Salons Join Lawsuit Demanding Newsom Allow Businesses To Reopen
SHERMAN OAKS (CBSLA) — Salon owner Dino Ballin said Friday that he was fed up with the state's stay-at-home order banning non-essential businesses like his from opening.
"California is the only state in the entire country in which hairdressing is a crime," he said.
Esthetician Joyce Partise said since the pandemic started, she has only been able to work six weeks and said her debt is mounting.
"We are tired of being opened and closed," she said. "We're trained to an nth degree on sanitation. We believe we can work safely."
Last month, the owner of Pineapple Hill Saloon & Grill sued Gov. Gavin Newsom after watching workers set up catering and outdoor tables for a production crew just feet away from her restaurant.
"Tell me that this is dangerous, but right next to me is a slap in my face," Angela Marsden said is a now viral video that showed the nearly identical set ups of her outdoor dining area and the catering tents.
And now a handful of hair and nail salon owners have started adding their names to the lawsuit, demanding they be allowed to reopen as well. An attorney representing the owners said there was no evidence showing salons were causing coronavirus case numbers to rise.
The group said that if Newsom does not allow small businesses to reopen, they would take their fight to the California Supreme Court.
"We are now challenging Gov. Newsom to put up or shut up," attorney Fred Jones said. "Show us the data or remove these arbitrary, unconstitutional lockdown orders."
And while Newsom has repeatedly said that the rules were based on intensive care unit capacity and that strong measures were needed to stop the spread and additional deaths, the business owners said they just want to be able to provide for their families and their employees — something they believe can be done safely.
"In every state there are salons that are working right now safely, causing minimal infections, if any, in every other state except California," Ballin said.
"We've got a mask, a shield, air purifiers, and they're not speaking," Partise said. "I don't see why we should be considered non-essential."