Hamilton tattoo shop Kryptonian Ink facing bylaw investigation after defying shutdown orders
A Hamilton Mountain tattoo shop is facing additional charges as well as a bylaw investigation as it continues to operate in the face of a provincial lockdown that has shuttered personal services across Ontario.
Kryptonian Ink has been charged three times under the Reopening Ontario Act (ROA), according to the City of Hamilton's online list of businesses accused of flouting COVID rules.
They've now been ticketed for allegedly obstructing an investigation and have been charged twice for remaining open when not permitted. The most recent charge listed was on April 24.
Under the provincial COVID-19 lockdown, personal care services such as tattoo parlours, hair salons, tanning salons and spas are prohibited from operating.
In the city's COVID-19 update Monday, Emergency Operations Centre director Paul Johnson said a bylaw investigation into the Concession Street business is ongoing, which could result in additional tickets and penalties.
You've seen this in the past with restaurants where their liquor licence for instance has been withdrawn for a week ... in order to reinforce what's happening," said Johnson. If (bylaw officers) feel additional actions are required in order to build compliance with the rules, then they will do so."
In a previous interview with The Spectator, owner Stephen Stacey said he could no longer afford" to keep his business closed after complying with the first two lockdowns that damn near bankrupted" him.
Johnson said the business has made a very public statement ... that they are not going to close, they feel they are just going to stay open." The tattoo parlour, located between East 17th and East 16th streets, remained open Monday afternoon.
The Spectator reached out to Stacey for additional comment Monday evening but he did not respond.
In an undated video posted to Facebook on Monday afternoon, Stacey can be seen inside of the business without a mask as someone else records the video.
We've got bylaw here again," said Stacey. This is all unlawful, everything they're doing. They're basically mall cops."
Stacey can be seen going outside and pointing to a number of signs, while at least one bylaw officer can be seen in the video. He then noted that these two gentleman have a hard time reading this information and processing it."
I'm not playing this anymore, this game is done," he said, in the video. So what I'm going to do right now is go back to work."
Stacey then heads back inside, while one of the bylaw officers appears to try and hand him some paperwork."
As of Monday, the business had racked up fines totalling at least $2,760. Stacey had previously told The Spectator that he plans to fight the charges in court and called them nonsense."
Johnson said Monday that if the city did not investigate businesses, it would send a message of just ignore (the charges) and put it down as a cost of doing business."
Especially as other businesses keep their doors painfully" closed, he added.
We will not let businesses simply say, We're going to stay open and keep coming by and giving us the garden variety charge,'" said Johnson. We will look at that very seriously and you can rest assured our bylaw officers will complete their investigation as they see fit."
Fallon Hewitt is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: fhewitt@thespec.com