Rant #2,416: Beat It

Today, my neck of the woods--Nassau County, Long Island, New York--is supposed to open under Governor Andrew Cuomo's phased plan for reopening our economy.

Certain manufacturing jobs that were considered to be non-essential are suddenly going to get the green light to continue, and certain retail businesses can operate with curbside pickup or in-store pickup.

Some other businesses are affected, including agriculture and forestry, and they are all in phase one of this plan, with other phases to follow.

The problem is that while many are complying to this phased-in plan, others--and there are plenty of others in my neck of the woods--are not waiting for their particular phase to open. They are just opening, and why--"

Because they claim they have to.

Or they won't ever open again.

Even Governor Cuomo said as much in yesterday's news conference about the phased opening.

In these news conferences, Cuomo appears to be one part President Franklin D. Roosevelt or even New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, giving us what amounts to "fireside chats" to comfort us, but on the other part, he appears to be P.T. Barnum, trying to sell us a bill of goods that people on the ground know cannot be accomplished, but others dig into as if they were eating their last meal.

Whatever the case, Cuomo said that those companies at the top will always find a way to survive--not mentioning names, but looking at retail, you know he is talking about major national and international concerns like Walmart and Target, who he said "always find a way" to survive--and others at the bottom of the retail line won't--and without naming names, he is talking about the mom and pop stores that line our retail main streets.

With the latest phased in openings, he 1) does not understand or acknowledge that these main streets stores have been literally out of business for two and half months, and even another stay sticks a knife into them and their future; 2) "curbside pickup" might be fine for some smaller stores, but smaller stores where you actually need to go in and look around for what you want--like jewelry stores and record stores--can't feasibly operate this way; and 3) that many venues simply aren't going to listen to him, and will open whether he gives the green light or not.

And again, they have to. They have no choice.

Although banks are not considered by the general public to be "retail," they are actually referred to as "stores" by their companies and employees. They do not fall under phase one of the governor's plan, but I believe they fall under phase three, which is under "financial institutions."

Banks in my area have been open, but only in a drive-through basis. Take it from me, I have waited on some immense lines trying to put cash into the bank, and it is annoying, but thought to be necessary under the circumstances. My wife works in a bank that is going through this, and it is both intense for customers and for bank tellers and other personnel to handle business this way.

Yesterday, my mother had to make a deposit in her local bank, and as has been customary during this period, I took her to the bank to help her make her deposit. Usually, there are several cars waiting at the drive-through, but yesterday, there was just one who was ahead of us. They did their business, and then it was our turn.

We did what we had to do, and while doing so, the teller handing the drive-through told us that the bank was actually open for business. Funny, we thought we saw people walking into the bank, but their ATM machine has been active during this entire period, so we thought that perhaps they were deciding to use the indoor ATM rather than the outdoor ATM.

But no, they were entering the bank to use the bank's services inside.

Funny, because banks are not supposed to reopen until a subsequent phase in a few weeks, so they were quite obviously jumping the gun on when they could open, taking their chances with law enforcement and public outcries over their opening.

The bank simply decided it was time for them to open, and they did just that.

And by the way, I checked with my wife, and no, her bank is not opening its floor just yet.

I have seen other businesses in the area reopen or continue operations when they weren't supposed to, and in New York City, a coalition of small business owners have announced that in a few days, they are going to open, whether Mayor Bill deBlasio allows it or not.

Storefronts and other businesses are opening whether they are given the go-ahead or not, simply because they feel that they have to.

The record store that I frequent recently posted a GoFundMe campaign because it could not pay its rent after being shuttered for two and a half months. And you just know that they aren't the only ones who are in dire need of customers and cash, and simply cannot wait for the official OK to open.

In this record store's case, they have a double whammy, because not only can't they open under the law right now, but they are located right next door to a county legislator, so they are going to have to go by the book when it comes to opening, whether they like it or not.

The GoFundMe campaign worked, they are able to pay their rent, but how long will a place like this be able to survive when it can't do its regular business?

In a county where you still cannot get a haircut at your local barbershop or hairdresser, that is the current million-dollar question, and although the governor means well, his plan is cockeyed, and will kill off more businesses to the threat of the coronavirus than the actual virus will.

We need all our local main street businesses to be open for business, and open them up responsibly, before we kill them all off permanently.