Lovely A.

Warren
Mayor
City Hall Room 308A, 30 Church Street
Rochester, New York 14614-1290
www.cityofrochester.gov

January 12, 2021

The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo

Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Cuomo:

Thank you for the leadership you have demonstrated as New York State navigates the
coronavirus pandemic. The actions you have taken so far have undoubtedly saved lives
and positioned our State for a full economic recovery.
However, in this fast-moving environment, it is important that we as leaders remain willing
to re-evaluate our decisions and amend them when appropriate. In that regard, I am
asking you to reconsider your policy to forbid indoor dining for restaurants in Orange
Zones.
In Rochester, we have learned restaurants play a minor role in driving COVID-19 infection
rates. This indicates indoor dining in restaurants with appropriate safety measures and
occupancy limits would not cause an overall increase.
Most significantly, the current policy disproportionately affects city restaurant owners and
their employees—many of whom are of color and have already bore the greatest burden
of the pandemic. Most of Rochester is an Orange Zone, while many suburban towns are in
a Yellow Zone where restaurants remain open. City residents are at a disadvantage to
survive the pandemic because many of them are family owned, non-franchise businesses.
Our residents, like with the gyms and beauty and barber salons, had no alternative but to
circumvent businesses in their own neighborhood to patronize suburban businesses.
Many of our businesses, especially the women and people of color businesses, are having
a hard time surviving under the current regulations.
This is especially troubling in light of the work we have done in Rochester to address
historic racism and structural inequities. Many of these goals are encapsulated in my
recently unveiled Equity and Recovery Agenda, which builds upon your demonstrated
commitment to communities of color, such as the State’s support of the Revitalize
Rochester Fund.
Restaurants play a unique role in our urban economy, they often serve as the anchors of
our commercial business districts and even influence neighborhood housing values. In
total, Rochester has nearly 7,000 people working in our restaurants and many of our

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restaurants enjoy institutional, landmark status in our neighborhoods, and their closure
would have ripple effects across the entire city economy.
We, through our Neighborhood and Business Development Department have made it a
priority to support restaurants with our CARES Act funding. So far, this program has
already awarded more than $1.7 million to more than 900 applicants, including many
restaurant operators. We have also partnered with them to feed our senior citizens who
are also suffering during this pandemic.
Adding to our frustration, we recently announced the Flower City Winter Sidewalks
Program to help restaurants operate outside with ventilated, single-table greenhouses for
up to four people. In recent weeks, our community partners have come forward with
generous donations to provide 25 restaurants with free, temporary greenhouses. We hope
to begin installing greenhouses in just a couple weeks, but have been told by ESD, without
any written justification, that they violate Orange Zone requirements. At this point we’re
doing everything we can to help our restaurants survive, but at every turn, without data or
any other justification, our businesses are being arbitrarily penalized.
Governor Cuomo, you have a well-deserved reputation as one of the most progressive,
forward-thinking governors in the nation. I respectfully request that you to continue on that
path and amend a policy that has the unintended consequence of disproportionately
affecting City-owned businesses, many of them owned by women and people of color,
creating an outsized blow to urban economies. Please remove the prohibition on indoor
dining for restaurants in the designated Orange Zones, and allow such dining with
appropriate safety measures and occupancy restrictions. Thank you and feel free to
contact me to discuss this vital matter to Rochester.

Sincerely,

Lovely A. Warren
Mayor