Controversial bill would force business owners to take down bulletproof glass

Fox 29 News ^ | November 27, 2017 | WTFX

[Scarpetta]

A controversial bill is currently working its way through city hall designed to regulate 'stop and go' liquor stores. One part of the bill would force business owners to take down bulletproof glass inside their stores. But at what cost to their safety?

Broad Deli sits on the corner of the 2200 block of North Broad, inside a wall of bulletproof glass separates customers from workers. 

"The most important thing is safety and the public's safety," owner Rich Kim said.

Rich Kim's family has run the deli, which sells soda, snacks, meals and beer by the can for 20 years.  He says the glass went up after a shooting and claims it saved his mother-in-law from a knife attack. Now, he may be forced to take some of the barrier down. 

"If the glass comes down, the crime rate will rise and there will be lots of dead bodies," he said. A bill moving through city council reads:  "No establishment shall erect or maintain a physical barrier."

It's called the 'Stop and Go' bill and is being offered by city councilwoman Cindy Bass. 

"Right now, the plexiglass has to come down," she said. She wants to put some controls on these small stores that she says sell booze, very little food and are the source of trouble in her district. 

Rich Kim resents the charge stores like his attract loiters and argues calls to police are often met with a slow response. 

Mike Choe runs a non-profit supporting Korean-owned businesses.  He plans on raising  $100,000 to fight the measure.

"I do think it's a bad bill that will endanger Korean Americans,' he said.

Bass says she's battling for her constituents. 

Kim argues as a Korean-American he's being targeted.  "This bill targets Korean Americans," Cole asked. Bass responded, "Absolutely not. I find that offensive."  

[a fool in paradise]

There are gas stations that don’t allow customers in after a certain hour (maybe 10pm on weeknights and midnight or 1 on weekends, if that).

They have a tray/door that allows cash to trade hands, credit card receipts to be signed, and Red Bull, cigarettes, and chips to be dispensed (like at a drive through at the bank).

[bgill]

Come on. Prove this is bullet proof glass. I dare you.

What idiots.

[semaj]

Reported by WTFX?

[American in Israel]

They couldn’t solve this problem I simply reducing welfare payments so the boys in the hood wouldn’t be too fat to climb over the bulletproof glass. And it would save money!

[Robert DeLong]

Councilwoman Cindy Bass doesn't like it when the racism card is pulled on her apparently, since she resents that charge. 8>)

[sparklite2]

This guy should move to California.
They’ve defelonized shoplifting,
and robbery is just shoplifting in force.

[The SISU kid]

First of all no such thing as bulletproof there is bullet resistant though

[bgill]

Bet there’s bullet proof glass on their drive thru windows where people pay the taxes and auto registrations.

[stylin19a]

Had a tough time finding it anywhere.
http://planphilly.com/articles/2017/11/03/council-advances-bills-on-truck-cranes-vinyl-siding-stop-n-go-stores-and-slapp-suits

The problem seems to be that restaurants having liquor licenses have stopped selling\serving food, attracting unsavory characters, causing the bullet-proof glass to be put up.

STOP-N-GO-AWAY

Council's long burning crusade against so-called “stop-n-go” bars also came to a climax. These are neighborhood bars that elide the spirit, if not the
letter, of liquor license regulations requiring food for on-site consumption and seating for patrons. Councilmember Cindy Bass and others have long
denounced them as nuisances that promote public drunkenness by serving beer and occasionally shots of liquor late into the evening.

The bill seeks to regulate bathroom access, another requirement for businesses serving alcohol. Under Bass's bill, restrooms would only satisfy the public
access requirement if they were readily accessible to patrons, and not, for example, located in the back of a kitchen or other area normally
restricted to employees. She would also prohibit those seeking a large establishment license — which provides seating for 30 or more — from
erecting a physical barrier between themselves and the customers. That would effectively ban the bulletproof glass that often separates customers
from proprietors in many late-night neighborhood establishments.

“Currently, with stop-n-gos in my neighborhood, they're mostly in poor neighborhoods, mostly in ‘the hood,’ as we know it,” said Bass. “I have more stop-
n-gos in my district than I have public schools, and something is really wrong with what's happening here.”

[The Toll]

Store Clerk Lives Matter

[fini]

"There are mirrors that are one way. From one side you can see through it. From the other side it’s a mirror. Someone should come up with glass that’s one way bullet. One side is bullet proof. The good guy side isn't."

They make this glass. Or rather, they made this glass. I saw it demonstrated in the 1990s. It was designed for armored cars, so the body guards could fire out. One thing though, one shot from the inside, allowed outside shots to penetrate. I have no idea if anyone actually bought it.

[arthurus]

Probably the same rationale as that for the Sullivan Law in New York.

[Sasparilla]

...No establishment shall erect or maintain a physical barrier...

BLM is concerned that bullets fired at clerks will ricochet back and kill the armed robber.

[Pontiac]

She wants to put some controls on these small stores that she says sell booze, very little food and are the source of trouble in her district.

This is the Women’s Temperance Union of the modern age.

She blames these small stores for the fact that the men in her district spend a lot of their time drunk and violent.

And she thinks that if she forces the stores owners to be vulnerable to that violence that they will stop selling 40’s to her constituents and those constituents will become less violent.

The Korean stores sell the booze the blacks consume the booze. If the Koreans stop selling the booze the boozers will go elsewhere to buy the booze (somebody else’s neighborhood). Maybe the violence will follow them.

[Hambone 1934]

How can blacks earn money if they can’t get past the bulletproof glass??????

[Blood of Tyrants]

We don’t want thugs to feel like they aren’t trusted.

[NorthMountain]

Well, whaddaya know ...

[hanamizu]

The banks in Costa Rica have a guy outside with a shotgun. Only a couple of people at a time are let in. When you get inside, there is another guy with a shotgun. They take money very seriously there.

[Company Man]

Heh. I see what you did there, Gabby.

[Tea Party Terrorist]

They are already selling booze out of car trunks and kitchens. Check out the episode on illicit (tax free) booze from the Discovery channel.