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| Times Herald-Record
The Castle Fun Center and other popular local entertainment businesses are at risk of permanently closing, their owners said, and they’re calling on state leaders to better communicate how and when pandemic-related operating restrictions might be lifted.
The Castle, a nearly 30-year-old amusement park in the Town of Chester, has some activities, but it’s largely been closed since March, owner Brian Leentjes said.
Leentjes, who recently put the park up for sale, got choked up on Friday describing how he can’t answer workers’ questions about their future employment.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo needs to know “the economic impacts are going to be a health impact also – from the stress that people are going through from the closures,” said Leentjes, who’s been shredding his savings to keep the Castle alive.
Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus said he’s repeatedly contacted Cuomo’s office, without response, regarding the conditions necessary to relax coronavirus restrictions.
Also ignoring recent outreach, Neuhaus said, is former Ulster County Executive Mike Hein, who Neuhaus said helps oversee the state’s local control board for coordinating when the Hudson Valley’s businesses can more fully reopen.
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Hein left his county executive role to become commissioner of the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance in February 2019, a role he still holds.
“From catering halls to bowling alleys and the Castle amusement park, it’s a clear and present danger that businesses could close,” said Neuhaus, who’s also fighting for answers regarding Round1 Bowling and Entertainment Center and AMC Theatres at the Galleria at Crystal Run mall in the Town of Wallkill. “I get it that there’s a major health issue now, but you get radio silence from the governor’s office.”
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“To not even carry on a dialogue is like creating an economic torture chamber as these businesses slowly die in front of our eyes,” Neuhaus added.
Leentjes and other proprietors, like Jaime Quinn, owner of the Quinnz Pinz Bowling Alley & Amusement Center in Middletown, want state leaders to:
- acknowledge correspondence and review any reopening plans businesses provide. In the Castle’s case, Leentjes said he’s been unable to get state officials to address a plan featuring hospital-grade disinfectant, constant cleaning and reduced capacity;
- help businesses secure additional state and federal financial assistance, from loans to grants;
- describe the specific public health circumstances under which, and the scientific criteria by which, state leaders will judge whether their businesses can more fully open;
- and explain and eliminate what the owners view as inconsistencies allowing some to have recreational activities, including while patrons drink and eat, while other businesses cannot operate as fully.
Among many examples, local business owners want to know why the state would deem bowling much safer than pool playing or an arcade.
“Where’s our stimulus?” said Quinn, who wants state and federal officials to help locals secure U.S. Small Business Administration loans. “How do you close my business for seven months and expect me to reopen when we’ve had no income” to afford things like NFL TV packages, air conditioning and maintenance.
And, “Where’s our guidance?” added Quinn, who also wants the governor to more often calm New Yorkers so they go out and spend more. Without more guidelines from the governor, “I have no answers for my customers. The entertainment businesses are devastated.”
A Cuomo spokesman said state leaders understand and sympathize strongly with small business owners, New York’s economic lifeblood.
But, the spokesman said, New Yorkers are able to discuss relaxing state restrictions because the state has been so careful and thorough in issuing its guidance for businesses to gradually reopen.
Without the continued, cautious use of restrictions, the state risks a second deadly coronavirus wave, the Cuomo spokesman added.
daxelrod@th-record.com
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