By Mary O’KEEFE

During the Nov. 24 meeting of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors the board voted to ban outdoor dining at restaurants, breweries and wineries. During that meeting Supervisor Sheila Kuehl voted for the ban in a 3-2 vote.
At the meeting she spoke about the serious nature of the pandemic and called outdoor dining a “most dangerous situation.”

Not long after voting to close all restaurants to outdoor dining she enjoyed an outdoor dinner at Il Forno trattoria.

“That was shocking,” said Art Miner, owner of The Crow’s Nest Sports Grille in Tujunga, when he heard the news of the Kuehl’s vote to close in-person dining, then was seen dining out.

“Supervisor Kuehl dined al fresco at Il Forno on the very last day it was permissible. She loves Il Forno, has been saddened to see it, like so many restaurants, suffer from a decline in revenue,” according to a prepared statement from the Supervisor’s office. “She ate there, taking appropriate precautions, and will not dine there again until our Public Health Orders permit.”

Kuehl explained that she is supportive of the restaurant and encouraged people to order take-out in support as well.

CVW reached out to the supervisor’s office to ask why the “appropriate precautions” taken on Nov. 24 was satisfactory to help stop the spread of COVID-19 but those same precautions, which have been observed for outdoor dining for the last several weeks, would not be appropriate after the closure order went into place. CVW had not received a response as of deadline.
Miner was happy to hear that fifth district supervisor Kathryn Barger voted against the closure and voiced her support for the restaurant industry; however, learning of Kuehl eating outdoors in what Miner considered a safe environment right after voting to close the restaurants down was upsetting.
He added that the people who “make the rules” don’t realize how regimented the industry is at following those rules; then, to get shut down, is a lot to take in.

“These [officials] – they are still getting a paycheck,” he said.