“I am shocked by the governor’s decision to move the goalposts in the middle of the game by delaying the much-needed second phase of regional reopening by subjecting the process to the approval of a panel of experts who don’t even live in New York” said Tague. “This faceless collection of so-called experts has no expertise about what it’s like to manage a family farm, own a small business or raise a family as a single parent struggling to make ends meet.

The real experts we should be listening to are right here in our communities, the people who know best how this shutdown has impacted the places we live. Small businesses in our state aren’t just excited to reopen, they have to, and the reality of the matter is that the lack of revenue coming in is going to prevent them from ever doing so again.

We need more local input into the reopening process and our residents need more clarity about how to plan for reopening, not less, and putting the fates of our communities into the hands of a faceless panel of “experts” does nothing to ease the anxieties of those worried about feeding their families and losing the careers and businesses they’ve worked for years and generations to build.

There is now a clear abuse of power that the governor is exploiting to pander to his New York City base and donors. To slow the opening of upstate New York and in the process kill our local businesses and communities is heartless if not criminal, and we cannot stand for this gross abuse of power.”