The director of Hamilton’s emergency operations centre (EOC) says the city is seeing “tremendous compliance” with COVID-19 bylaw regulations despite a Stoney Creek restaurant making the city’s offences list again.
Bylaw officers charged the Krown Kafe on Queenston Road for a second time on Thursday for failing to provide and post a required pandemic safety plan.
“And I hope that this list is doing what it was intended to, which is we’re out there and we’re going to continue to enforce, and in the case of the Krown Kafe, enforce again,” the EOC’s Paul Johnson said in a city update on Monday afternoon.
Krown Kafe was charged and fined $3,000 in mid-November for a similar violation that Johnson characterized as “beyond the pale.”
The restaurant was accused of not enforcing mask-wearing or physical distancing. It also allegedly did not keep a contact tracing list.
In all, the city charged seven other establishments for not following COVID-19 rules, last week.
Three bars, Fla Cafe & Bar on Barton Street East, the Galley Pump Tavern on Wentworth Street North, and Nobody’s Perfect Bar & Grill on John Street North were each charged with a single offence as were the Diamond Beauty and Barber on Upper James Street and the Big Bee Convenience on Concession Street.
Since the city began the list, Johnson told Global News that seeing only “a couple of additions” each week has generally made him feel good about compliance.
“When I do see the updates each week, only having a couple of additions, it does say to me that with all the time we’re out in the community all the time doing our enforcement checks, that the people are following those rules,” Johnson said.
He says the city will keep visiting and making it harder for non-compliant businesses to manage financially, however, he said the real issue is with individuals choosing not to follow the rules and not so much the businesses.
“Having that (bylaws) in place won’t be the answer to how we keep our numbers down. It’s going to take a much broader approach to that, and it’s much more about individuals, to be quite honest with you,” said Johnson.
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