on a Staten Island bar owner who crowed about defying COVID-19 restrictions, only for the tough-talking proprietor to lock the door and — he says — claim he was closed.

The owners of Mac’s Public House, which is in a virus danger zone and should be closed to indoor service, told The Post last week they are refusing to heed state and city restrictions, which went into effect on Wednesday.

So far, the bar, at 130 Lincoln Ave., has been slapped with thousands of dollars in fines and a shutdown order from the state Department of Health, and its state liquor license has been yanked.

But the watering hole still opened as usual Saturday.

At around 8 p.m. that day, department workers came by and “taped some cease-and-desist notices to the window,’’ co-owner Keith McAlarney told The Post on Sunday.

He said the notices were “gone” by Sunday, adding, “Somebody must have taken them down. We didn’t touch it, wasn’t us.”

By 1 p.m. Sunday, the bar was open again, and a steady stream of customers came and went, with up to at least 14 patrons sitting inside for service at a time.

At around 3:20 p.m., a pair of Taxi & Limousine Commission peace officers with radios approached the door to the tavern and flashed their badges to McAlarney. The TLC is among several city agencies that ferret out scofflaw businesses.

“I locked the door,” McAlarney told The Post.

“One of the TLC workers asked, ‘Oh, are you closed?’ ” McAlarney recounted.

“I said, ‘Yes.’ ”

“She turned and walked away,” he said.

There were nine customers inside at the time.

The TLC agent later told The Post that she asked if the bar was open.

“They said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘OK.’ I’m not going to fight with anyone. I just took a picture of the front of the building, and I’ll include it with my report,” she said.

It was unclear why McAlarney told The Post that he claimed to be closed while the city workers believed he said he was open.

Reps for Mayor de Blasio, Gov. Cuomo and the State Liquor Authority did not respond to requests for comment.

City sheriffs, who typically raid businesses for coronavirus noncompliance, declined to comment.