FORT WORTH (1080 KRLD) - The City of Fort Worth has a stern warning for a Stockyards bar planning on reopening Friday against Governor Abbott's order.
The Basement Bar has announced on Facebook that it is ignoring Governor Abbott's order and will reopen on Friday, often insulting people who leave comments critical to that decision.
That announcement, especially the tone of it, got the attention of Fort Worth Code Compliance.
"There will be zero tolerance should the bar open on what we will do moving forward," says Code Compliance Director Brandon Bennett. "An official letter went out on city letterhead yesterday, hand delivered today, and we're anticipating having probably a couple more conversations with them between now and Friday."
In part, the letter states in part that if The Basement Bar opens on Friday, the city will revoke its certificate of occupancy.
"We are ready, willing and able to use all enforcement tools that are available to us," says Bennett, "including the issuance of criminal citations, court actions and also bringing in TABC to look at a liquor license violation if they should open in violation of the governor's order."
The city says it would go after The Basement Bar for restitution of any expenses incurred, including for law enforcement, attorney's fees and court costs.
The letter states that failure to comply with the governor's executive order is punishable by up to a $1000 fine and/or 180 days in jail.
And that doesn't just apply to the business.
"If people gather together and they're not six feet or more apart, if they are doing things which are contrary to the governor's order, they would also be subject to enforcement action," Bennett says.
Governor Abbott's executive order states that businesses not currently being allowed to open on Friday may be allowed to open on May 18th, barring a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Bennett says waiting two weeks is a much better option.
"Waiting a couple of weeks is probably a better financial decision for these bars than to face criminal prosecution and/or civil penalties," Bennett says.
Still, Bennett understands the situation that The Basement Bar and other businesses in the same situation are going through at this time.
"I certainly appreciate the bars wanting to get open and getting back into better economic and financial status, (but) it's just not the right time to do it from a public health perspective," says Bennett.
KRLD has reached out to a representative of The Basement Bar and is waiting to hear back.
UPDATE 4/30: KRLD's news partner, NBC-5, obtained this unsigned email from The Basement Bar's Facebook account:
This has been a mess. We really only advertised a week ago we are opening May 1st. Which at the time was perfectly legal to do. Not defying anyone's orders. Now the orders have changed and we are with our lawyers to decide the best way to move forward. We agree with the lady and the hair salon in Dallas and support her but she doesn't have as much to lose as we do. We can't simply "move the Basement Bar" to another location. Fort Wort has been ver good to us. The TABC and FWPD has been very respectful and informative. We do not want to spit in the face of the city, police or any other enforcement agencies. We love the city of Fort Worth as much as the next person and do not want to black eye the stockyards which is our home. We have been closed since March 18th, longer than any other industry and have abided by the rules ever since. We highly disagree with the states and city decisions made. They are ludicrous and down right meaningless in any fight against a "virus". -You can drink a beer sitting at a bar in Chili's but not at a bar in the Stockyards who holds fewer people. It's idiotic. But with that said we we respect our city and follow the rules set forth for us once again and will wait and see how this plays out.On record
You can read the letter
.
