City launches initiative to ‘save’ restaurants
shuttered by novel coronavirus pandemic
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
The city will spend $3 million to
helping 100 restaurants in the city
forced to close by the novel coronavirus
pandemic subsidize paying 1,000
furloughed or fi red workers at $20 per hour
for at least six weeks and serve 53,000 free
meals to people in communities hardest hit
by the virus.
“All New Yorkers love food, and we
love the beautiful variety of food in this
city but in days of color, a mom and pop
restaurant, a community-based restaurant
is something much deeper than that,”
City wants ‘maximum number’ of kids back into
school buildings by fall, but details remain unclear
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
As New York slowly reopens
and the number
of coronavirus cases
remains below the city designated
threshold, Mayor Bill de Blasio
said on June 12 that his administration
will continue to push
for students to return physical
classrooms by the fall. But details
on what reopening will look like
remain sparse.
“I’ve had conversations in
great detail with Chancellor
Richard Carranza and First
Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan,
and the goal remains to get the
maximum number of kids back
into our school buildings where
they can learn best, but that is
wholly contingent on the health
dynamics,” said de Blasio during
a Friday press conference. The
public school system’s 1.1 million
students have been learning from
home since March.
Mayor de Blasio closed public
schools, forcing 1.1 million
students to begin learning
from home in mid-March, at
the urging of teachers, students
and union leaders worried that
keeping students in crowded
classrooms, subways and buses
would further spread the novel
coronavirus.
Since then, the Department
Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a press
conference on June 11. “It’s something
precious, it’s something that must be
protected.”
De Blasio referred back to his state of the
city this year where he spoke about plans
to help restaurants struggle with high rents
and
Workers from some select restaurants
will be eligible for a one-time $500 cash
assistance. Restaurant owners taking part
of the program must commit to paying
employees at least $15 an hour plus tips
within fi ve years of leaving the program
and returning to normal business, according
to Executive Director of the Mayor’s
of Education has come under
fi re repeatedly for its handling of
the transition to remote learning.
Thousands of students without
computer or internet access,
necessary for at-home learning,
failed to receive one of 240,000
city-promised iPads or laptops
a month into remote learning.
Parents and teachers have decried
a lack of transparency from the
department, for waiting over a
month into the coronavirus crises
to begin releasing the number of
Fund Toya Williford, which is providing
$1.4 million to the revitalization program.
One Fair Wage, a nonprofi t with the goal
of eliminating all subminimum wage pay
among tipped workers, is pledging $1 million
to the program.
Restaurants forced to close or reduce
staff because of the pandemic and are interested
in “re-opening their doors under
a more equitable business model with increased
wages” can apply to One Fair Wage
and NYC Opportunity, another partnering
org, for funding. Selected restaurants will
be able to receive up to $30,000 from the
city and between $5,000 and $35,000 from
One Fair Wage, according to a statement
school personnel killed by the
virus.
Others have questioned the
accuracy of the department’s remote
learning attendance policy,
the benefi ts of switching to a
pass/fail grading system. Parents
and educators have questioned
the department’s management
of remote learning again in
May when the DOE announced
180,000 students were slated for
summer school this year. Only
15,000 students in New York
from the nonprofi t.
“Priority will be given to restaurants in
neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID-19
especially in low-income communities of
color,” the statement adds. As a fi rst step
in the program, One Fair will offer guides
on how other restaurant employers have
transitioned to at least a full minimum
wage for all employees with tips handled
in one of three ways; tips shared among
all non-management employees, services
charges or gratuity free models.
“We cannot go back to business as
usual,” said Williford. “Now is the time for
change and this program helps ups pave the
path forward.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MAYOR’S OFFICE
City attended summer classes
last year.
The statement comes two days
after the United Teachers Federation
sent a letter to teachers,
principals, and superintendents
stating that the Department
of Education plans to reopen
schools in three months under a
hybrid model.
“The virus has put us in an
impossible place, so no plan will
be perfect. We will all need to be
fl exible,” UFT President Michael
Mulgrew wrote in the letter.
“Things we have taken for granted,
such as how and where we
do our work, have already been
upturned during this remote era.
When we return to school buildings,
we will not pick up where
we left off in mid-March either.
These changes must be made for
safety’s sake.”
But despite concerns from
parents and teachers, the mayor
again evaded providing more
details on what classes will look
like for the city’s 1.1 million public
school students this autumn. In an
effort to cement a future return to
school plan, the DOE released a
“Return to School 2020” survey
for students and families about
three hours after the mayor’s press
conference ended on Friday.
“We cannot predict what
September will look like and we
are exhaustively planning for a
wide range of possibilities,” DOE
spokesperson Katie O’Hanlon
wrote in an email. “This survey
will assist us in understanding the
concerns and considerations of
families, as we develop a reopening
plan that meets their needs
while ensuring their safety.”
All parents and students in
the sixth grade and higher are
encouraged to fi ll out the survey,
which takes approximately seven
minutes to complete, before Monday,
June 22.
Schneps Media June 18, 2020 19