City Mistakenly Cuts Power To Compliant Businesses During Shutdown Enforcement Effort At Neighboring Gym
CHATSWORTH (CBSLA) -- The city of Los Angeles is cracking down on businesses that are not complying with shutdown orders. Five businesses had their power shut off this week after just one continued to operate indoors.
Crunch Fitness in Chatsworth was one of the unlucky ones to be impacted by the power outage, forcing employees and volunteers to move the equipment outside — hoping that will keep them in compliance with the frequently changing guidelines by the state.
"We're a family-owned business trying to make it through 2020 like so many others, and all were asking for is information and cooperation," said Billy McClendon, the gym's franchise owner.
McClendon says he'd been trying to get guidelines from the city since the governor's announcement last week to close indoor operations. He didn't get them until Wednesday, and on Thursday the city shut off his power.
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"They were just forcing people out of the club... 'you gotta go, you gotta go' and cut the power," he said.
Crunch Fitness wasn't the only business left in the dark. The power at Arlet's cafe was also shut off, and they are in compliance
"We've got thousands of dollars of meat and produce in here," said Leslie Kay, who owns the cafe with his wife. "Because we're a restaurant with a separate entrance, we've been able to stay open the whole time."
They have 250 meals that need to be ready for pickup on Monday. They had to purchase generators immediately to keep their food from spoiling.
"When Eric Garcetti comes out and says we're gonna do this strategically and we're not gonna use a sledge hammer approach....' it looks like a sledge hammer to me," Kay said. "So, someone is not following his directives."
Four businesses, in addition to Crunch, had their power cut because they were all on the same switch.
McClendon operates 29 Crunch Fitness locations in Southern California with three in the city of L.A. He says he is trying to move half of them outside, but doing so requires more than a couple days notice. Closing down and reopening wasn't an option for him.
"I think anyone who runs and operates a business understands that it's not easy to do," he said. "You can't just shut off billing and turn billing back on."
Los Angeles County announced a compliance and enforcement plan involving fines and a possible license suspension starting at the end of August. McClendon said he wishes the city did the same instead of making things more difficult for these five businesses just trying to stay open.
"I would have happily signed the ticket. I would have happily taken the fine, and I would have asked for exactly what I'm asking for now. Please just give me the information and a reasonable time line," he said.
A representative with Mayor Garcetti's office told KCAL9/CBS2 that shutting off power to businesses that are in compliance was not the intention and the city promises to have the power restored to those businesses by the end of the day.
