By Tyler Barth
Gov. Phil Murphy is letting Greater Morristown restaurants slip through the cracks as the pandemic drags on, charged state Sen. Anthony M. Bucco (R-25th Dist.)
“This is real life, and the Governor is letting it happen,” Bucco said Friday in a statement.
“I’ve heard of seven restaurants that can’t hold on, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Businesses are dying, dreams are fading, jobs are being lost and the Governor has done little to help.”
Many restaurants spent their dwindling funds to prepare for a limited resumption of indoor dining on July 2, 2020.
But Gov. Murphy changed his mind on June 29, citing concerns about packed bars and surging coronavirus cases across the country as reasons for putting indoor dining on indefinite hold.
“So unfortunately the national situation compounded by instances of knucklehead behavior here at home are requiring us to hit pause on the start of indoor dining for the foreseeable future,” the governor said at the time.
Morristown Pancake House, Nunzio’s Dolce Vita and La Campagna Ristorante have closed their doors in Morristown. Also closed: The Market Taverne, an upscale Harding establishment with a Morristown zip code.
“It’s a sad day 30 employees now unemployed and we lost our livelihood…(a) local family independently owned business,” owners of the Market Taverne posted on Instagram shortly before shutting the restaurant for good on Aug. 2.
The Urban Table on South Street also has closed, to make more room for sidewalk dining by its sister restaurant, Roots Steakhouse, according to Roots employees. Whether Urban Table reopens is uncertain.
Bucco is sponsoring legislation that would tap $2 billion of unspent federal COVID aid to New Jersey to reimburse restaurants for expenses they incurred preparing for the indoor dining false start.
Hopes for greatly expanding Morristown’s outdoor restaurant dining were dashed earlier in the pandemic when state transportation officials rebuffed the town’s request to close South Street to traffic.
Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty could not be reached for comment on Friday. Councilman Robert Iannaccone, whose First Ward includes the downtown business district, commended the town administration for its rollout of sidewalk dining, and for advocating adherence to coronavirus safety guidelines.
But Iannaccone said he does not support an immediate return to indoor dining.
While “everybody feels for the restaurants,” said the councilman, who is CEO of a Newark hospital, “I think we have to follow the governor’s direction. The governor has good information. He’s very aware of testing rates, positive rates. We’ve got to act like one state.”
Restaurants are struggling to survive across the state.
“We have many restaurants in our small town and some are suffering under the restrictions,” said Maria DiGiovanni, the mayor of Hackettstown.
“Especially as they geared up with goods and staff for indoor dining, only to have that pulled back causing additional financial hardships,” DiGiovanni said.
Englewood Cliffs mayor Mario Kranjac called the latest restrictions, which on Aug. 3 limited indoor gatherings to 25 people, “just one more example of hard-working tax paying New Jerseyans being severely damaged”.
Several mayoral associations have come together to implore Murphy to step in and assist the industry, according to Upper Saddle River’s mayor Joanne Minichetti.
“Restaurants closing, unemployment numbers rising again, feelings of desperation and hopelessness on Main Streets and business districts across the state is a bad sign for New Jersey,” said Bucco. “The Governor needs to turn this around before it’s too late.”
Kevin Coughlin contributed to this report.
No OC, its not necessary. At all. You have been convinced it is.
Look at Sweden. Living freely and without restriction. Spread rate and mortality has dropped through the floor. We shifted from preventing hospital overflow to now trying to prevent every single new case! They are not even sure how it spreads – could be aerosolized which means using a mask is like preventing a fly from escaping by putting up a chain-link fence.
Death rate is now below 4% and dropping. Most of these are for people with preexisting conditions or quite elderly. If you are under 50 with decent health you are extremely unlikely to die from this disease. These are facts.
Hospitals were getting paid 300K for every COVID patient admitted!! Every one!
Connor: “There are plenty of doctors and good studies showing how ridiculous these protocols are”—Link to references, please.
I feel for the restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters and other businesses that require people physically being there. This has been catastrophic, but by “this” I mean the virus. The resulting physical distancing protocol is a NECESSARY evil, and a community has to choose where to aim that wicked tool.
Do we re-open restaurants, bars and gyms, or do we re-open schools?
No, Mud, it is not proven in any case there would be exponentially more deaths. There are plenty of doctors and good studies showing how ridiculous these protocols are. Anyone with a preexisting susceptibility can take their own precautions and stay inside/protected. The vast, vast majority of people will be just fine, even if they get the virus.
Don’t use emotions to set public policy.
Connor, you just answered your own question. Each year, there is a flu “season,” which is prepared for with strain specific flu shots in order to minimize the damage done to the population as a whole.
This Covid disease has no defined “season”, and we have no vaccine or even any therapeutic remedies to decrease the effects of those infected. If left unchecked, we’ll have exponentially more people dead AND a bad economy (dead people don’t go to restaurants or open businesses).
All we have right now is minimizing the transmission of the disease, hence social distancing and masks.
O Donna with the fear mongering again. How come you don’t say this about the flu season where tens of thousands of people die every season? They don’t matter because COVID is slightly more contagious? I’m assuming you never signed the front of a check for an employee, and never ran a business. Am I correct…?
Callie: huh??
It was shutdown because they are beginning demo soon..
Morristown blames Dougherty for the premature shuttering of Midtown.
But what all this is really telling me is that I need to vote Murphy out next year
Obviously this pandemic is not over, and is still serious. But enough is enough. We have had 5 months to prepare for how these restaurants and gyms and everything else can open safely– but what I am hearing is that there is no plan.
Why can’t restaurants allows for 25% capacity- I think that is a fair start. We were going to start that July 2nd after all.
And gyms should be allowed to reopen at 25% capacity and masks required.
Anyone who says the pandemic was over months ago, and that we should reopen indoor dining in Morristown or elsewhere in NJ, must have their head in the sand. There are OTHER ways to support local businesses that should be explored. What we need is leadership starting at the highest level of the federal government.And a respect for the data. Unless, that is, you’re fine with the idea of another total lockdown. Perhaps it would be helpful to imagine yourself or a loved one getting sick and dying alone in a hospital.
I think the NJ Governor and his staff need to spend some time walking Morristown and some of the other towns and ask how they can better help and assist these businesses from going under. There is a tipping point that nobody wants to reach.
Where is the Gov and his staff?
You can’t call them on the phone, how do the taxpayers reach them? Cell phone numbers that we pay for are not listed.
Sad.
If they don’t stop this nonsense with shutdowns in the next two months, what are these restaurants going to do when the cold, wet weather rolls in? The pandemic was over months ago – this is nothing more than intentional economic destruction before November, and population control via fear.