North Shore Chamber of Commerce wants to open Haleiwa for business
The NorthShore Chamber of Commerce on Oahu has a message to Hawaii Governor Ige. Chairman Howard Green, Chairman delivered a letter to Governor Ige today implementing not everyone in the State is created equal. Howard Green is also the Chairman of the Northshore marketplace.
The Northshore’s rural settings should allow for restaurants and tourism businesses to be allowed to open.
The letter dated April 29 says:
Dear Governor Ige, Mayor Caldwell and Mr. Oshima:
The closure of businesses has adversely affected the economy and personal lives of the North Shore residents.
We are requesting that retailers, restaurants, and service businesses on the North Shore be allowed to open immediately. We are not now saying that the quarantine on tourists or other foreigners should be dropped. But local interaction among residents is a totally different thing. The North Shore Chamber of Commerce urges all involved that businesses should be reopened as quickly as possible but in no event later than the Wednesday before Memorial Day. With Memorial Day weekend fast approaching, which is a key date for most businesses, it is urgent that businesses are given as much lead time to prepare for employees returning, vendors supplies, and physical COVID-19 safety requirements for their locations.
With less than 70 COVID-19 patients hospitalized throughout the state to date and the preparedness of hospitals being the cornerstone of criteria to open the economy, what data supports why further lockdown and damage to the economy is warranted? It appears that reopening is dependent on the city, state, and hospital performance in attaining benchmarks to opening the economy. We should know what are the benchmarks, how is the progress being measured, and the progress to date.
The North Shore Chamber of Commerce is asking for the data that quantifies the following immediately as time is of the essence.
- With the level of testing and steady decrease in positive cases over the past few weeks what is the required maximum number of positive cases and over what period of time to meet the criteria to open sit-down restaurants and smaller retail and service businesses?
- Data that supports your position that small retailers are not equipped or able to operate safely as compared to large retailers that are opened selling the same products and servicing the same community.
Unless you can provide data proving it is not safe we strongly recommend the process of North Shore businesses to begin immediately with set opening dates and clear and precise requirements. If businesses, employees, or customers do not feel comfortable with opening it will be their choice not to participate.
We look forward to your timely response.
With Aloha from the North Shore,
Howard Green, Chairman
