Board of Aldermen 12-22-2020 Page 31
As far as the stimulus bill that’s coming out of DC we really don’t know if that’s going to come. So
December 31*, guess what? All of that unemployment safety net is gone. Maybe it will be there, maybe it
won't. We don’t know, we don’t have a crystal ball. But we do know that we are creating this issue
beforehand. Now | am going to talk about the flip side of it. We've got Christmas coming, we’ve got people
who are not going to be listening to the rules. They are going to be going and spending time with their
family they are going to basically spit in the eye of everybody and say | don’t care. And then they are going
to go out and celebrate and then we’ve got New Year’s Eve. If | had my way, I’d shut down New Year’s
Eve all across the State, all across the Country. You know, but all that is going to do is it is going to bring
people home. They are going to be sitting in their homes, they are going to be drinking and they are going
to be taking off their masks and they are going to be doing it. So there’s no good answer here.
| can’t support this curfew. | want to but | just really can’t because | look at the eyes and so on and | had
someone today tell me | can’t look at the downtrodden to make my decision. These people aren't
downtrodden they are being affected because of this pandemic. They have never ever been in food lines
before. They have never ever had to ask for help and now they are asking for help. | can’t add to that
burden | just can’t do it. So for that reason | cannot support this and | am apologizing for not being able to
support it because we have incredible, incredible public health people. Madam President, thank you for
letting me speak.
President Wilshire
Youre welcome. Next is Alderman Lu?
Alderwoman Lu
Thank you Madam President. | just wanted to make a couple of points. Last night someone that was
speaking was very distraught, she explained that she worked two jobs. She worked, | think she said at the
Greenbriar and then she also worked at one of the clubs in town. And regardless of how this vote goes
tonight, | just hope that everyone understands that the Board of Health and our Health & Community
Service Workers in the City have been acting in the best interests of everyone and doing their best to
communicate throughout the months what they recommended and what we need to be aware of. And
they’ve been doing a really good job of improving their communications and however this vote goes, just
know that they believe and | believe them that we don’t know how this is going to evolve over the next
several months. And we feel as though we’ve seen the worst and it’s time to lighten up. But just be very
cautious, think of — what | hear that | don’t feel great about is the sense that we all need, we have the right
to our entertainment. And | guess | want to caution people to maybe be more self — to give more and
entertain yourself at home if you can to the extent that you can because this is all that the Board of Health
is trying to do is to communicate that in mingling there really is risk. Just because it’s not a risk to you, you
may very well be coming into contact tangentially with someone who is going to suffer because of this.
| just want to say the Food & Beverage Industry isn’t being picked on it’s kind of like why do you rob a
bank? That's where people are going maskless. That’s where people are sitting about and you tend to see
it after 9:00 at night because before 9:00 at night, families are out having dinner together. But | just want to
encourage everyone to take the message regardless of whether there is a law or an ordinance that’s
attached to it, after tonight. And please show some compassion for your community. Thank you.
President Wilshire
Thank you. Anyone who has not spoken yet that would like to speak?
Alderman Harriott-Gathright
Harriott-Gathright.
