CLEVELAND — As restaurants reopened for patio dining this weekend, all eyes were on the busy metropolitan areas of Northeast Ohio.
While a large number of bar and restaurant owners seemed to take Governor Mike DeWine’s guidelines seriously, some businesses struggled with crowd control.
Rick Doody, owner of Lindey’s Lake House, said even with two police officers on duty, crowd control was hard to manage.
“It was pretty scary,” Doody said. “Saturday we kind of got overwhelmed for a period.”
Governor Mike DeWine spent Monday afternoon reminding the public about the requirements for restaurants and bars, including reservations of 10 people or fewer and six feet of social distance between employees and customers.
He also stressed that customers must be seated at all times.
As Ohioans packed the patios at The Flats this weekend, John Barker with the Ohio Restaurant Association said restaurants not in compliance could face serious consequences.
“And eventually if they don’t follow it and the state gets really tough about this, they could take their liquor license, which is going to be bad news for anybody,” Barker said.
While businesses at The Flats are policed by the Cleveland Department of Public Health instead of the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, Kevin Brennan said the county is looking into four complaints received over the weekend about businesses outside Cleveland city limits.
“We will either contact the owner or manager over the phone or we will choose to go out to the location and physically see it if that’s necessary,” Brennan said.
The City of Cleveland said they received 28 calls over the weekend about businesses and residences that did not follow social distancing guidelines.
“Violating the State’s guidelines for the reopening of businesses is something the City of Cleveland takes very seriously,” said Mayor Frank Jackson. “We will continue to monitor this situation and will be developing a policy to address the actions of habitual offenders.”
The city sent letters to Harry Buffalo, Lago East Bank, Mulberry's and Townhall to warn them about not being in compliance with the health department's order.
