Pa. restaurants call for financial help, reforms to survive blows from coronavirus pandemic
Updated Jan 27, 2021;
Posted Jan 27, 2021
Diners sit outside in front of Cafe Fresco Center City in Harrisburg last summer. Co-owner Jen Fertenbaugh stressed during a House Commerce Committee hearing on Jan. 27 that Pennsylvania s restaurants need reform and financial help in order to survive.
File photo Edward Sutelan
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Struggling Pennsylvania restaurant owners Wednesday stressed a dire need for relief or thousands of restaurants could be in jeopardy of closing.
Representatives of the industry made their concerns clear during a state House Commerce Committee hearing. Amid stories of laid-off employees, financial losses and constant constraints, they asked lawmakers for reforms and financial help.
The hearing comes at a time when restaurants and bars in the state are operating under restrictions imposed by Pa. Government Tom Wolf to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Restaurants operate with an indoor capacity of 50%, there is no seating at the bar, a 23:00 drink sale is closed and the mandatory sale of food with alcoholic drinks is mandatory.
Across the country, other states such as Ohio and New York have measures in place, including a 10pm curfew. Many cities like Chicago have recently lifted eating bans as the number of COVID cases is declining.
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John Longstreet, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association, stressed that the industry has been hit hardest in the country. He said Pennsylvania restaurants are facing some of the most draconian mitigation efforts.
MORRISVILLE BOROUGH State Senator Steve Santarsiero (D-10) and State Representative Perry Warren (D-31) have announced $1.5 million in state grant funding for improvements in Morrisville Borough.
The Redevelopment Authority of the County of Bucks will receive $1 million for its Manor Park Landfill project and Morrisville Borough will receive $500,000 for a project at Patriots Park at Historic Summerseat.
The Manor Park Landfill project involves remediating and redeveloping a 12.96-acre vacant Brownfield site for new construction of a 70,000 square foot site for commercial use. Once remediation is complete, the redevelopment will include a fully equipped pad site, parking lots, landscaping and a retention basin.
In many ways, the documentary film project
A Crisis of Conscience: Buffalo Soldiers in the Philippine-American War, produced by a Black American filmmaker, Mark Harris, and the Hollywood actor Danny Glover, echoes the fundamental issues that spurred the Black Lives Matter movement: equal justice, an abiding belief in the ideals America represents and upholding the dignity and humanity of every person.
Harris and Glover, who have been working on their labour of love for the past five years, also wanted to bring attention to a little known chapter in both American and Philippine history, which takes place during the Philippine-American war that begun in 1899 and ended in 1903. Their documentary was the subject of a recent webinar at Manila House.
Photo courtesy of JAX MLAX on Twitter)
Jacksonville coach John Galloway is so good at bringing a goalie’s mindset to a broader group, whether that’s a pro or national team, a group of reporters he’s addressing postgame or, most importantly, about 50 Dolphins in a locker room in Northeast Florida.
Stay focused. Next shot is all that matters. Be ready.
For the last nine months, though, like pretty much every other college lacrosse coach, Galloway and his staff have had to help their players navigate a landscape unlike any they’ve encountered previously, and one that is landmarked by uncertainty.