There was a pattern: Officers issued 583 code-violation notices under the ordinance last fiscal year; 562 were to Chinese restaurants -- more than 95 percent. Many businesses had multiple tickets. Of the 158 ticketed, 142 were Chinese -- 90 percent.
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He doesn't blame the cops. Oh expects the ordinance is being exploited by "connected people. Some ward leader, church member, Council staffer, civic-association president who can reach into the Police Department, is getting them to go out and have a Chinese take-out shut down," even if the block's not mostly residential. That can be hard to measure, and shouldn't be left to police to have to judge, Oh said.
I get that for political purposes one hesitates to "blame the cops," but if they're a part to this...
tl;dr There's a late night closing ordinance which is being used against businesses it shouldn't be. There's a problem in that it should be more clear which businesses it does or doesn't apply to (like a nice certificate on the wall the cops can read), but the fact that it's being disproportionately used against Chinese restaurants suggests an additional problem..