This column brings you the latest from Albany, City Hall and relevant organizations that affect small businesses in New York City during the pandemic and beyond. We will update you frequently, and will also bring you news from the street describing the impact of government and organizational policies.
Will non-esential small businesses be forced to close tomorrow?
NEW YORK CITY (October 6, 2020) This morning, Mayor de Blasio deferred to Governor Cuomo regarding whether non-essential businesses in the nine NYC hot spot zip codes will close. At a briefing this afternoon at 3, Cuomo unveiled a new system to define clusters and the implications for neighborhoods. It’s a three-zone system related to how close the businesses are to the cluster (see image).
However, Cuomo also made the point that zip codes are not the way to define clusters. His definition of “clusters” is based on the number of cases in a given area, and that area can be only part of a zip code or encompass all or parts of several zip codes.
By contrast, De Blasio insists zip codes are the way to go to define “hot spots.” Thus, it is likely that de Blasio will go by zip code and close non-essential businesses in those hot-spot zip codes (11691, 11219, 11223, 11230, 11204, 11210, 11229, 11415, and 11367) as of tomorrow. Affected businesses will have until Friday to shut down.
Oh, and the definition of “non-essential” also remains an open question, Cuomo affirmed. Clearly, confusion reigns right now.
We await a confirmation from de Blasio.
If you have information related to pandemic requirements or a story to tell about how you are being impacted, email: marilynn@hotindienews.com
