New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made the argument Tuesday that reopening public schools is a priority over allowing restaurants to reopen their dining rooms because indoor dining is a “very optional” activity for people with “resources,” while public education is a “moral” issue.
“I don’t think there’s a similarity at all,” the democratic socialist mayor said during his daily press briefing. “When we talk about schools, this is something that is mandated for our children to get an education for free and a quality education. We know that we are struggling with an all remote format to give kids what they need and deserve. So we have an imperative, legal imperative, moral imperative, educational imperative to give kids the best education we can.
“We know that means having at least some time in-person, versus indoor dining, which is obviously a very optional activity, and some people do a lot who have the resources and others can’t do it all because they don’t have the resources,” he continued, adding that “you can’t compare the legal and moral imperative of public education with indoor dining.”
“They’re really, to me, two very, very different things,” he said.
Mr. de Blasio complained that a big issue with indoor dining is the government’s limited ability to oversee and intervene in the practices of privately owned businesses.
“And then the question of what’s different between a public sector facility and a private sector facility,” he said. “In the public sector facility, a school, we have a custodial staff, we have educators, we have principals and assistant principals. We have all sorts of people looking to make sure things are done right, and who are held accountable to the public in an open way. In a restaurant, it’s owned by a private owner. We don’t have someone in inspector sitting in that restaurant all day. We don’t know what happens in that restaurant, unless we get a look at it from time to time. They’re very different models in terms of how much you can do to monitor and keep things safe.”
The first day of in-person learning begins for New York City students on Sept. 10.
Mr. de Blasio said last week, “there is no timeline,” for when indoor dining will reopen. On Monday, he hinted they may not be able to reopen until next year.
“Of course, we’ll be back,” he said. “If folks miss the theater, if they miss, you know, the indoor dining, those things will be back, they’ll be back next year at some point, I think that is overwhelmingly the case.”
Meanwhile, 60 percent of hospitality industry workers are without a job in New York and many have been pushed to food pantries and homelessness, Eater reported.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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