Burns calls on governor to open all businesses for curbside pickup, delivery
‘If it’s good enough for the LCB … it should be good enough for everyone else’
Rep. Frank Burns April 30, 2020 | 1:05 PM
EBENSBURG, April 30 – In order to promote consistency and give small businesses equal opportunity, state Rep. Frank Burns is calling on Gov. Tom Wolf to allow all businesses – regardless of size – to offer curbside pickup and delivery following established safety protocols.
Burns, D-Cambria, said he wants to end an approach that is confusing and seems to favor big-box stores, by universally adopting the business-operation template approved for the state Liquor Control Board.
“It’s audacious for this administration to say it’s OK for state-owned wine and spirits stores to open for curbside pickup, but it’s still too dangerous for mom-and-pop businesses to do the same,” Burns said. “If it’s good enough for the state store to sell a bottle of bourbon, it should be good enough for everyone else.”
Burns said many small-business owners, who’ve been particularly hard-hit by COVID-19 shutdown orders, see a double-standard when state government allows some business operations – including its own LCB cash cow – to resume limited operations while they cannot.
“The governor should give private business owners the same opportunity,” Burns said. “I don't see how allowing businesses to offer curbside pickup and delivery is any different than ordering from Amazon, having a pizza delivered, picking up a bottle of vodka or simply getting your mail.”
Further, Burns said he wants to end perceived favoritism for big-box stores, which have been allowed to remain open for such things as lawn and garden center sales, while smaller firms specializing in those items had to close their doors.
“How is it right that you can buy tomato plants or a new lawn mower at a big-box store, but not from the family-owned place down the street,” Burns asked. “The system in place has to be fair for small-business owners in Cambria County, and that’s what I’m out to make sure of.”
Burns admitted these are not easy decisions but reiterated his belief that small businesses are just as capable of adhering to required safety measures as national chain stores and the LCB, and thus should be entitled to offer the same level of service.
“If the governor deems state stores ‘life-sustaining,’ then I think an argument can be made that everything else is, too,” Burns said. “I’ve seen the pain that actual business owners are going through. They want fair and equal treatment, and it’s time to give them that.”