From an earlier story, these are seedy convience stores that sell mostly booze and cigs, and they are operating fraudulently as “restaurants” in order to skirt licensing guidelines. They are simply saying if you are really a restaurant, take down the plexiglass and actually serve food.
If they are operating fraudulently as restaurants then address what is a restaurant and possibly pull liquor licenses. But the city ought not tell business owners what they can and can’t do to reasonably protect their employees and goods. How many of these city officials are willing to forego their own security measures when they visit certain parts of town?