CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A group of Chicago restaurant owners is challenging the Pritzker Administration's stance that restaurants are potential super-spreader locations for coronavirus.
Gov. JB Pritzker earlier this month banned indoor service at bars and restaurants as cases of COVID-19 have steadily increased.
Roger Romanelli, executive director of the Fulton Market Association, said data is on restaurant owners' side. His business group collected reports from the Chicago Department of Health and said it determined only 8% of people who got coronavirus said they'd been to a restaurant within the past couple of weeks.
"It is time, in our City of Chicago, to stop restaurants from being the scapegoats for the spread of this virus," Romanelli said Wednesday.
Owners are asking for sit-down meeting with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Pritzker to discuss how indoor dining can be restored in the city.
Lightfoot recently announced a $10 million Chicago grant program that will provide recipients with $10,000 each. Romanell said that's not nearly enough. He said he'd like to see the city tap into redevelopment money from tax-increment financing districts.
The group of restaurant owners is also calling for rent and property tax exemption through the end of this year.






