Matawan, Keyport Bars React To Murphy's Latest Shutdown Orders
MATAWAN, NJ — "Well, I'm back out of a job."
That was the reaction from Beth Wilner, a bartender at the Brass Rail Bar & Grill in Matawan when asked her thoughts on Gov. Murphy's latest bar and restaurant restrictions.
Starting Thursday, all restaurants and bars have to shut down indoor dining at 10 p.m. Tables can be moved closer together inside, less than six feet apart, but they have to separated by barriers.
And finally, perhaps the most damning: Indoor seating at a bar is banned. Standing at a bar is also prohibited. Food and drinks must be brought to seated tables only, said the governor's office.
Wilner is the daytime bartender at the Brass Rail. With the new rules in place, she doesn't see how the restaurant will need her.
"Why do they need bartenders? They won't anymore. Servers can make drinks. I'm going to have to go back on unemployment again. And at my salary, it's $200 a week. I can't pay my rent on that; I can't even pay my health insurance on that," she said. "And it wasn't like our bar was packed to begin with. People are still nervous to go out."
Murphy issued the restrictions to stem a growing second wave of the coronavirus. On Tuesday, the governor announced its highest daily case total since April – 3,877 – and the state's highest death toll since July: 21.
Wilner said a much smarter idea would have been to just close all bars and restaurants at 10 p.m. every night. That would have at least kept bars open — and bartenders like her employed.
Other bar and restaurant owners repeated what they've said throughout the pandemic: That it seems like their industry is being unfairly targeted by the Murphy administration.
"It's like he has a vendetta against bars and restaurants," said Billy Parker, the owner of Blue Rock Cafe in Keyport. "I obviously can't keep any of my bartenders now. Is it more contagious if you are sitting at a bar, or a table? And apparently it's more deadly after ten o'clock at night."
"I have employees who have been loyal to me for years. When I had to lay people off (in the spring), I had workers who couldn't pay their rent, who had to turn in their cars," he continued. "That was the first time he shut us down. Now, just as I was seeing light at the end of the tunnel, he's shutting the tunnel down again. I don't understand how he's getting away with everything."
All it takes is one case of an outbreak — nine bartenders and servers at Leggetts Sand Bar in Manasquan tested positive for coronavirus this week — and an entire industry is penalized, he said.
"Check the bars that are following the rules," said Parker. "I literally take a tape measure out every night to make sure the tables are far enough apart. You shouldn't penalize people who are following the rules."
"Many bars break the laws and are three deep," agreed Heather Lanzaro, a bartender at Blue Rock. "Not Blue Rock; we have 10 bar stools."
Parker also said it's pointless for him to move tables closer together because Murphy is still capping indoor dining at 25 percent capacity.
"My capacity is 50 people inside anyway, so I'm not wasting money on Plexiglass," he said. "Shut down the ones that are breaking the law. We have not had one case tied to this bar."
"In my 30 years of working, I've never seen anything like this," fumed Lanzaro.
She said she has an autoimmune disorder, but was eager to return to work this spring and also felt safe behind the bar: She was four feet from customers and wearing a mask. She said she feels less safe having to get closer to wait on customers at tables.
"Gov. Murphy should be ashamed of himself and what he's doing to this state. How many bars and restaurants are just not going to make it?"
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This article originally appeared on the Matawan-Aberdeen Patch
