Zoom
Friday afternoon’s virtual presser.
Local barbershops and salons can reopen as early as June 1, and the mayor has tapped the city’s building official to be in charge of the task force of city employees working on inspecting and enforcing eligible businesses’ compliance with the governor’s Phase 1 reopening guidelines.
Mayor Justin Elicker delivered those updates Friday afternoon during his daily coronavirus-related virtual press briefing with top City Hall aides. The presser took place on the Zoom videoconferencing app and on YouTube Live.
The mayor said that the city currently has 2,452 confirmed positive Covid-19 cases and 104 related fatalities.
Elicker (pictured) said that, per the governor’s reopening guidelines for this sector of the economy, hair salons and barbershops can begin to reopen throughout the city, and the state, starting June 1. They must abide by these public health and limited capacity guidelines if they choose to partially reopen on that date. Business owners must also self-certify with the state to show that they have read the guidelines and plan to follow them.
“I know for a lot of barbershops and hair salons this is a highly anticipated day,” Elicker said.
The governor had originally included haircutters as eligible to partially reopen on May 20 along with outdoor dining restaurants, retailers, and offices, but then bumped them to June out of a concern that many businesses were not prepared to reopen safely. Click here for an article about a protest outside a local barbershop soon after Lamont decided to push their sector’s reopening.
Elicker also said that he has tapped city Building Official Jim Turcio to helm the local municipal task force responsible for inspecting and enforcing compliance with the governor’s Phase 1 reopening guidelines. He said Turcio is working with the local health department and police department, among other city departments, to do outreach to businesses.
City Health Director Maritza Bond (pictured) said her department recently held a second webinar with salon and barbershop owners about the safety precautions they must follow in order to reopen. She said city health inspectors will be conducting scheduled and surprise inspections of hair salons and barbershops throughout the city starting June 1. She said her team continues to inspect outdoor dining restaurants to make sure they too are in compliance with the governor’s orders. Click here to learn more about the city’s Phase 1 reopening efforts.
Other Updates included:
• The city is looking for more volunteers to work at the Blake Field drop-in site for homeless individuals in need of health care and wraparound services. Elicker said the site sees around 30 to 40 individuals a day. Click here to register to volunteer.
• The mayor said that the city will be participating in a food distribution event in partnership with Vertical Church at Lincoln Bassett School in Newhallville on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. The event will also feature a pop-up coronavirus testing site from 9 a.m. to noon.
• Elicker urged residents to participate in the June 1 National Day of Mourning and Lament by taking two minutes of silence at 10 a.m. to remember the over 100,000 Americans who have died from the Covid-19 pandemic so far. He asked churches throughout the city to ring their bells at that time to commemorate the victims of this pandemic.
• And the mayor and Police Chief Otoniel Reyes (pictured) both condemned the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man in Minneapolis who died after a white police officer pinned him to the ground and pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for over five minutes. A bystander video of the incident showed Floyd pleading with the officer to let him go because he couldn’t breathe. Floyd’s death has ignited protests of anger and despair throughout the country at the sight of another unarmed black person killed by a white police officer. Earlier Friday, the Minneapolis officer in question, Derek Chauvin, was arrested and charged with murder.
Elicker proclaimed his “outrage at the murder.” He said that it shows “how much work we have to do as a nation to address the inequalities and the disproportionate impact on black and brown communities that some law enforcement may have.”
“I think it is very important that leadership around the nation and leadership around New Haven come out very vocally to condemn what happened,” he said.
Reyes agreed. He said the department would be issuing a formal statement soon. For now, he said, “this is an opportunity for us and we have to come together to deliver the message that we do not tolerate this. I stand with this community.”
Read the entirety of Elicker’s email statement about George Floyd’s death below.
Mayor’s Response to the Killing of George Floyd
Dear New Haven residents,
Today my heart goes out to George Floyd, his family, his loved ones, his community — our community. Like so many people, I am outraged by the video taken moments before Mr Floyd’s death. This is another example in our nation of a violent act by a police officer against a person of color. I regret that this is not the last time such an act will be committed. And I think it’s important for leaders to speak out and call out these incidents for what they are – racism.
New Haven is not Minneapolis. Connecticut isn’t Minnesota. But we have struggled with racism in our community as well. Last year we saw Stephanie Washington and Paul Witherspoon shot by Hamden and Yale police officers near the Hamden border. And early this year, we lost Mubarak Soulemane — a New Haven resident. He was nineteen years old. He was black. He was killed by a State Police officer.
Police Chief Reyes and I have talked countless times about our Police Department’s role in our community. The Chief’s and my expectations are clear – that we don’t over police and that New Haven police officers treat all residents fairly and with compassion. We have worked hard to ensure the police department reflects the “Community Policing” that we so often talk about in New Haven, and we will continue to do everything we can to work toward that vision.
I do want to take a moment to underscore the importance of talking about these issues with each other. I don’t know what it’s like to be black or brown, but I do know that we all play a significant role in teaching our loved ones about racism and how we can make choices to address it. Choosing to address the injustices that pervade not only the lives of those in our own communities but nation-wide. I’m confident that we won’t see the kind of violence in New Haven that we’ve seen in some other cities, and I know that with social distancing, it can be hard to have the active dialogues we’re used to in New Haven, but having these conversations with our loved ones and community members, followed by actions, is how we are truly going to address these systemic issues around racism and inequality.
Thanks everyone for listening and for doing your part during these challenging times.
Always serving you,
Mayor Justin Elicker
(203) 500‑2969