Newport City Council received their weekly COVID-19 crisis update from City Manager Joe Nicholson on Tuesday, May 19th.
The full video can be seen below.
Our quick notes from the meeting;
City Manager: Has been flooded with requests from restaurants for outdoor dining. He is hoping to get through the rest of the applications over the next day or two. The City Manager said the City is doing everything can for restaurants and businesses, but the rules and regulations are coming down from the state.
City Manager: 15 restaurants outdoor dining plans have been approved. City waiting on restaurants to submit their outdoor dining plans for approval as soon as possible.
City Manager: On beaches – Recommending to open First Beach on or about June 4th. Parking capacity would be 33%, no carousel and no bathhouses. Easton’s Beach Snack Shack would be able to operate. For month of June – no bathrooms. There would be a parking fee. City Manager says if things go well they’d hope to ramp up to 50% capacity in July and August. The City Manager cited guidance from new guidelines that came out today regarding beaches.
This workshop had to be ended abruptly due to some inappropriate comments being made in the chat section of the zoom call.
