If that is true, it is a poor way to try to get rid of unwanted businesses. Also some of these places do comply with the law that says they have to serve food and have a certain amount of seating.
The article seemed to indicate that they had been accused of flaunting this law by hurriedly setting up chairs to make it appear they were serving food.
This kind of thing crosses party lines. Conservatives often laud tough local officials who “clean up the neighborhood”. But they often do this by finding creative mechanisms for driving out certain businesses and/or people, a charge often applied to liberals. Just about anything can be spun either way.