I 
just received a phone call from the manager of a store in the Cedar Green district. He is seeing people from New York and New Jersey coming into his store. He knows they are from there because he has spoken with them on their past visits, and when they order things and leave a New York or New Jersey phone number, or when he helps carry things out to their car and they have New York and New Jersey tags, he knows that these folks are here from out of town. He asked me what I could do about it.
Last week I issued an announcement strongly encouraging people to not host company from out of town at this time especially from these states, and asking for voluntary compliance. I’m disappointed that people are not looking out for everyone’s interest. This is a public health emergency, and we must all take it seriously. Anybody who is now here from New York or New Jersey should immediately self quarantine for 14 days, together with whomever is hosting them. And part of self quarantining is not going into our stores.
I know this is a difficult time emotionally because this is a time of year that we normally spend with our family, and the holidays have great significance. That is all the more reason why we must be vigilant about staying safe. So that we can celebrate the next holiday and the holiday after that and all the ones after those.
Factual says
Dear Mayor Brennan,
Keep in mind:
1.Many living here still have NJ/NY tags (especially on leased or borrowed cars).
2. “Ordering things and leaving a NY number”? Many people, myself included have out of state area codes.
The overwhelming majority of our community is complying. Public officials need to be especially careful of appearing to malign our community based on suspect anecdotal evidence.
Nachum says
Firstly, as a proud University Heightser for over 20 years I wanted to thank the mayor for his leadership. The hard work is noticed and appreciated… I personally have not seen any guests. The community happens to have grown by a good 300 families over the last few years. Many newcomers do not replace their licence plates or phone numbers in a timely fashion. In addition during this time of year residents often visit stores not frequented on a constant basis.. It is likely those patrons are new locals and not guests. With that being said I suspect it may be possible that a few guests end up coming due to a couple locals not realizing the severity of the situation. I hope to be proven wrong on even this prediction, but the number will most likely be proportionally insignificant.
Bea Shaw says
How about actually closing the Non Essential Businesses at Cedar and Green!
Butchers and CVS essential. Restaurants should not be open for people to pick up.