'Small Business Rally' Held In Delaware County As Group Of Lawmakers Petition Gov. Wolf To Allow Personal Service Businesses To Reopen
PROSPECT PARK, Pa. (CBS) -- Demonstrators called on Gov. Tom Wolf to reopen southeastern Pennsylvania faster on Thursday. Business owners say, even if the region moves into the yellow phase next week, it's still too restrictive. One Democratic lawmaker agrees.
Masks were deemed a must and were provided free of charge for those arriving at the parking lot of Marty Magee's Irish Pub in Prospect Park.
"We are having a small business rally to open up Pennsylvania," owner Joe Magee said.
It's the second rally held in Delaware County in as many weeks.
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A continued point of concern about small business owners and employees in attendance was with big box stores and their ability to continue operating under Wolf's orders.
"When it comes to the bar business, we cheers for health and happiness and we believe that we can do that in a safe manner," Magee said.
Southeastern Pennsylvania is expected to enter into the yellow phase of reopening next Friday. But in the yellow phase, bars and restaurants are still takeout only and personal services, like hairdressing, are still not allowed.
"Ohio has allowed personal services now for a couple of weeks and they came up with a pretty good plan that we sent on to the governor as an example of what we could do here in Pennsylvania," state Sen. Steve Santarsiero said.
A group of Pennsylvania state senators, including Santarsiero of Bucks County, reached out to Wolf Thursday, asking for an executive order that would allow personal service businesses to reopen in the yellow phase, as long as safety measures are adhered to.
"We have to make sure that we do that in a way that makes sure we don't risk a spike in cases, but also as soon as we possibly can so that we can get folks back to work and save industries," Santarsiero said.
