UnLock New Jersey

Dear Governor Murphy,

The COVID-19 crisis is not to be taken lightly. We are grateful to all of our healthcare and public safety workers, who have been on the frontline taking care of all of us during this pandemic.

America’s Business is Business—and no place is that truer than New Jersey. We need to immediately address the needs of our small businesses – they are the backbone of New Jersey’s economy and many may not recover from the state closure ordered weeks ago. Small businesses don’t want handouts — they want to open!

We believe we can responsibly open most of our businesses beyond your limited “curbside pickup” plan. Many Mom & Pop shops depend on foot traffic, not on-line orders, particularly the businesses in Chester Borough, which you referenced in your daily COVID19 briefing on Wednesday. We also need to reopen the retail shops in New Jersey’s many malls.

We ask that you implement IMMEDIATELY a plan similar to those already launched in others states to re-open our businesses, in careful and monitored phases under requirements that social distancing be maintained, as is already practiced in grocery stores. We ask that you consider the following provisions:

Retailers and Malls
· Open retail shops and malls, but keep capacity limited to 25% for the first two weeks in counties where COVID19 outbreaks have had the greatest impact, particularly Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Passaic, and Union counties.
· We understand how the outbreak affected those areas disproportionately, which is why a careful monitoring of the data surrounding any reopening is necessary to measure any substantial increase in COVID19 cases due to the limited opening. But we also recognize that the economies of those areas also have been hard hit.
· Increase capacity in other counties to 50 percent, which already is being utilized with success at grocery and hardware stores.
· Gradually increase capacity in increments of 10 percent per week following first 2 weeks if the data supports such an increase.
· Allow retailers to offer customers in-store or curbside pick-up, or delivery by mail or doorstep. Special times for pick-ups or delivery can be offered to at-risk people.
· Keep mall food courts and playgrounds closed until monitoring is done and the data demonstrates that the first phase of reopening is successful.

Restaurants
· Limit dine-in service limit capacity to 25% in high impact counties, up to 50% in other areas.
· Gradually increase those amounts in increments of 10 percent per week following first 2 weeks if the data supports such an increase.
· No open, self-serve buffets,
· Keep hand sanitizers available,
· Keep table parties limited to 4 people and at least 6 feet apart from other patrons.
· Use disposable or easy-to-sanitize menus. No condiments at tables or preset tables. Require patrons to order those items in single use portions.
· No valet services aside for people with placards/license plates noting they are individuals with disabilities.
· Keep taverns and bars closed for the first two weeks to monitor reopening impact then consider reopening based on location and the 25 to 50 percent capacity test.

Retail clothing
· Restrict clothing from being tried on at the business
· Arrange for returns to be sterilized

Barbershops, hair & nail salons
· Reopen small practitioners with social distancing and in compliance with industry guidelines.
· Large salons, open with two-week monitoring, but with industry protocols adopted by salons, barber shops, and large salons in New Jersey.
· Minimum protocols must include masks, gloves, sanitizers, plexiglass barriers, contactless thermometers, and other precautions outlined by the salon industry leaders throughout the nation.

Large and small businesses must be treated similarly.
• We must not discriminate against small businesses.

Continue to urge the elderly and compromised to stay home.

We need to unlock New Jersey and begin the process of implementing fiscal reforms that will return New Jersey to economic prosperity. We need you to act now.

Respectfully,

Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce,
Rosemary Becchi, Esq.

Assemblyman Brian Bergen;
Freeholder Stephen Shaw;
Joseph Falco, Jr.;
Robyn Acceturo;
Carmen DePasquale

AND
Citizens fighting to Unlock New Jersey