Mayor Lightfoot Wants Bars And Restaurants Opened Soon

The timing of this is...interesting. 

Mayor Lightfoot isn't the only city leader advocating for the opening of restaurants either. We'll get to that in a second.

It appears that for some reason, the Mayor has changed her tune when it comes to restaurants and bars. She is claiming that she's concerned about people holding their own risky gatherings:

CBSChicago - ...the mayor said the ban on indoor dining and bar service has resulted in people engagin in risky behavior in private, holding underground parties at hotels, businesses, and elsewhere, without wearing masks or keeping a safe distance from other people to limit the spread of the virus.

Mayor Lightfoot is saying that because some people are breaking the rules, we're going to just go against what you've been preaching for months because it would be safer for a lot of people to "safely" congregate at bars instead of sneaking around at private parties.

It doesn't all add up.

To be clear, I absolutely want bars and restaurants to open back up. Safely of course, but it seems like a reasonable thing to do, especially as we see establishments close down with little to no government help during the shutdown.

More from Lightfoot:

If we have people and give them an outlet for entertainment in the restaurant space, in the bar space, we have much more of an opportunity, in my view, to be able to regulate and control that environment.

Why is this true today but it wasn't a few months ago? I have an idea that I won't speculate here (you probably have the same idea) but that just seems way too obvious. Judging from the reaction to this announcement from people on every segment of the political spectrum, only the blindest of followers aren't raising an eyebrow at the timing of this.

It's also happening in other areas of the country that previously were on strict lockdowns.

Sacramento just lifted their stay-at-home order only a week after a surge in cases.

New York is trying to reopen restaurants:

Philadelphia too:

Now to devil's advocate here, this could just be a response to lower NYE surges than expected and the latest rollout of vaccines.

No matter the reason it looks like bars and restaurants might finally have some good news on the horizon.