When will City Hall & City Council re-open ?
American retailer Macy’s announced that it will begin to re-open its stores across the country this week and will reopen all of its stores by the end of June. A similar announcement was made by mall operator Simon Properties, whose portfolio includes The Westchester in White Plains.
Due to the Coronavirus, the retail experience shoppers will find when Macy’s opens in the Cross County Mall in Yonkers, or at the Jefferson Valley Mall in Yorktown, will be much different than before COVID-19.
All employees will be wearing the same, company issued mask. Trying on clothing will be extremely limited or stopped, and most of the retail sales portion of shocasing items behind the counter, like perfumes or jewelry, will now be done in a different way.
Macy’s is expecting that only 20% of shoppers will return to its stores, and to the mall at first. Mall owners will try to enforce six feet apart social distancing, install a plastic barrier at its cash registers, and provide hand sanitizers throughout.
Access to and usage of the foodcourt and rest rooms will also include social distancing, and other parts of the old mall experience, like a kids play area and water fountains, will not return. Neither Macy’s nor Simon Properties have decided whether shoppers will be required to wear a mask, but both did say that there decision to open in New York will be based on the guidelines and decisions of the Governor.
The question remains, can older retailers like Macy’s survive COVID-19 when prior to the pandemic, there sales were already sinking? And will shoppers in Westchester return to their prior shopping habits, or even return to their local mall for some window shopping?
Another question not unique to Yonkers, is when should your local government re-open their City Hall? Members of the City Council recently debated whether they should hold their budget hearing and meeting back in the council chambers, or continue to hold them online.
Yonkers Rising recently received the following lettter to the editor concerning this topic.
Dear Mr. Murphy, The Hyatt Community Association has served the citizens and taxpayers of the southeast quadrant of Yonkers since 1988. Please accept the following comments.
While important decisions still have to be made in Yonkers during the social distancing phase of our National Recovery, I feel that many will be disenfranchised by the requirement that meetings be entirely virtual. The Yonkers Budget for 2021 is shaping up to be very painful for the City taxpayers and employees alike. Many seniors on fixed incomes, after surviving the pandemic, will now have to figure out how to pay anticipated higher taxes to fill gaping holes in the budget. They are the ones least likely to simply “log in” to virtual meetings and negotiate their way through the comment process.
The Zoning Board of Appeals have doubled up their meeting schedules in May to handle a backlog of cases. Those meetings will be virtual as well. The instructions on the ZBA meeting notices simply say “Please check the website www.Yonkersny.gov the day of the meeting for log-in and additional information. This requirement will not increase the likelihood of citizen participation when it is most important. At the ZBA many cases have already been heard and have been on the roster for some time. Many have not been adequately vetted. There should be a moratorium on decisions in recently introduced cases until the public can have a real chance to weigh in.
As far as the Yonkers Budget Hearings go, even if they were held outdoors at say, Fleming Field, this budget has the potential to drag out many hundreds of Citizens and commenters who would be hard pressed even there, to maintain social distancing.
The stakes are too high at this time to rely on comments on from a tech savvy few on issues that are bound to lead Yonkers down a dark path. We should all try to be inventive at this critical time to give all of our people an opportunity to be heard
Thank you., Larry Wilson – President, HYATT ASSOCIATION
Editor’s Note: Mr. Wilson, thanks for the letter. Many of our readers, and elected officials, are contemplating the same question that you have asked—when should we open City Hall? This topic was discussed by councilmembers, who decided to continue their meetings and hearings online and at home.
The two arguments, that difficult budget decisions should be made in person, and that it would not be safe to have, not only several members of the public, but the hundreds of City employees that usually show up for budget hearings, together in the council chambers, both have merit.
