East Point imposes business curfew, orders some businesses to close
City Council OKs second emergency declaration despite objections over ‘draconian measures’
The East Point City Council approved a second state of emergency late Saturday, ordering bars and restaurants to close to in-person dining, imposing a curfew on businesses and shutting down non-essential ones.
The declaration – the second from the city in five days – takes more dramatic action than other cities in metro Atlanta and goes much further than action by Gov. Brian Kemp and state officials in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic hitting Georgia. The new order came at the end of a nearly five-hour emergency meeting sometimes punctuated with arguing and shouting between council members.
Much of the ordinance takes effect Monday and lasts for 30 days, while non-essential businesses are ordered to close their doors on Tuesday.
“State and federal governments are leaving this to localities,” Mayor Deana Holiday Ingraham said during the council meeting.
“We are making these decisions because we feel they are important for East Point. We don’t have to follow, we can lead,” she added.
The emergency meeting was announced on social media about four hours before its 6 p.m. start. The proposed ordinance, along with a list of essential business types, was provided to council members but not published publicly ahead of the meeting.
The ordinance prohibits in-person dining at restaurants, bars and entertainment venues, but allows takeout and delivery for food. Unopened beer and wine are also allowed to be sold with takeout meals at places already licensed to sell it. That replaces a 50-person limit for in-person dining the city council imposed on bars and restaurants on Monday. The new restrictions start March 23 at 12 a.m. and last for 30 days.
The ordinance approved Saturday also orders businesses to close between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., though it includes exceptions for pharmacies, hotels and healthcare providers. The business curfew starts March 23 at 12 a.m. and lasts for 30 days.
The ordinance also shuts down non-essential businesses at 12 a.m. on March 24 and lasts for seven days. That section provoked the most heated discussions and repeatedly stalled approval of the ordinance.
The closure of non-essential businesses allows a wide array to keep operating, including grocery stores, food banks, outdoor farmers markets, gas stations, banks, hotels, hardware stores and nurseries, plumbers, electricians, exterminators, janitorial workers, handyman services, funeral homes, moving services, HVAC installers, carpenters, landscapers and gardeners, property managers, private security, healthcare providers and facilities, transportation services, warehouses and distribution centers, media and public and private schools. Businesses that provide food, shelter, social services and other “necessities of life for economically disadvantaged people” are also exempt from closing.
‘Our people will die at an alarming rate’
The effort by the council to take more action since it approved an emergency ordinance on Monday was sparked by continued commerce at Camp Creek Marketplace and residents ignoring federal health guidelines about social distancing and self-quarantining.
“Our people are not responding,” Council member Karen René (photo) said during the meeting. “They are socializing as if nothing is going on. I don’t know if our community can handle this crisis if we continue the way we’re going.”
“Our people will die at an alarming rate, I promise you that,” René added.
Ingraham said the marketplace is a regional attraction that continues to draw crowds even as the pandemic worsens.
“We have a regional shopping center that is still today very active,” she said. “People who come visit that marketplace are not just from East Point, it is regional. People are coming from all over and probably even global because you have people from the airport.”
But passing the ordinance hinged on convincing Council members Joshua Butler and Stephanie Gordon to vote for it. Both council members objected to closing non-essential businesses across the city.
“We are being shortsighted in our decision making and our arguments,” Butler said. “In the spirit of trying to compromise, I wholeheartedly disagree with discriminating against one set of people. If we are going to close one, we have to close them all.”
“Atlanta is not doing this. So we’re still going to be impacted by our neighbors. South Fulton is not doing this. Palmetto is not doing this,” Butler said.
On Thursday, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms ordered bars, nightclubs, gyms, movie theaters and live performance venues to close. The order also banned in-person dining and limited restaurants and bars to delivery, takeout or drive-through.
On Friday, Tucker imposed a nighttime curfew on residents that runs from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. On Tuesday, South Fulton also put in a place a curfew between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. College Park ordered bars, nightclubs and restaurants to closed between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Several other jurisdictions around metro Atlanta have restricted in-person dining at restaurants and bars.
‘This is about being fair and just’
Butler (photo) described the proposed restrictions in the East Point ordinance as “draconian measures.” He said the state should take action and close all businesses to avoid some operations being closed while others are allowed to remain open.
“This is not about business. This is about people. This is about being fair and just. Who are we to decide what is essential and non-essential? With this ordinance, we are trying to discriminate against one group of people over another based on what they do,” Butler said.
“It’s not a compromise when you can tell half the people they can work and the other half they can’t,” he added.
Gordon also urged Kemp and the state to take action so any restrictions would be uniform across businesses and jurisdictions.
“We do know the rate will increase and we don’t want to jeopardize any of our residents,” Gordon said. “[But] going to the extreme tonight is too far. We can always reassess but tonight I am not going to that extreme.”
The measure needed five votes to pass. But with just six council members at the meeting – Nanette Saucier and Myron Cook did not attend – the objections of Butler and Gordon would sink the ordinance.
Neither council member wanted to close non-essential businesses immediately, which a draft of the ordinance apparently proposed. So a lengthy effort to compromise on the start date and length of the business closings unfolded.
“This is a pandemic and catastrophe larger than [Hurricane] Katrina,” Council member Thomas Calloway said. “Waiting for the federal government to come down here and rescue us is not going to turn out well for us. I understand that businesses are going to be affected. It is going to be tough. It is going to be painful.”
Council member Sharon Shropshire pushed hard to broker a compromise between supporters of more stringent restrictions and the objections of Butler and Gordon.
“I am hoping the numbers don’t go up but the numbers are going to go up,” Shropshire said. “It will be a tragedy that we are here and the ordinance does not pass.”
“What matters to me is that we make the right decision to protect everybody in this city. It would be devastating if this ordinance does not pass. We have to meet in the middle,” she added.
Toward the end of the nearly five-hour meeting, council members agreed to the limits on the start and length of closing non-essential businesses. The council isn’t scheduled to meet again until April 6. But since a portion of the new emergency ordinance expires in seven days, it’s likely a meeting will be called before the April session.