Mac’s public house manager arrested in Staten Island for Covid violations



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When Governor Andrew M. Cuomo imposed a 10 p.m. curfew on bars, Mac’s Public House, a Staten Island tavern, remained open after hours.

When indoor dining was banned in the area due to high rates of coronavirus infection, the bar continued to serve local customers inside.

When the state suspended the pub’s liquor license, the CEO announced a way around the law: by serving food and alcohol for free – always indoors – in exchange for a contribution. .

Keith McAlarney, the owner of the bar, has ignored the bans and waivers and the rapidly piling up fines, he said. Mr McAlarney painted an orange rectangle on the front and declared the bar a “self-contained area”. He publicly provoked Mr. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, whom he called “de Bozo”, to come in person and remove the permit from the wall.

But this week, the city and state fought back, making this tavern a flashpoint in the Covid culture wars that have turned some business owners and party hosts into rebels against the restrictions of the pandemic.

In New York City, Staten Island has been one of the centers of rebellion, even as authorities began building an emergency field hospital due to the spike in the rate of coronavirus infection in the borough. The zip code for the area where the bar is located has a test positivity rate of 8.62, the fourth highest among New York zip codes in the past seven days.

Staten Island diverges from the city’s other four boroughs in its Republican political leanings and support for President Trump, and even in the desire of some of its residents over the years to secede from the city.

On Tuesday, deputies from the city’s sheriff’s office arrested Danny Presti, the bar manager, for obstructing government administration. They took him handcuffed as protesters and loyal customers heckled them.

State Senator Andrew Lanza, a Republican who represents the area, showed up on Tuesday night to support the bar and told the New York Post he was surrounded and physically restrained by lawmakers when he attempted to make your way to help Mr. Presti. Mr Lanza did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

On Wednesday night, protesters gathered outside the bar, many waving American flags and shouting chants against Mr. Cuomo.

In an interview on Wednesday, Mr McAlarney said he believes he needs to take a stand against a boost in restrictions that is hurting businesses like his. “I was trying to get their attention to work with the industry instead of being lazy in their decisions and just shutting things down,” he said from inside his bar as ‘a phalanx of deputy sheriffs outside prevented customers from entering.

Because customers gather and talk loudly, health experts have said bars are often the main spreaders of the virus, which has killed more than 24,000 people in New York City.

Still, Mr McAlarney said he was not convinced the restrictions on bars were effective in stopping the spread of the virus and questioned the government’s role in regulating gatherings. “If you think it’s not safe to go out, choose to stay home,” he says.

While many bar owners have resisted the pandemic restrictions that prevent their businesses, most have respected them, often by legally welcoming drinkers outdoors, on sidewalks, parking lots and street spaces – and serving them. food, at the insistence of the state.

But Mr McAlarney, who said he ran out of his savings to open the bar a year ago, said he felt compelled to resist the city’s “bullying tactics”.

The free drink strategy was announced by Mr Presti on a YouTube video in which he explained behind the bar that these donations from customers would help pay the bar bills.

“It was never mandatory, only requested,” McAlarney said.

State officials have said that even the free service of alcohol without a state license is illegal.

The governor’s office criticized McAlarney for putting the policy on pandemic security.

“This owner is learning that actions have consequences,” said Jack Sterne, a spokesperson for Mr. Cuomo. “Breaking the law and putting the lives of your neighbors at risk during a global pandemic to make a political statement is simply unacceptable.”

Regarding the bar declaring itself an autonomous zone, Mitch Schwartz, a spokesperson for the mayor, said: “COVID-19 does not respect autonomous zones, neither does the sheriff – there are consequences to endangering your neighbors. in the event of a pandemic.

Mr Presti’s arrest came shortly after several plainclothes MPs sat inside Mac’s and ordered food and alcohol in exchange for a mandatory $ 40 ‘donation’. . They observed that other customers were doing the same, said city sheriff Joseph Fucito.

MPs then issued appearance tickets for multiple violations of city and state laws and ordered Mr. Presti to leave. When he refused, he was arrested, said Mark J. Fonte, an attorney for the owners of the bar.

Mr Fonte claimed the city was setting an example of the bar for its vocal resistance to “onerous restrictions that would bankrupt them.”

He said Mac was already struggling this fall because restrictions only allowed homeowners to seat customers at 25% of their normal capacity. These limits apply to all dining and dining in New York City.

When the area was designated an orange zone due to the upsurge in virus cases, with domestic services banned, “it just crushed them, so they are doing whatever they can to try to survive,” Fonte said. .



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