SF Might Reopen Bars, Indoor Dining Sooner Than Expected

San Francisco officials are seeking permission to open the city’s bars and dining rooms

At a full meeting of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors Tuesday night, the Supes unanimously agreed to enter the attestation process — that is, a series of assurances submitted to the state of California that would allow it to open up so-called “high risk” businesses like indoor restaurants, bars, hair salons, or gyms.

Out of California’s 58 counties, only five counties had yet to provide attestation to the state: Alameda, Imperial, Marin, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties. Now San Francisco will start submitting those attestations — mainly, it appears from SFist’s reporting on the matter — to allow bars to open prior to the mid-August date that booze-only establishments currently face.

According to Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who spoke with KPIX, if SF’s attestation is approved, SF’s “chief health officer has a lot more latitude in moving up dates for bars, outdoor dining, indoor dining, you name it,” Peskin says (outdoor dining, we should note, has been allowed in SF since June 12).

But that doesn’t mean that the day SF gets state-level approval, it’s back to the lives we were all leading in February, Supervisor Matt Haney tells ABC 7. Instead, he says, it would merely allow “us to set a timeline of reopening that is connected to what we’re seeing in San Francisco as opposed to just having to follow whatever the state tells us.”

And in other news...

• A November ballot measure introduced by San Francisco Mayor London Breed might make it easier to open a restaurant in the city. Called “Save our Small Businesses,” the measure asks voters to agree to an expedited permit and inspection process for restaurants and other businesses, and to put to rest some zoning issues that prevent businesses from operating in some parts of the city. [SF Business Times]
• Workers at Oakland’s so-called “dog diaper” McDonalds — 11 of whom have now reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 — are suing its owner, saying that his alleged insistence that they work when ill has caused a 25-case outbreak of the virus. [KPIX]
• An apparent mistake at City Hall meant that many restaurants that opened for outdoor dining in San Francisco last week weren’t allowed to legally serve alcohol. [Mission Local]
• Jesse Woodward, the co-owner of Castro sports bar Hi Tops, will open a spot called Lobby Bar at the ground floor of the Hotel Castro, an under-construction hotel at 4230 18th Street. Expect “a neighborhood cocktail lounge with shareable, local fresh food,” Woodward says. [Hoodline]
• Restaurant pages on SF-based review platform Yelp will soon include information on the venues’ safety protocols. [CNet]
• Castro Republic, the window-lined triangular restaurant at Market and 16th Streets, is closed for good. [Hoodline]
• East Bay restaurants Daughter’s Diner, Babette and Bliss Belly Kitchen say they’ve all struggled during the pandemic. [Berkeleyside]