Westchester Re-Opening on Tuesday, May 26th

Dear Friends:

Important Re-opening News: 
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today that Tuesday, May 26th, will be the first day of Phase 1 of the “re-opening” of the Mid-Hudson Region, which includes Westchester County, as our Country Executive and others agreed to have contract tracers train over this Memorial Day weekend. Thank you to all of our essential workers and to all Westchester resident and residents of the Mid-Hudson region, who by their actions, allowed our hospitalization, death and other necessary measurements to fall to this safer place. Sad as it is to say, the death toll statewide today was 84, the lowest number in several months, so your efforts are continuing to make a real difference. I urge you, my constituents and friends, to continue to strictly adhere to social distancing, wearing your masks, washing your hands and following all the other required or recommended steps to ensure we do not go backward and face additional illness and death after this very difficult period. This is not a time to celebrate, but a time to take a needed breath, allow some segment of our economy to get back on track, and take some modest steps towards the new normal.  
Phase 1 re-opening under Governor Cuomo’s plan includes the following industries, subject to industry-specific guidance by the State and in accordance with the Regional Re-opening Control Board’s consideration.

Construction

• Building Equipment Contractors
• Building Finishing Contractors
• Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors
• Highway, Street and Bridge Construction
• Land Subdivision 
• Nonresidential Building Construction
• Residential Building Construction
• Utility System Construction

Manufacturing

• Apparel Manufacturing
• Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing
• Electric Lighting Equipment Manufacturing
• Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing
• Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing
• Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing
• Machinery Manufacturing
• Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing
• Paper Manufacturing
• Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing
• Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing
• Printing and Related Support Activities
• Textile Mills
• Textile Product Mills
• Wood Product Manufacturing
• Other Miscellaneous Manufacturing
• Construction
• Building Equipment Contractors
• Building Finishing Contractors
• Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors
• Highway, Street and Bridge Construction
• Land Subdivision 
• Nonresidential Building Construction
• Residential Building Construction
• Utility System Construction 

Wholesale Trade

• Apparel, Piece Goods, and Notions Merchant Wholesalers
• Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers
• Furniture and Home Furnishing Merchant Wholesalers
• Household Appliances and Electrical and Electronic Goods Merchant Wholesalers
• Machinery, Equipment, and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
• Metal and Mineral (except Petroleum) Merchant Wholesalers
• Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers
• Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
• Wholesale Electronic Markets and Agents and Brokers
• Miscellaneous Durable Goods Merchant Wholesalers
• Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods Merchant Wholesalers

Retail Delivery, curbside, and in-store pickup service only for the following businesses:

• Clothing Stores
• Direct Selling Establishments
• Electronics and Appliance Stores
• Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses
• Furniture and Home Furnishing Stores
• Florists
• General Merchandise Stores
• Health and Personal Care Stores
• Jewelry, Luggage, and Leather Goods Stores
• Lawn and Garden Equipment and Supplies Stores
• Office Supplies, Stationery, and Gift Stores
• Used Merchandise Stores
• Shoe Stores
• Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument and Book Stores
• Other Miscellaneous Store Retailers

Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting 

• Other Crop Production
• Support Activities for Animal Production
• Support Activities for Crop Production
• Support Activities for Forestry
• Other Animal Production

Each company seeking to re-open must file a detailed plan for a safe re-opening. For additional details on the Phase 1 operations, I strongly urge you to review the Governor’s re-opening plan for details. Additional details are also outlined here.

Re-opening will be gradual, with an anticipated two-week evaluation between each stage.
The Region’s Regional Control Room will monitor the opening from our regional perspective, and the Regional Control board includes, among others, County Executive George Latimer, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, and President of the Westchester-Putnam AFL-CIO Tom Carey. Each business and industry must have a plan to protect employees and consumers, make the physical work space safer and implement processes that lower the risk of infection in the business. I will provide more detailed information in another email this coming week.

Memorial Day
Memorial Day is so different this year for all of us. For me, I miss the opportunity to join veterans, community members, my elected official colleagues and so many others who gather together to pay homage to those American service members who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. We will not let this pandemic allow us to forget them. 
I plan to join numerous virtual and small event Memorial Day ceremonies, including those in the City of Yonkers, New Rochelle (click here to watch); Mamaroneck; Rye City (click here to watch); White Plains (a virtual event will be aired on Memorial Day every hour from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at whiteplainsny.swagit.com/live. ) and others. I’m confident next year we will have the opportunity to honor the memories of these heroes in somber ceremonies throughout the district. 

Legislative Update
Both the NYS Senate and Assembly have plans to resume legislative session next week in Albany. (I plan to be present remotely as I am self-quarantining while my husband and I await the birth of a new grandchild, but I will be voting under our new remote rules.) I look forward to adopting new laws and policies to deal with the impact of COVID-19 on our communities and other important issues while we start to recover from this very tough time.

Sanitizer for Religious Institutions and Community Groups
If you or your religious organization, community group, nursing home or other institution would benefit from 1 gallon jugs of hand sanitizer, please email me at smayer@nysenate.gov. We have more that we can distribute and get to those in need. 

As always, feel free to contact my office at (914) 934-5250 or smayer@nysenate.gov as we continue to assist constituents to receive unemployment insurance or the new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, and deal with loss of income requiring assistance of food or other essentials.

With hope toward better days ahead, 
Shelley B. Mayer