No, that wasn’t a typo in the title suggesting the city has banned public defecation. (They wouldn’t. California doesn’t enforce “quality of life crimes.”) Manhattan Beach, a Los Angeles suburb, begins removing all chairs, couches, and tables from public ownership. Yes, Manhattan Beach has banned “sitting in public” as of today. The seating will remain stored “until further notice”. As if you need me to tell you, this is supposedly done to stop the spread of the dreaded new coronavirus. (NY Post)
A city near Los Angeles is closing outdoor seating on public property from Sunday evening amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in the county.
The city, Manhattan Beach, is located on the Southern California coast about 20 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.
From 10 p.m. on Sunday, tables and chairs in outdoor seating will be removed until further notice, the city said.
The announcement comes after the city announced on Saturday that COVID-19 cases – currently at 821 – have nearly doubled since Nov. 1.
The mayor of the city is urging people to stay at home except for ‘work, essentials and go outside to exercise. “Most people who exercise, walk or run outside. When they’re done, they might want to sit down and rest, don’t you think?
Exactly how dangerous does the mayor think is in terms of transmitting the virus? If the park benches are at least six feet long, can’t you just put markers on them indicating where people can sit while still maintaining mandatory social separation? (Assuming they’re too dumb to figure that out for themselves.) The same could be done for the benches on picnic tables. If there are individual public seats that are less than six feet apart, you can put a bag over them to ensure the minimum distance is respected.
Instead, she’ll send a bunch of workers through the city’s public areas to dig out and disassemble all the seating, haul it away, and find somewhere to store it. Then at some point they will have to pay the same people to reinstall them all. Not exactly an efficient use of resources, right?
But all those observations relate only to the logistics of the order rather than the underlying absurdity of the whole idea. Your municipal government will actually ban it sitting? What if people just choose to stand still instead? And what about residents who are partially incapacitated for work? They will be even less motivated to get outside and exercise if they cannot rest comfortably when needed.
Hey, here’s an idea for you. The virus is transmitted through the air, usually when people cough or sneeze. How about banning coughing and sneezing in public? That would keep the transmission of the virus to a minimum. Or, even better, just forbid breathing. If no one exhales, no one else will catch COVID!
Huh. Maybe I should have run for mayor of Manhattan Beach. I never realized I was such an effective problem solver. I would be of course!
