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COVID-19 Update - as of June 26

Dear Friends, It’s great to see so many of our Downtown Businesses open again and our downtown being active. There is a long way to go, but it seems as if there is a little bit of normalcy. 1)   Business Re-opening Status 2)   Stimulus Funds 3)   Outdoor Dining Areas – Road Closures 4)   Social Media – Please Send us info to Post 5)   Township Newsletter 6)   Bi-Weekly Zoom Meeting – Thursday 10am

1) Business Re-opening Status This past Monday, June, 22nd, our Beauty, Nail and Spa services were able to reopen. This is combined with restaurants permitted to have outdoor dining the previous week on June 15 th . On July 2 nd , restaurants may be permitted to have indoor dining at 25% occupancy. The rules and regulations for indoor dining should be released early next week. There are many rules and regulations to abide by. As a reference please always refer to NJ Covid Information Hub and in particular the page “What Businesses are Open . " Please follow all rules and regulations. Gyms and exercise classes are not permitted to open as of now. The Township is making outdoor public parks available for these classes. Please email us at [email protected] if you would like to hold an exercise class outside.

2)   Stimulus Funding PPP funding rules keep changing every day. As of now, instead of the 8 weeks to use the money, this has been extended to 24 weeks. The 24 weeks start the day you received the money. PPP reduced the amount needed for payroll to retain your employees from 75% to 60%. The other 40% can be applied to rent, mortgage payments, and utilities. These rules keep changing so please discuss with your accountant and bank the new rules and regulations.

3) Outdoor Dining – Road Closures          The Township has closed two streets and one parking lot to create more outdoor space for restaurants and retail stores. This is also a way to bring more people downtown. As of now, part of Alden Street and, as of yesterday, Eastman Street next to Post Office Plaza are closed from Thursday at 3pm to Monday at 8am. The permit spaces in Parking lot 7 behind Garlic Rose are closed from Thursday at 3pm to Monday at 8am as well.

4) Social Media       Please email us at [email protected] if there is something you would like for us to post on social media. We are tracking our social media posts weekly to ensure that if there are businesses we are not posting about, making sure we do so.

5) Township Newsletter Please sign up for the Township newsletter for additional current updates. Here is link to sign up: Township of Cranford News.

6) Zoom Meeting – Bi-weekly Our Zoom meetings will begin to be bi-weekly starting in July. It has been very resourceful, but with many businesses receiving Stimulus Funds and reopening we will begin to have it bi-weekly

Please reach out to us if there is any way we can assist you during this time. Best, Downtown Cranford Office