Mayors Describe the Challenge of Safely Ending Lockdown

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

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🗓️ 18 May 2020

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

With non-essential business starting to reopen in many states, elected officials have to make a call on a series of impossible questions: How soon is too soon? How safe is safe enough? What will the cost be, in new cases of the disease and in deaths?

To get a sense of how mayors are handling the reopening of America’s cities, David Remnick spoke with Quinton Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri; Andy Berke, of Chattanooga; and Marian Orr, of Cheyenne. They expressed frustration with the guidance or lack of it from the state and federal levels. But Mayor Orr said that some of the changes of the lockdown could point the way to the future—including a reassessment of how her own City Hall operates. “We don’t need this massive building, with HVAC issues and electrical costs. We need technology,” she told Remnick. “Perhaps the way we do business and deliver government services shall be changed forever.”

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1:11.7	I'm Dorothy Wickenden on On today's Politics and More podcast, David Remnick talks with three mayors,
1:18.9	Andy Burke of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Quentin Lucas of Kansas City, Missouri, and Marion
1:25.2	Orr of Cheyenne, Wyoming. They'll discuss how their cities have responded
1:29.7	to the COVID-19 pandemic and how they're deciding when and how to reopen for business.
1:38.5	Offices, gyms, hair salons, churches, social gatherings, and more are starting to reopen. And even Andrew Cuomo of New York,
1:46.0	who hasn't soft-pedaled this disaster, announced that some restrictions will be lifted this month
1:50.9	as planned. But what constitutes safe reopening is controversial, particularly in the absence of
1:57.5	clear national guidelines, and the president's encouragement of protests
2:01.5	against orders issued by state governors.
2:04.8	To get a sense of how local leaders are managing the process, I called up the mayors of
	...

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