Rock Island Today

The City of Moline has offered $5,000 to businesses to comply with dining room closure orders. 

Several establishments have publicly said they are unwilling to follow the orders. 

One Moline bar owner said $5,000 does not go very far in the bar and grill world. 

“It is an incentive, but it's not nearly enough,” the owner said. “Your utilities and rent and everything else exceed that. But it's also probably as much as Moline can come up with.”

The bar owner said the bar is operating at a loss now, but is remaining open and keeping the dining room open for its 20-plus employees. 

“I have financial reserves,” the owner said. “(But) the staff, they can't live on unemployment and feed their families. So that's why I'm doing it. It actually still is costing me money to be open. But at least my servers and kitchen staff and staff are making some of their money. Not the way it used to be, but I'm staying open for them more than anything.” 

“It's great that they're going to give businesses $5,000,” the owner said. “But what are they doing for the employees? What are your servers supposed to do? They live on tips. You cannot get unemployment on tips. If they file for unemployment, you're talking 130, 150 bucks a week. What's that gonna do when they've got kids?”

The owner said it is good to see the city get involved, but the bar is staying open until further notice. 

“I won't make any absolute commitments because you never know,” the owner said. “Things can change tomorrow. But today, it's off the table.” 

The restaurant owner said one only needs to look at Captain’s Table in Moline as an example of why restaurant owners are afraid to speak out.

Captain’s Table previously said it would not follow the indoor-dining ban and was sent a letter regarding face masks and social distancing. Moline’s mayor, Stephanie Acri, said the city could also pull the restaurant’s liquor license, but said there are other steps the city can go through first.

Recently, Theodora “Teddi” Pritzker, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s daughter, was seen eating at Chicago Cut Steakhouse at a table for 14. A Twitter user posted the photo and pointed out there was a 10-person limit for gathering, but that Teddi Pritzker wasn’t even following her father’s rules.