The City of Brotherly Love remains under the control of Mayor Jim Kenney, the Democrat who has been issuing executive orders right and left about how and when citizens can resume some semblance of their normal, pre-COVID lives as the days of the pandemic grind on. One particular sticking point for many residents has been the Mayor’s insistence that it’s still far too early to allow restaurants to allow indoor sitting and dining, even with specific social distancing protocols in place. Many eateries don’t have enough space for an outdoor dining option to be viable, but everyone needs to suffer along together to get through this disaster, right?

Apparently not if you have the right connections. You may not be able to go to a restaurant and be seated indoors for dinner in Philadelphia, but Mayor Kenney had no compunctions about traveling over the border into Maryland and enjoying a meal under a roof there. And that has some locals seeing red, as in “red meat.” (ABC News)

A photo of Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney eating indoors in Maryland has sparked some criticism on Sunday night, as the COVID-19 outbreak has forced some city businesses to close and others struggling to stay afloat with outdoor dining.

The mayor’s office confirmed that he went to a friend’s restaurant on Sunday. The picture has since gone viral because Kenney has staunchly stood by his decision to not allow restaurants in the city to open for indoor dining.

“We need to follow what we are being asked to do by the health department,” Kenney said earlier this month while announcing new upcoming restrictions on indoor dining. “I beg you to follow the rules.”

Surely Hizzoner has an excuse as to why he can dine indoors while the people who elected him to office are barred from doing so, right? Of course he does. It was the restaurant of “a friend of his” so he was just helping out the community.

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“The mayor went to Maryland earlier today to patronize a restaurant owned by a friend of his. For what it’s worth, he also went to Rouge to enjoy outdoor dining in Philly on the way home. He looks forward to expanding indoor dining locally next week.

Not everyone in Philadelphia was happy with the Mayor’s explanation. One restaurant owner (and employer) took to Instagram to share his disappointment (to put it mildly).

You see, it’s fine for the Mayor to go dine in a restaurant in Maryland because… um… why? Oh, because their government isn’t keeping everyone locked down. But the rules are the rules, amirite? So he wasn’t breaking the law there. Stop complaining, peasants!

Perhaps Kenney will lift the restrictions in his own city on September 8th. If not, you can all wait until he decides it’s okay for you to dine out. In the meantime, you can always go to Maryland. In fact, perhaps some of you should consider moving there permanently.