Victorville City calls The Gyms actions “reckless” and County gives 3 days to comply after defying health orders

VICTORVILLE, Calif. (VVNG.com) — The City of the Victorville said the decision made by The Gym to reopen its doors to the public is reckless and the business has three-days to comply with the County Health Order or face further action.

Victorville City Spokeswoman Sue Jones told VVNG that like many in the community, the City is appalled by The Gym’s egregious violation of the order.

“This violation demonstrates disregard for public health and our City and County efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our community.  We strongly encourage community members to continue to comply with the Health Order to protect themselves and our Victorville Community.  Bottom line, we recommend community members stay away from any place that is operating in violation of the County Health Order,” stated Jones.

Jones said because the Health Order was issued by the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, enforcement resides with the County; and City Officials must follow their process.  

“We reported the violation to the County and gained their permission to speed notice to The Gym by having our City Code Enforcement issue a notice of violation to the business.  According to the County process, The Gym now has three days to comply with the County Health Order. If The Gym doesn’t comply, the County will escalate the situation to a citation and further.  

Jones said throughout the past four weeks, Code Enforcement and Building Officials have canvassed more than 725 nonessential local businesses. And to this point, none of them were in violation of the County Health Order.

“The actions of this gym operator are not indicative of our Victorville community,” stated Jones. “The sacrifices our local businesses are making to protect the Victorville community are to be commended, and we don’t want the reckless actions of this one business to overshadow the tremendous sacrifices our local businesses are making to protect the health and safety of our citizens.”

Residents not only in the Victor Valley but across the entire state are weighing in on the issue as it seems to be a recent new trend in many communities.

Kelley_erin77 commented on Instagram and said, ” It’s about the constitutional rights to life, liberty, and due process. Newsom can’t just use authoritarian leadership to shut things down arbitrarily. It’s the same way defense attorneys defend criminals. They aren’t defending their poor conduct. They’re protecting their clients constitutional protections for the felons and criminals being released daily from jail to protect them from getting Covid than you do your own damn selves. Wake up! If you’re afraid, or immune-suppressed, or care for someone who is, stay home!”

Instagram account s”blissjana” commented, “Hurry, hurry, come get sick come go out with a bang because these owners need their business to survive and pay their employees pennies to make sure they are following proper guidelines. The most cross-contaminated places that exist. Just my opinion.”

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Walking out of The Gym today after receiving 100’s of emails, insults, texts, and requests to cancel, Etc (I was pretty beat up), I saw an older man standing outside the front door with his head down. ( I almost stayed inside as I was just beat but something told me to go out side) So I asked the man “how’s it going buddy”, expecting to get my ass chewed for being closed, or billing issues. The man asked, “you can’t even let 10 of us in at a time?” (while gym capacity is over 500) I said, “No, from what our Gov says. Our hands are tied.” He went on to tell me how The Gym is his home away from home and his #diabetes has gotten out of control and he is falling apart since The Gym has closed. This brought me to a moment in my life where I realized I was being a BITCH!! By letting down the people that matter most to our community!! By not providing a service that helps them get through all the bull shit! And gives them hope, strength, and health. I went home and went through our inbox and found 100’s of messages from vets with #ptsd, single moms, and young men and women trying to make their way into the military, team members, and people that truly LIVE to go to The Gym. This woke me up so I looked into the rates on suicide, depression, domestic violence, all of them have increased since the shut down. I then had one more conversation with an older friend in NV begging me to come out for a workout, he told me “they took my gym, this is all I LIVE for!” Added, “it keeps me out of jail” I laughed, he said “I’m not joking Jake”. I then realized The Gym is “essential” to people’s mental and physical health. With that being said, I, Jacob Lewis will take full responsibility for re-opening of The Gym on 5/1/20 @ 6 AM This is against all my supervisors instructions 🤪🤪. If you’re sick or feel like this isn’t for you, #stayhome ! For the rest of you, we appreciate the support and promise to always deliver the best service in the industry. Gyms are essential and have a lower flow than Costco, Walmart, Target Etc. There is no reason Gyms can’t operate under the same protocol. It was a mistake to close gyms and a bigger mistake to keep them closed.

A post shared by The Gym HD (@thegymhd) on Apr 30, 2020 at 8:32pm PDT

Related Article: Reopening of ‘The Gym’ in Victorville amid COVID-19 sparks controversy

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