Davis City Leaders Remove Large Outdoor Tents After Large Weekend Gathering
DAVIS (CBS13) — A COVID-19 crackdown is underway in Davis after a massive crowd took over an outdoor tent.
City leaders had provided two large tents for restaurants to use as a communal resource on G Street and the E Street Plaza area. Now, they've not only removed the tents but are enforcing restrictions on alcohol consumption.
Police say the gathering, which was in violation of COVID-19 restrictions, happened over the weekend. Many people in the crowd were not wearing masks.
"That does sound kind of risky with COVID, but at the same time we've been in lockdown for like months so I can understand why people would want to get out and gather," said John Paul Johnson, who was visiting Davis.
City enforcers swooped in quickly, taking down two large tents they had provided for the community and no longer allowing G street to be an open container zone for alcohol consumption.
"After we saw the video, it becomes clear we needed to make a change down here," said Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel.
Pytel said the tents were a community resource that unfortunately became a free for all. City leaders have been aggressive about controlling COVID outbreaks by providing free, rapid testing to the entire community and ramping up contact tracing. That's why some say they understand why the city is taking the tents down.
"I think with open tents you just can't have that level of control that was needed," said Richard Stanton.
But there's doubt this new enforcement will stop gathering.
"It's going to be impossible to not want to have people meet each other especially when the light at the end of the tunnel is now so close," Stanton said.
The city is still allowing restaurants to keep their smaller, personal tents for outdoor dining. But the vice mayor said those restaurants are now responsible for enforcing COVID rules and alcohol use.
