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The 1500-1600 block of Sansom Street in Center City is closed for outdoor dining. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
Philadelphia is easing restrictions on dining and events, bringing up indoor capacity to the highest point since the start of the pandemic. On May 7, indoor events like weddings and parties, can host as many as 75 people, and restaurants with proper ventilation can expand indoor dining to 75% capacity, according to the latest city guidance.
Even so, many businesses plan to continue to invest in both indoor and outdoor spaces, often with less staff than before.
“In May, we really spent the time building these outdoor ballrooms,” said Joe Volpe, founder and CEO of the “wedding brand” Cescaphe. That meant hanging 15 chandeliers, building a dance floor, and decking out cocktail and dining tents at venues like Franklin Square and the Fairmount Water Works. There are even “private restrooms with granite countertops, all the bells and whistles,” said Volpe.
People eat at restaurants in Pittsburgh s Schenley Plaza on Sunday, May 2, 2021.
During a pandemic recession that has hammered the service industry, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is attempting to sell its minimum wage proposal by focusing on tipped workers.
In Pennsylvania, the tipped minimum wage is $2.83 cents an hour, an amount set in 1998.
As a part of his annual budget, Wolf proposed raising the minimum wage for the seventh consecutive year. That plan calls for raising the minimum wage to $12 an hour on July 1, and then gradually raising it every year until it reaches $15 an hour in 2027. That proposal would also eliminate the existence of a separate, lower tipped wage, something long sought by the group “One Fair Wage.”
WHYY
By
Orange barriers enclose chairs and tables that will be used for dining along Sixth Street between Liberty and Penn avenues on Tuesday, June 23, 2020 in downtown Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
During a pandemic recession that has hammered the service industry, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is attempting to sell its minimum wage proposal by focusing on tipped workers.
In Pennsylvania, the tipped minimum wage is $2.83 cents an hour, an amount set in 1998.
As a part of his annual budget, Wolf proposed raising the minimum wage for the seventh consecutive year. That plan calls for raising the minimum wage to $12 an hour on July 1, and then gradually raising it every year until it reaches $15 an hour in 2027. That proposal would also eliminate the existence of a separate, lower tipped wage, something long sought by the group “One Fair Wage.”
That has them calling on parents to make sure their kids stay up-to-date.
Doctors say they’re most commonly seeing skipped vaccines for things like whooping cough, meningitis, measles and polio. That has them concerned about possible outbreaks beyond the current coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re really nervous that our herd immunity will be dramatically less over time, and then add travel is going to be starting back up again and kids are going to be back in school and around eachother, and we are really nervous we will see a resurgence of some of those vaccine-preventable diseases,” said UW Health infectious disease pediatrician Dr. Jim Conway.