NY business owners slam Cuomo for allowing Bills fans into stadium but not restaurants: 'Totally unfair'
The New York governor touted his decision to allow fans to go to the game but still has indoor dining closed just miles away
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}New York restaurant owners are slamming Gov. Andrew Cuomo for announcing that thousands of Buffalo Bills fans can attend the team's upcoming playoff game while many businesses remain shuttered.
The Democratic governor, who is being sued by several business owners due to coronavirus restrictions prohibiting indoor dining, said he'll be in attendance, touting it as a pilot program for resuming live events during the pandemic, allowing 6,700 fans to attend if they test negative for COVID-19 before entering.
"A football playoff game is outdoors, which is a much better situation from COVID spread," Cuomo said. "We believe we are the first state in the nation to run this kind of pilot. We think it can be very instructive to us going forward."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}COURT WHITTLES GOV. ANDREW CUOMO'S CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS AWAY
Don Swartz, owner of Veneto Gourmet Pizza and Pasta in Rochester, told "Fox & Friends" everyone in western New York wants to go to the Bills game but is just asking they also be allowed to dine in a restaurant.
"I want the same opportunity to have people come into the restaurant and dine. It's a personal choice. If people feel comfortable about going to the Bills game in a safe manner, and we're following the CDC guidelines, that Rochester City, the County of Monroe also set up some guidelines for us to follow, I want people to be able to make the same choice and come and support us, just as they're going to go root on the Buffalo Bills," Swartz said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ralph Galluzzi, owner of Raphael's in Hamburg, just minutes from the stadium, said he's down to one employee from 10 and only open three days a week because of the shutdown.
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"I'm six minutes from the stadium, so anybody that wanted to stop before or after, I lose that," Galluzzi said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I feel that everything that is going on right now in the restaurant industry is totally unfair. People do not go out to dinner when they're sick, they stay home, but they will go to Walmart or the drugstore when they're sick," he concluded. "Are they spreading this in restaurants or Walmart?"