#Cuomo’s SLA gets 40 state workers to spy on bars, restaurants in NYC area
“#Cuomo’s SLA gets 40 state workers to spy on bars, restaurants in NYC area”
July 28, 2020 | 8:32pm
The Off the Wagon bar in the West Village
James Messerschmidt
Pencil-pushers from a slew of state agencies have been enlisted to go undercover to find violations of social-distancing rules at bars and restaurants in New York City and Long Island, The Post has learned.
An internal email shows that the State Liquor Authority last week put out a call for volunteers from various state offices in and south of Albany to serve as spies for a new initiative spearheaded by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Applicants had to “be comfortable with field investigative work in public settings” and willing to work between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m., the email said.
They “would be trained and expected to walk neighborhoods in NYC and Long Island to observe restaurants and bars for compliance with reopening guidelines” and “narrative reports and pictures of non-compliant establishments would be required each night,” it added.
The request has already resulted in 40 newly trained and “activated” investigators from agencies including the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Taxation and Finance, an SLA spokesman said.
The move more than doubled the SLA’s statewide staff of 30 full-time investigators, and more than tripled the 17 who are assigned to New York and Long Island, the spokesman said.
It was unclear whether any of the new operatives have yet led to the issuance of any violations, which are punishable by fines of up to $10,000 each.
A Democratic state senator said the stopgap measure wouldn’t have been needed if Cuomo hadn’t imposed a hiring freeze that’s crippled state agencies.
“The biggest problem is the shortage of staff. So here you are, and you don’t have enough people to do this work and you’re running around trying to crack down on bars and restaurants,” the lawmaker said.
“This is reality and the state has not been hiring in the past several years now. Now they’re stretching the state workforce too thin.”
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