Solvang Openly Defies State COVID-19 Order
Council Says Restaurants Should ‘Go About Their Business’
As Santa Barbara County battles against its third wave of the coronavirus, reporting 643 active cases Friday and 140 total deaths, Solvang is actively flouting Governor Gavin Newsom’s latest stay-at-home order. The order closed all in-person dining, hotels, and wineries and breweries ― the types of businesses the Danish-themed tourist town lives on.
On Monday, the city council voted to defy the state edict, which applies to the entire Southern California region, including Los Angeles. Mayor Ryan Toussaint filed the emergency motion. It was approved unanimously. “As of tonight, they can go about their business,” said Councilmember Daniel Johnson of the restaurants and bars lining downtown’s Copenhagen Drive.
“People can’t keep getting kicked like this,” said Councilmember Robert Clarke, complaining Solvang and Santa Barbara County shouldn’t be lumped with Los Angeles and its spiking caseload. “Maybe we need to rename all our restaurants French Laundry,” he quipped, alluding to Newsom’s famously hypocritical close-quarters dinner at an upscale Napa restaurant.
