California Orders All Bars and Nightclubs in CA to Close, and Restaurants to 50% | Hacker News Reader

California Orders All Bars and Nightclubs in CA to Close, and Restaurants to 50%

sfist.com

27 pointsalexmingoia6 comments

Ugh. This needs to be an legal order.

I was walking my dogs earlier today and there were giant queues of people outside restaurants and cafes in Oakland. It’s also not sufficient to say “only seat X% of usual” - you also can’t allowed queues.

This ignores bars that carefully ensure person to person contact via the annoying ID check stamps.

One interesting thing here, the Governor is only giving "guidance" not a legal order. My local bars are promising to stay open since its not legally binding :(

A lot of bars and restaurants don’t have a choice. Their margins are razor thin as it is. Forcing them to close for weeks is, for many, equivalent to asking them to shut down and declare bankruptcy if there is no kind of stay on rents/mortgages.

A lot of landlords aren’t going to give a damn unless they are forced to.

Seems like circumstances might force the landlord to act similar to someone who gives a damn, if they look at it rationally.

Let's say you own a property that is suited for retail business like bars or restaurants. The bar that currently occupies it can't pay rent for a month or two.

They have broken their end of the agreement, so now you have the power to evict them. But do you actually want to do it? If so, how soon are you going to be able to get a new tenant? The entire industry just took a huge hit, so how many restaurant or bar businesses have expansion on their minds? Not many.

You're probably better off just taking a loss and letting your current tenant keep doing business there.

Agreed, something needs to be done to help with the inevitable hardship. The Governor’s announcement appears like he’s just trying to save face, as there’s no consequences to ignoring his “guidance”.

If it doesn't work, it'll be mandatory soon.

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