‘Got to start somewhere’
Bridgeport businesses, churches have mixed feelings about reopening plans
BRIDGEPORT — Next weekend — roughly around the time the state marks a year since the COVID-19 pandemic struck — comedian Vinnie Brand is scheduled to perform at his downtown Stress Factory club/restaurant for a few nights.
The standup funny man’s business was shuttered for five months because of the health crisis, reopening last August. Brand has been able to continue to draw live acts and an audience while operating under the strict crowd limitations and other health guidelines required by Gov. Ned Lamont.
“I think Ned Lamont has done an overall really good job,” Brand said Friday.
But he admitted feeling some disappointment after the governor Thursday announced plans to eliminate certain coronavirus capacity limits, including for restaurants, without safely relaxing some other coronavirus-related requirements.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” Brand said. But, he emphasized, as long as patrons/tables must remain six feet apart and there is still an 11 p.m. curfew, establishments like Stress Factory will continue facing economic challenges.
“I know it hurts us we have to be out (of the club) by 11,” Brand said. He also suggested that, as the state’s next step, “maybe the six foot distancing gets relaxed a little bit so we can have more people in.”
Across Connecticut’s largest city, those whose livelihoods have, like Brand, been significantly impacted by Lamont’s COVID rules offered mixed reactions to what the governor characterized Thursday as a “feel good” moment of lessening those restrictions after a rough year.
Mariello Ordonez, who, with her husband, runs Ceviche Palace on East Main Street, called Lamont’s decision to waive capacity limits for restaurants “good news”
but acknowledged she likely could not accommodate more than her current 11 tables.
“If we put more tables it’s going to be too close,” Ordonez said. “We need to have the six feet apart . ... It’s good news for other restaurants that have more room to put more tables.”
Still, Ordonez said Ceviche Palace’s business has been decent, particularly in recent weeks as Connecticut's coronavirus infection rate has decreased while the number of residents receiving the new vaccinations continues to grow: “More people are coming to dine in. The weekends are very busy.”
Brand hoped Lamont’s announcement will stimulate the economy by signaling to wary residents it is again safe to enjoy a night out.
“People start to think, ‘OK, it’s getting better . ... Maybe we’re through the worst.’ And that’s also important. We need to get people to where they think it’s safer — as long as they’re acting safe,” Brand said. “The psychology of going out is going to start to mend.”
On the face of it, Lamont’s decision Thursday did not necessarily contain good news for Bridgeport’s new amphitheater, which developer Howard Saffan plans to open this May after two years of delays. The governor raised the capacity for outdoor venues from 25 percent to 50 percent — something state officials had told Hearst Connecticut Media last week to expect.
Saffan has said he needs permission to fill all 5,700 seats, without social distancing, to book musical acts, and had hoped for that commitment from Lamont’s administration by mid-March.
But on Friday Saffan characterized the governor’s move Thursday as a good sign, saying the amphitheater would “anticipate booking entertainers” hoping the restrictions will be further relaxed. “We applaud the governor and the state for opening up businesses and outdoor venues and we look forward to an acceleration in the
months ahead,” he said.
There was no good news Thursday for Hugh Hallinan, who operates the Downtown Cabaret. Lamont announced indoor theaters like his must continue to operate with only 50 percent of their normal audiences. Hallinan has remained closed, stating as recently as December that it is not economically feasible for him to put on shows with such limited seating.
He said Friday that he is aiming for a June reopening: “I would probably take a bit of a hit on that if I had to at 50 percent. But I’ve got to start somewhere.”
He would also like to see a reduction in the six-foot social
distancing requirement.
“By virtue of that protocol, the Cabaret is still stuck at 50 percent even if they raised it (the audience cap),” Hallinan said. “If they pull that down to five feet or four feet, that would make a big difference.”
Hallinan questioned why Lamont was maintaining the capacity limits on theaters but eliminating them for gyms and houses of worship: “I’d love to understand the methodology of some of this.”
But at least two prominent faith leaders — Pastor Anthony Bennett and the Rev. Sara Smith — who have for several months been offering online worship, said Friday they were in no hurry to return to
crowded in-person services.
“We’re not looking to open back up this month at all,” Bennett said of his Mount Aery Baptist Church on Frank Street, which, pre-pandemic, could host around 700 people. “I think we’d rather err on the side of levels of caution.”
Bennett added: “All of us are aching and itching for fellowship and normalcy . ... (But) we’re still in a pandemic. People are still dying and we’re still doing funerals.”
Smith, senior minister of United Congregational Church of Bridgeport, which leases space on North Avenue, said she just recently “buried a man” from her church who died with COVID-19.
Smith said United Congregational offered some in-person outdoor services last summer and was already planning to try to re-open with seats for 50 — there is space for around 200 — on April 5, Palm Sunday. That will not change despite Lamont’s Thursday announcement.
She said that during a teleconference of church members Thursday night, “Somebody mentioned the governor lifting it (the capacity limit) and everybody just said, ‘We’re not there yet.’ They don’t want to bury anybody else. They don’t want to get sick.”
“I don’t want to bury another person from COVID,” Smith added.