A crowd of protesters rallied Monday outside an Ocean County diner that has been cited numerous times for offering indoor dining in defiance of state rules aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
The protest, organized by Open New Jersey Now and New Jersey for Freedom, came after repeated citations of the Lakeside Diner in Lacey Township. Police changed the locks to the building early Friday, but the owners reopened that same day.
“(The owners) are just trying to survive and trying to prevent himself and his wife from losing their business and everything they have built over the last 30 years,” said protest organizer Ayla Wolf, the founder of both groups. She said she has held more than a dozen similar rallies around the state, including at Atalis Gym in Bellmawr, which made national headlines after it opened in defiance of Gov. Phil Murphy’s COVID-19 lockdown.
Brian and Debbie Brindisi, the diner’s owners, have been cited at least 10 times by authorities, Debbie Brindisi told NJ Advance Media on Friday.
The couple says it was forced to start serving customers indoors for financial reasons and contend the governor’s orders infringe on their rights.
“As well as a need financially to pay our bills here, pay our bills at home, pay our employees, it’s also a constitutional right,” Debbie Brindisi said.
Wolf said Lakeside Diner is a model for how indoor dining can restart safely in New Jersey. The restaurant is seating at only 25% capacity, customers sit more than six feet apart, their temperatures are taken and servers wear masks, she said.
Other nearby states have also begun allowing indoor dining, including some counties in Pennsylvania, Wolf said.
“They are opened very safely. They are using the guidelines all the other states like Pennsylvania and New York are using for indoor dining,” Wolf said. “We’re here defending the small businesses in New Jersey that are not being allowed to reopen.”
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Avalon Zoppo may be reached at azoppo2@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AvalonZoppo.
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