US Gov’t Tells Philly’s City Tavern: We’re Closed, So You’re Closed

[AliHajiSheik]

US Gov’t Tells Philly’s City Tavern: We’re Closed, So You’re Closed « CBS Philly

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — It’s another casualty of the federal government shutdown: City Tavern closed today at 3pm, ordered to do so as a concessionaire of the National Park Service.

So, for the forseeable future there will be no cornmeal fried oysters, no romaine and roquefort, no braised rabbit.

The opportunity to try a meal that our forefathers might have enjoyed was snatched from the table by the current members of Congress, who have failed to end the federal budget deadlock.

“We have reservations every day of the week, and we’ve called the individuals who’ve planned their birthday celebrations, their anniversaries, their out-of-town guests,” says Molly Yun, City Tavern’s public relations director. “They wanted to bring them to City Tavern, and I feel so bad that we’re disappointing them in that way.”

Yun says she knows that she and her fellow restaurant workers are not alone in this but notes that for many international travelers, City Tavern, at Second and Walnut Streets, is part of a quick itinerary that includes New York City and Washington, DC.

Additional source: Famous City Tavern Closed by Government Shutdown | NBC 10 Philadelphia

Sure, there is a partial government shutdown and some facilities need to be closed, but this is a private business on land leased from the park service. This isn't some field in the middle of nowhere but on a busy city street. Sure there are people who are glad the government has partially shut down, but there are others who are working overtime to try to make this as painful as possible to as many as possible--unless it is a football game between service academies.

I drive by another national park and the parking area of a river trail where people run, jog, cycle is blocked off. Being dutiful citizens, the barricades have been moved to the side and people have gone about their business just as they do everyday.

Reprehensible.