COVID-19 violations spark end to street closure
Despite warnings that patrons weren’t complying with health orders to wear masks and socially distance themselves, some of Danville’s downtown restaurants failed to crack down, according to city officials.
And when a brawl broke out on the street the night of Oct. 17 among about 75 people, that apparently was the last straw.
As a result, and amid a backdrop of a recent rise in COVID-19 cases, the City Council decided during a special meeting Tuesday to reopen the downtown street block that had been closed to traffic on weekends so restaurants and other businesses could spread their tables and wares outside.
Danv ille’s uptick in COVID-19 cases makes it an outlier town in Contra Costa County, which entered the second-least-restrictive orange tier in California’s reopening plan Tuesday.
The block of Hartz Avenue between Diablo Road and Prospect Avenue had been closed ever y Friday, Saturday and Sunday since June to help busi
nesses struggling to survive through pandemic-induced lockdown orders.
City officials had reopened the street last weekend pending the council’s review of the situation. On Tuesday, council members cited the complaints they, too, had heard about patrons breaking pandemic health protocols as a reason to end the street closure program indefinitely.
As for the restaurants that ignored the rules?
“We’re not identifying
any of the businesses where there were complaints,” city spokesman Geoff Gillette said Wednesday. “The point of this is to get everyone working together, not to shame anyone or cause difficulty or financial hardship to any one business.”
Business owners on Hartz Avenue interviewed for this story aren’t telling on one another, either.
They said they enjoyed the outdoor bustle of weekend diners and shoppers but agreed the large crowds were getting out of control.
“It’s unfortunate, but people weren’t abiding by the rules and so they took away (the closure),” said Drew Nichols, owner of Primo’s Pizzeria and Pub. “They warned us; they warned everyone — so here we are.”
“The energy and ambiance and sense of community that the street closure created was very positive, and also enabled a more diverse experience outdoors,” said Marcia Harmon, owner of Cottage Jewel. “All of that was fabulously wonderful, and I hope to see it come back.”
Gillette said he visited
Hartz Avenue during the very first weekend closure in June and what he saw then didn’t strike him as overly unsafe.
But as the summer stretched on, some business owners noticed that social distancing and mask wearing on the street had begun to decline, and general disorder steadily was growing, especially at night.
“We reached out to several of the businesses and asked them to stop hiring live bands, as well as DJs,” said Curtis deCarion, owner of Revel Kitchen and Bar. “If we have an explosion in cases, we’re going to have to go forward instead of backward. We can’t afford to go back to just takeout dining.”
Although street closures may be out of the picture for the foreseeable future, help for the businesses still may be on the way.
Council members discussed setting up some grants to provide businesses a little relief.
Restaurant owners spent a lot of money to establish outdoor dining, Councilman Robert Storer noted.