Restaurants Fight Back

photo by Derick Hutchinson

Governor Gretchen Whitmer stands ready to start her conference, and to persuade restaurant owners to follow the COVID pause.

On December 1, Governor Gretchen Whitmer responded to a letter written by Joe Vicari. This letter? A call to arms for all restaurants to reopen on December 9, given Governor Whitmer continues the three-week pause. 

“Our industry cannot survive another extended closure. Thousands of restaurants and tens of thousands of our employees cannot survive it either. We need to band together and FIGHT BACK, but we need to do this as a United Group of Michigan Restaurant Owners,” said Vicari in his letter.

However, Governor Whitmer is urging restaurants to follow the law to keep Michiganders safe.

“I would discourage people from willfully breaking the law, always -- no matter what the law is on any subject. I would strongly discourage that. But I think at this moment, we need to give one another a little empathy and a little bit of grace and recognize the gravity of the situation,” said Governor Whitmer.

“Restaurants need to follow the orders because they’re put in place for a reason. There’s a good chance that man [Vicari] is a republican that wither wants a) money or b) to stop being oppressed by tyranny,” said Noah Dressander, a restaurant worker and senior at St. Joseph High school.

Governor Whitmer will likely hold another conference sometime this coming weekend, deciding the fate of Michiganders for the rest of 2020. Vicari has yet to respond to the Governor’s statement.