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Zoo Atlanta in Grant Park will reopen to the public on Saturday, May 16 but with protocols and procedures in place to stop the spread of COVID-19.
According to a press release, a new timed ticketing system will be in place to control capacity and limit the number of guests who are inside Zoo Atlanta at any given time. Tickets may only be purchased online now at zooatlanta.org.
Zoo Atlanta will open at 10 a.m. on May 16; beginning Sunday, May 17, Zoo hours will be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
There will also be no cash transactions and paper maps will transition to all-digital maps guests may view on mobile devices.
During this first phase of the Zoo’s reopening, all buildings (restrooms excepted), indoor venues and indoor experiences are temporarily closed, as are amenities such as Splash Fountain, rides and play areas. Food and gifts will be sold from outdoor kiosks.
At all locations where feasible, Zoo Atlanta will promote a one-way experience that reinforces social distancing guidelines. Pathway guides will be on hand to assist guests and encourage social distancing.
All Zoo Atlanta team members will wear masks and visitors are strongly encouraged to, but are not required to, wear masks. Hand sanitizing stations are available throughout the Zoo for guest convenience. Zoo teams will also frequently clean and disinfect touchpoints and restrooms using a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved disinfectant.
For more on the phased reopening and guest guidelines, visit the Zoo’s Know Before You Visit page.
“We are pleased to welcome our Members and guests back to the outdoor experiences and connections to wildlife that can only be found at Zoo Atlanta. As important as this is to us, it was essential that we not reopen the Zoo until we could do so confidently, with the safety of our visitors, team members and the animals in our care as the number one priority,” said Raymond B. King, President and CEO. “Many weeks of planning have gone into our reopening, and everything we have done or will do is being done with this in mind.”
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With the state allowing businesses and restaurants to start reopening amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the Old Fourth Ward Business Association (O4WBA) has been busy creating a re-opening strategy for its members, which includes a “pledge to public health.”
According to O4WBA executive director Emma Tinsley, the organization’s aim is to clarify the state’s mandated safety requirements while enabling businesses in the community to collectively commit to additional public safety measures.
Tinsley said the three-tiered public health pledge is based on feedback from more than 30 local business owners, along with best practices across the country. She said Matt Ruppert, owner of Noni’s Deli and founder of O4WBA, took the reigns and encouraged the business association to come up with a plan.
“Business are getting nervous and excited to reopen, but there hasn’t been a lot of guidance,” Tinsley said. “We wanted to set some objectives and offer guidance and additional safety measures for the community when the businesses do reopen.”
As of this week, 20 businesses had signed the pledge so far, Tinsley said.
The three-tiered plan follows CDC and Georgia Department of Public Health guidelines – wearing masks, stringent cleaning, social distancing – but also goes further with additional suggestions depending on the type of business and occupancy. Some of those additional measures include temperature testing, installing alarms to remind staff when to clean, and contact tracing of customers.
Businesses that take the pledge will receive a certificate to hang up that includes a scannable QR code that will allow customers to see the implemented safety measures.
TInsley said businesses taking part will also be able to share resources such as buying personal protection equipment suppliers, access to a group business forum for active discussion, and group bulk ordering.
She said the organization was not planning to tell member businesses when they could reopen. “The business should open when they are ready and feel comfortable. Every business is different.”
Tinsley said that no Old Fourth businesses had permanently closed during the pandemic thanks to the various federal and local loan program, but more capital resources would be needed in the future to ensure that small businesses survive not only in O4W but around the country.
For more, visit o4wba.com.
The post Old 4th Ward Business Association encourages membership to take public health pledge appeared first on Atlanta INtown Paper.
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Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she won’t be rushed into reopening city hall “just because everyone else is opening” during her weekly COVID-19 briefing with the Atlanta City Council this morning.
“I will do what is in the best interest of the public and those who work at city hall,” Bottoms said. “I am mindful of those employees with underlying health issues or who live with someone who does.”
She said the city hall staff has been successful in transitioning to working remotely, and discussions are ongoing about getting city boards and commissions back to regular virtual meetings.
It’s been two months since Bottoms closed city hall and issued a stay-at-home order, which has now been mostly superseded by Gov. Brian Kemp’s orders that the state begin reopening businesses and restaurants.
Bottoms said the number of COVID-19 cases was still increasing. As of May 13, the part of Atlanta within Fulton County had 1,677 COVID-19 diagnoses, up from 1,510 on May 8.
Just after the mayor’s update, the Georgia Department of Health released new statistics showing the number of new statewide cases is now at 35,858 and the death toll at1,527. There have been 16 more deaths statewide in the last 24 hours.
“I remain concerned that pulling back from our aggressive action to shelter-in-place and keep businesses closed will send us in the wrong direction,” Bottoms said.
Bottoms said her advisory committee on reopening the city had its final meeting on May 13 and recommendations would be forthcoming.
In other COVID-19 related updates, Bottoms said the city had received $88.4 million from the federal CARES Act, while Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport had received a separate $338 million grant. Bottoms said residents, businesses, nonprofits and public organizations would be prioritized in the allocating of funds. She said one consideration is helping residents struggling to pay rent. She encouraged residents to visit ATLSTRONG.org if they need financial assistance.
Bottoms noted that overall crime in the city is down 26 percent, but the complaints and concerns about street racing continue. She said in her conversation with other mayors, this phenomenon is happening around the country and some are considering designating a space for street racing. She encouraged residents to call 911 and said the Atlanta Police Department was taking steps to insure the streets are safe.
Bottoms said usage of the Atlanta BeltLine had decreased 6 percent last week, which comes after a three week increase. The mayor said she also intends to reissue an executive order that allows restaurants to sell alcohol to go on May 18.
The post Mayor Bottoms in no rush to reopen city hall, addresses funding allocation and street racing in weekly update appeared first on Atlanta INtown Paper.
Where people choose to live has traditionally been tied to where they work, a dynamic that through the past decade spurred extreme home value growth and an affordability crisis in coastal job centers. But the post-pandemic recovery could mitigate or even produce the opposite effect and drive a boom in secondary cities and exurbs, prompted not by a fear of density but by a seismic shift toward remote work.
Now that more than half of employed Americans (56%) have had the opportunity to work from home, a vast majority want to continue, at least occasionally. A new survey from Zillow, conducted last week by The Harris Poll1, finds 75 percent of Americans working from home due to COVID-19 say they would prefer to continue that at least half the time, if given the option, after the pandemic subsides.
Two-thirds of employees working from home due to COVID-19 (66%) would be at least somewhat likely to consider moving if they had the flexibility to work from home as often as they want. Only 24 percent of Americans overall say they thought about moving as a result of spending more time at home due to social distancing recommendations.
The Pew Research Center found prior to COVID-19, only 7 percent of civilian workers in the United States had the option to work from home as a workplace benefit, though 40 percent worked in jobs that could potentially be performed remotely.
Recent Zillow research suggests more Americans are at least looking at their housing options. In mid-April, page views of for-sale listings on Zillow were 18 percent higher than in 2019.
Space Seekers
Many employed Americans are trying to square the desire to work remotely with the functionality and size of their existing homes. Among employees who would be likely to consider moving, If given the flexibility to work from home when they want, nearly one-third say they would consider moving in order to live in a home with a dedicated office space (31%), to live in a larger home (30%), and to live in a home with more rooms (29%).
A Zillow analysis finds 46 percent of current households have a spare bedroom that could be used as an office. But that percentage drops off by more than 10 points in dense, expensive metros such as Los Angeles, New York, San Jose, San Francisco and San Diego, where far fewer homes have spare rooms.
When it comes time to move, home shoppers who can work remotely may seek out more space — both indoor and outdoor — farther outside city limits, where they can find larger homes within their budget.
“Moving away from the central core has traditionally offered affordability at the cost of your time and gas money. Relaxing those costs by working remotely could mean more households choose those larger homes farther out, easing price pressure on urban and inner suburban areas,” said Zillow senior principal economist, Skylar Olsen. “However, that means they’d also be moving farther from a wider variety of restaurants, shops, yoga studios and art galleries. Given the value many place on access to such amenities, we’re not talking about the rise of the rural homesteader on a large scale. Future growth under broader remote work would still favor suburban communities or secondary cities that offer those amenities along with more spacious homes and larger lots.”
Zillow Premier Agents from Silicon Valley to Manhattan say anecdotally, they’re seeing the early beginnings of a shift.
“We are seeing more buyers looking to leave the city,” said Bic DeCaro, a member of Zillow’s Agent Advisory Board serving Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia. “Buyers, who just a few months ago were looking for walkability, are now looking for extra land to go along with more square footage.”
Keith Taylor Andrews, a small business owner in Denver, started home shopping on Zillow the week Colorado issued a stay-home order. The first-time homebuyer is now under contract on a house in Fayetteville, Arkansas that he plans to use as his home office.
“We learned from COVID-19 that we could operate our business remotely,” said Andrews, who has 40 employees working from home. “Arkansas is a good place to move, it’s economical and there are far fewer people. It feels like a breath of fresh air to get out of the city.”
Computing the Commute
Previous Zillow research found renters, buyers and sellers overwhelmingly agreed that the longest one-way commute they’d be willing to accept when considering a new home or job was 30 minutes.
This new survey from Zillow and The Harris Poll finds those priorities appear to change if people have the flexibility to work from home regularly. When given that option, half of those who are able to do their job from home (50%) say they would be open to a commute that was up to 45 minutes or longer.
In most major cities, living close to downtown comes at a price. A previous Zillow analysis found in 29 of the nation’s 33 largest metro markets buyers can expect to pay more per square foot for a home within a 15-minute, rush-hour drive to the downtown core. If buyers and renters are not burdened by a five-day-a-week commute, housing in the exurbs, secondary cities and remote bedroom communities may become viable and affordable options.
Even with remote work as an option, only 10 percent of those able to do their job from home would consider a commute longer than an hour, debunking the theory that urbanites are now seeking out rural living as a result of the coronavirus.
The White House announced that Georgia will receive over $260 million in federal funding to increase testing capacity in the state.
“Testing is a critical element of our phased approach to get America back to work,” said Senator David Perdue. “This CARES Act funding will allow Georgia to expand its testing capacity and test as many people as possible, even asymptomatic individuals. As we continue to gradually reopen the economy, we must ensure our healthcare system has the testing capabilities and resources necessary to identify and contain COVID-19.”
The funding, to be awarded by the Department of Health and Human Services, was authorized through the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, commonly known as CARES Act 3.5. The Administration announced on Monday that $11 billion will be distributed to help provide states with the resources they need to meet their testing goals.