City Council approved a controversial “stop-and-go” bill during its final meeting of 2017, which periodically threatened to descend into anarchy as supporters and opponents of Councilwoman Cindy Bass’ legislation flooded Council’s chamber, giving fiery speeches and taking verbal pot shots at each other. And like the marathon hearing on the bill two weeks ago, the two sides largely broke down along racial lines: Asian-Americans against Bass’s bill and African-American leaders in favor of it.

Observers of City Council fear the contentious debate over the bill threatens to exacerbate long-standing racial tensions in the city’s lower-income neighborhoods. The bill would further regulate businesses that sell take-out beer and malt liquor, which many African American civic leaders have advocated for years. But owners of the stop-and-gos, who are predominantly Asian, pushed back.

“There’s a deep history here of poverty, immigration, cultural misunderstanding,” said Chi-Ser Tran, a public interest lawyer who testified against the bill at the early December hearing and whose parents own a beer deli in North Philly. “This bill has provoked a lot of those feelings even more than ever before. Communities of color pitted against each other. I don’t want to see this infighting, it’s not good for the city.”

Councilman David Oh, a Republican at-large member, led the charge against the legislation to loud applause from a chamber packed with bill opponents. The bill passed 14-3, not along party lines. Two Democrats, Councilmen Mark Squilla and Allan Domb, joined Oh to vote against the bill.

Wearing T-Shirts that read “Bullet Proof Glass For All” and “Stop Discrimination,” the groups who had fought against Bass’s bill—lead by a coalition of Asian-American business groups—were not remotely appeased by a compromise amendment adopted two weeks ago.

Emotions ran hot among Bass’s supporters as well, and a variety of interest groups spoke in her defense, including The Laborers union, which has a majority African-American membership, and Black Lives Matter Pennsylvania.

“Stop-and-gos have always been a thorn in the side of black and brown communities,” said Asa Khalif, an organizer with Black Lives Matter. “This bill is bigger than Plexiglas. It is about accountability and responsibility, two words stop-and-go owners have never had to live up to. This bill is long overdue. Black people and I, along with the leaders of Black Lives Matter Pennsylvania, support it 100 percent.”

The final bill changes local restaurant regulations to bring them into accordance with state liquor codes in hopes of strengthening enforcement against nuisance businesses. The controversy stems from language in the original bill that would have required restaurants with 30 or more seats to remove barriers between customers and workers—like bullet-proof Plexiglas.

Many of these take-out beer stores have seating, where customers are not served, but instead buy their beer from a person behind a bullet-proof shield. The proponents of Bass’ bill want these stop-and-gos to act like any other resteraunt, with bathrooms, seating for thirty, and hot food. But the new amended language allows the Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) to decide “on the use or removal” of the barriers by 2021.

Most observers expect that, at most, this amended language will result in a series of committee meetings between interested stakeholders. The Philadelphia Code is full of language inserted by City Council over the years promising departmental action on various politically volatile issues. Much of it has never been acted on.

To the evident irritation of his colleagues, Councilman Oh believes that the new language will prompt removal of protective barriers in the near future. He points to testimony from L&I Commissioner Dave Perri in support of the original bill at a hearing, prior to the amendment.

“The amendment actually says the same thing with different language,” Oh told PlanPhilly. “We believe [Perri] already has promulgated regulations. The idea that this amendment gives people time to adjust is wrong. The L&I commissioner believes it shouldn’t exist in restaurants of 30 seats or more and he is going to remove [the Plexiglass barriers].”

A variety of Oh’s colleagues critiqued his understanding of the amendment. Oh’s fellow Republican, Al Taubenberger, denounced his colleague’s “continued misinformation,” and Democratic at-large Councilman William Greenlee heatedly disputed Oh’s reading.

“I can read, I’m an attorney, and I have opinions of my own,” Oh responded testily.