The COVID-19 pandemic mitigation efforts are having a devastating impact on Newtown Area businesses – but especially restaurants that cannot "work from home" or do business via Zoom!

During this trying time, restaurants need help generating business. That is why several restaurants in the Newtown area have decided to host a "contest" based on "Tempe Bingo" – a game developed by a Tempe, NV, brewery, whereby restaurants can cross-promote each other.

Here is the basic idea:

• 25 restaurants will participate, each with a square on the BINGO GAME card.
• Each restaurant will promote the BINGO GAME on their website, at their location and link to the official virtual BINGO GAME card that residents/game players can download.
• To play the game and achieve BINGO!, players must order a meal of a minimum specific value from 5 restaurants all in one row, column, or diagonal of the card. No player can claim more than one BINGO! per day.
• There will be 5 winners who must achieve BINGO! and submit proof of purchases to win.
• Each winner gets 2 free meals of equal or lesser value based on their 5 restaurants on the BINGO GAME card.
• Other prizes may be awarded for filling the entire BINGO GAME card.

There are NO out of pocket upfront costs to restaurants or players who participates in Newtown Area Restaurant BINGO!

This contest is hosted by East Coast Event Group. At least half a dozen restaurants/eateries have already signed up to participate as of 5/5/20. We need 25 to fill the game card!

If you are interested in participating as a host restaurant, please contact Eric Scott Gold for details and to sign up.

Email: ericscottgold215@gmail.com or call: 215-750-2600

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday state and local governments are seeking up to $1 trillion for coronavirus costs, a stunning benchmark for the next aid package that’s certain to run into opposition from Senate Republicans.

Pelosi acknowledged the federal government may not be able to provide that much. But she said a “heroes” fund is needed to prevent layoffs as governors and mayors stare down red ink in their budgets. Many jurisdictions are facing rising costs from the health pandemic and plummeting revenues in the economic shut down. The best way Americans can support local nurses, bus drivers and other front-line community workers, Pelosi said, is to make sure they don’t lose their jobs to budget cuts.

“This is something of the highest priority, it honors our heroes,” Pelosi said.

The $1 trillion request comes after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shifted his tone suggesting he is “open” to considering additional funds in the next coronavirus relief bill.

But the eye-popping figure would be on top of nearly $3 trillion Congress has already approved over the past month to salvage the economy and confront the health crisis.

McConnell said Thursday on Fox he’s willing to consider money for the states, but isn’t about to send federal dollars to bail out overspending.

“We’re not interested in borrowing money from future generations to send down to states to help them with bad decisions they made in the past unrelated to the coronavirus epidemic,” the GOP leader said.

McConnell insists any fresh funding must be tied to liability reforms to prevent what he calls “an epidemic of lawsuits” against doctors, hospitals and businesses reopening in the pandemic.

"Extraordinary Times Call for Extraordinary Measures." These are indeed extraordinary times with many businesses forced to close and millions of people out of work due the measures necessary to contain the Coronavirus pandemic. And municipalities like Newtown Township that depend upon business and job related taxes (e.g., Earned Income Tax or EIT) face financial difficulties if the shutdown continues much longer and people do not get their jobs back.

To stay financial solvent, it behooves the Township to do all it can to help local businesses. As a Newtown Township Supervisor I expect that I will be called upon to make critical decisions in the coming weeks and months in response to the dire financial impact on Newtown Township of the Coronavirus pandemic and the emergency mitigation measures currently in place. Consequently, it is important that have the necessary information and feedback from local businesses to make the right decisions. That is why I hosted the COVID-19 Business Impact Survey.

Download a summary of results of the survey here.

Here’s the problem in a nutshell: Government at every level relies on revenue estimates when planning budgets. More than a year in advance, council, commissioners and county executives anticipate how much the economy will grow, how much the usual taxes (income, sales and property among the larger sources) will rake in and then authorize spending on such broadly popular purposes as paying teacher salaries as well as those of police and firefighters, upgrading transportation (from building roads to filling pot holes) and addressing a host of other small, yet important responsibilities from reviewing development plans to maintaining public parks. The abruptness and jaw-dropping scale of the current downturn could surely never have been anticipated even weeks ago.

Governments have installed some protections such as surpluses and rainy day funds (a balance that is tapped only in the event of an unanticipated emergency) but none is anywhere near enough to cover what’s eventually coming their way. The state government’s reserves might float its general fund obligations a month, for instance. So they have two options but really only one. Officials can cut spending or they can increase taxes. And given how any elected leader who dares pursue a tax hike right now would mean his or her own unemployment courtesy of the ballot box, it’s really just about cutting spending. At first, there will be fat to trim, efficiencies found, public relations campaigns that can be deferred, contracts that can be delayed. Then there are the tougher choices like hiring and pay freezes. And then, as things get bad, the dreaded "f" word — furloughs or unpaid holidays or even salary reductions for government workers.”

On March 15, just one week after our grand opening, Solstice was forced to close its doors to adhere to government mandates surrounding COVID-19. Over the past month, we have kept our team home and supported them by providing weekly meals for pickup.  

Nearly a month later, we have decided to reopen our doors, for takeout and delivery. Service starts Wednesday, 4/22, but you can place your online order starting now.

Rest assured, the health & safety of our guests and team members are still our top priority, so we have introduced:

• Easy ordering by phone or online on our website
• Contactless pick-up & delivery for guest & team member safety
• Strict team member & restaurant sanitation standards
• Personal protective equipment provided to team members

Dinner is Served Daily | 4:30pm - 7:30pm

View menu and order here: https://bbot.menu/menu

Retail sales plunged in March, offering a grim snapshot of the coronavirus outbreak’s effect on consumer spending, as businesses shuttered from coast to coast and wary shoppers restricted their spending.

Total sales, which include retail purchases in stores and online as well as money spent at bars and restaurants, fell 8.7 percent from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The decline was by far the largest in the nearly three decades the government has tracked the data.

Even that bleak figure doesn’t capture the full impact of the sudden economic freeze on the retail industry. Most states didn’t shut down nonessential businesses until late March or early April, meaning data for the current month could be worse still.

The resulting job losses continue to mount. Best Buy, which has 125,000 employees over all, said Wednesday that it would furlough 51,000 hourly store workers beginning Sunday, including nearly all of its part-time staff.

And in the months ahead, the question is how quickly spending will bounce back once the economy reopens, and how many businesses will survive until then.

People who lose jobs won’t quickly resume spending once businesses reopen. And those willing to spend may be reluctant to congregate in malls, restaurants and other businesses that rely on face-to-face contact.