NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – The restaurant industry and public transportation in New York City would get a big boost from the COVID-19 relief package making its way through Congress.
The U.S. Senate narrowly approved the $1.9 trillion bill on Saturday, setting up final congressional approval by the House next week.
New York City restaurants, teetering on the edge in the pandemic, are eligible for a nearly $30 billion national relief fund in the stimulus.
“This new restaurant relief is a huge relief to them, because now they’ll have money to pay off some of their debt, have some cash flow to start buying products, hiring people back,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance.
Restaurants can apply for grants equal to the difference between their revenues from 2019 and 2020.
“And that money can be used for rent, payroll for employees, vendor expenses, utilities, and all these other costs that have been piling up huge debt and really have been getting in the way of restaurants surviving,” Rigie said.
He said the next steps will be expanding indoor dining and getting restaurant workers vaccinated.
Related
The stimulus also includes $6 billion for the MTA. That means no service cuts or layoffs.
Daniel Pearlstein, policy and communications director at the Riders Alliance, hopes the funds will also mean no immediate fare hikes.
“The investments being made today in this bill are to bring the people back,” Pearlstein said. “So absolutely, it may take several years, but if the government doesn’t make those investments now, New York will be back on its heels for several decades, at least, if not forever.”
Pearlstein said ridership can only go up from here.
“Even though we’re not back up at 9 million (riders) like we were last February, still 3 million people a day depend on buses and trains in New York, and with this aid they’ll be able to continue to depend on it, and millions more will be able to come back in the coming months and years,” Pearlstein said.