Governor Murphy recently announced that the state will begin Phase 2 of the reopening process. That means allowing in-house dining at local restaurants as well as opening up non-essential businesses to the public again. Even so, he suggested that businesses continue to adhere to social distancing guidelines as outlined by the CDC. As a result, expect to see a few changes to Quimby Street in the weeks ahead.
Quimby Street
Downtown Westfield Corporation conducted a survey of residents recently asking participants what they thought of transitioning some downtown streets to “pedestrian only” temporarily. An overwhelming 81% of the 2000 people questioned said that this would make them more likely to patronize downtown businesses.
You spoke. They listened. To start, expect Quimby Street to shut down to automotive traffic on Friday, June 19th and continued until late Sunday, June 21st. They expect this to continue through the 4th of July weekend. If this works out well, they may extend this transition through the entire summer. Expect to see dining tables and store displays spilling out onto the sidewalk from restaurants and boutiques along Quimby Street over the next few weekends. This allows each business to accommodate more customers while still maintaining that six-foot social distance.
Buy a Shirt/Help the Food Pantry
Aidan Murphy, a fifth-grade Westfield resident, turned a drawing into a charity drive. His parents took his drawing of a handshake with the word “prevail” under it and turned it into T-shirts for sale. They donate all proceeds for the shirt directly to the Westfield Food Pantry. Visit the Westfield NJ Police Department’s Facebook page to see what the T-shirt looks like. He donated $300 from the first batch of T-shirt sales to them to give to the food pantry on June 9th. They took a picture with him and posted it on their page at the time. If you’d like to support his efforts, the T-shirts cost just $20 each. Email Aidan’s mom, Kerry, to put in your request.
Scott Gleason, CRS at Coldwell Banker Realty – East, NJ Luxury Homes/MAX Select, Luxury Homes