A Queens restaurant filed a $2 billion lawsuit this week against Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) regarding indoor dining rules.
“The lawsuit — which covers Il Bacco restaurant and ‘on behalf of all others similarly situated’ — argues the shutdowns unfairly and unscientifically impact New York City eateries and more than 150,000 restaurant workers who remain unemployed,” according to Patch.com.
The lawsuit stated in bold capital letters that Il Bacco was located “ONE” block away from Nassau County where customers were allowed to eat inside.
“Plaintiff is losing all of its customers to restaurants in Nassau County and is suffering irreparable harm as a result. There is absolutely NO SCIENCE that will prove that ‘indoor dining’ is safer one city block east from Plaintiff’s restaurant,” the lawsuit read.
A decision on whether indoor dining would be allowed soon would be made by the end of September, de Blasio promised Wednesday.
“If there can be a timeline, if there can be a set of standards for reopening, we need to decide that in the next few weeks and announce it, whether it is good news or bad news,” he commented.
De Blasio added that “Indoor bars, indoor nightclubs have been particularly intense nexuses for resurgences around the country, around the world right now. That’s a very big concern.”
However, at a press briefing Monday the mayor suggested that eateries reopening for indoor dining depended on the development of a coronavirus vaccine, according to Breitbart News.
“We do expect — and pray for and expect — a vaccine in the spring that will allow us to get more back to normal,” he said.
“I will absolutely tell you, we’re going to keep looking for that situation where we can push down the virus enough where we would have more ability to address indoor dining,” de Blasio concluded.
In contrast, New Jersey recently announced that restaurants would be allowed to open at 25 percent capacity on Friday, the Breitbart News report said.