If it weren’t bad enough that the state’s governor, mayors and county supervisors have been caught violating their own COVID guidelines when it suits them to do so, one employer noted that while her business has been ordered closed to stem the spread of the virus, the movie industry has been given carte blanche to set up shop – in her now-empty parking lot.
Angela Marsden, who owns a bar in Los Angeles where restaurants have been ordered to close even their outdoor dining and return to delivery and take-out services only, posted a now viral video on social media showing her walking through her parking lot to the business she’s been forced to close, only to find a massive tent with large folding tables set up by a large movie company.
“I walk into my parking lot, and, obviously, Mayor Garcetti has approved this,” Marsden says in the video while walking through the parking lot and showing the giant tents.
“I’m losing everything,” Marsden continues. “Everything I own is being taken away from me. And they set up a movie company right next to my outdoor patio, and people wonder why I’m protesting and why I’ve had enough.”
“They have not given us money and they have shut us down. I cannot survive. My staff cannot survive. Look at this,” she said, gesturing to her own bar’s empty patio where the tables are just as spaced apart as the movie company’s, but where customers aren’t allowed to come dine.
“Tell me that this is dangerous, but right next to me is a slap in my face [and] that’s ‘safe,’” she said.
Bar owner in Los Angeles CA is livid to see that mayor Garcetti has approved an outdoor dining area for a movie company directly across from her outdoor dining area (which was shut down) pic.twitter.com/jkUP2CWg35
— Jake Coco 💙🇺🇸🎶🐻 (@jakecoco) December 4, 2020
“Mayor Garcetti and Gavin Newsom is responsible for every single person that doesn’t have unemployment, that does not have a job, and all of the businesses that are going under, and we need your help. We need somebody to do something about this,” Marsden said, clearly emotional.
Los Angeles restaurants have pushed back against the new draconian rules that have left countless restaurants and bars struggling to stay afloat despite being ordered to shut down the vast majority of their services. Some restaurants have refused to close, while others have sued the city for continuing to charge them licensing fees despite mandating that they stay shut down indefinitely.
And this isn’t the first time businesses and residents have complained that the movie industry, which pays exorbitant fees to state and local governments for filming rights, have been given special privileges while the rest of the population suffers under COVID rules. In Atlanta, the city’s school board gave Marvel the rights to film in two local schools that have remained closed to students for months for “safety” reasons, even as kids struggle to keep up their grades and teachers complain about a near-impossible learning environment among low-income children and kids with learning disabilities.