Protesters

[Turkeytop]

I don't live in Michigan and I haven't been following this thread closely.

Is it the position of the protesters that there is no crisis and no response is required? Or do they just believe this was the wrong response?

[bmw]

Many believe the government response was overly broad and that a lot of business owners currently forced to be closed could reasonably be open.

[Turkeytop]

So they aren't saying everything should be opened right up again?

[Matt]

I don't live in Michigan and I haven't been following this thread closely.

Is it the position of the protesters that there is no crisis and no response is required? Or do they just believe this was the wrong response?

Officially, it is completely legitimate to protest Whitmer's restrictions on: 1) Not being able to travel between properties you own, 2) Not allowing gatherings of any size, 3) Not allowing boats with motors but canoes and kayaks are ok, 4) Not allowing gardening related sales, and 5) Allowing lottery, pot, and alcohol sales (I'm ok with alcohol sales), but as always is the case with protesters, they weren't the most intelligent in our society. Of course, when similar low-level intelligence individuals are protesting Republicans, the same people ridiculing these idiots praise their own idiots.

[audiophile]

In the case of car dealerships, they are forcing their customers into safe behavior and so they are allowed to operate.

PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Michigan Nursery & Landscape Association
Amy Upton, Executive Director
(517) 381-0437
Amy@MNLA.org

RELEASE DATE:
April 14, 2020

A STATEMENT FROM THE MICHIGAN NURSERY & LANDSCAPE ASSOCIATION ON COVID-19

OKEMOS, MI, April 14, 2020

On behalf of Michigan’s Green Industry – the nursery and greenhouse growers, retail garden centers, lawn care, landscape maintenance, design/build, tree care, and irrigation and water management firms – we present this statement on COVID-19.

The majority of our businesses are family-owned and many are multi-generational. Our industry is committed to providing their products and services in a way that prevents us from neither contracting nor spreading the virus.

We take our associate and customer safety and health very seriously. We employ regular safety training and enforce strong safety standards on the job. The very nature of our work, which is performed outdoors individually or in small teams with little public contact, poses a lower risk of contracting or spreading COVID-19. In addition, we have in place many initiatives that allow us to work safely with zero-contact and CDC social distancing to protect our associates and customers. We recognize the dangers with this virus and if we are able to go back to work, we are prepared to implement the even stricter Federal and State guidelines to make it safe for our employees and customers at our independent retail garden centers and landscape/lawn care work sites.

Spring is a critical time of year for our industry due to the abundance of growth now that requires prompt maintenance and care. Any halt or delay in our services during this time of year only magnifies potential safety problems and becomes much more difficult to maintain later in the year. And, we can implement guidelines so we can work safely!

-2-

Our independent retail garden center businesses are brimming with flowering plants, nursery stock and vegetable plants – ready for customers to safely purchase for their home garden needs. If we miss this primary window to sell our plant products, including many that are perishable, our businesses and our employees could face an entire year without income. And, we can implement guidelines so we can work safely!

The terms being used now to describe the backbone businesses of Michigan’s economy—essential and non-essential—are as disheartening as the virus. We need to change the conversation immediately to what it should have been from the start—making it about a safe workplace.

If we must use these descriptors then we are essential!
Our landscape industry—including lawn care, landscape maintenance, design/build, tree care, and irrigation and water management:
• performs regular maintenance to mow, prune, control weeds, and inspect for safety and security issues;
• performs essential treatments to reduce the spread of dangerous and deadly diseases transmitted by pests like mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas;
• removes fallen trees and mitigating overhead hazards from wind effects;
• manages invasive species; and
• keeps public and private pathways free from obstruction and potential risk.

Our Independent Retail Garden Centers:
• carry vegetable plants and products to grow your own food;
• carry vegetable seeds to grow your own plants;
• carry fruit trees and small fruit plants like strawberries, raspberries, potatoes, etc;
• carry native plants, annuals, and pollinator friendly plants that promote our healthy ecosystem;
• teach customers how to “grow your own”;
• play an important role in our citizens’ mental health with plants for their gardening activity.

Under normal circumstances we believe in our First Amendment Right of the people to peaceably assemble. These are not normal circumstances and we are concerned that public protests will cause undue stress of our first responders. Therefore, we do not support or endorse the public protests planned for this week and have encouraged our members not to participate in these events.

Our message is clear—we can provide a safe workplace for our employees and we can provide our products and services with zero-contact to our customers. We are pleading to be allowed to go back to work, relieve the unemployment system, generate tax revenue for the State, and to save Michigan’s Green Industry.

###

[TC Shuts Up]

One thing I notice, is that people who work for government at all levels and get government paychecks or have government pensions are against the protesters. The people who have to eke out a living as the struggling self employed are for the protesters. This is the chasm that has been created by government policies from Kindergarten through adulthood. If the national guard shows up, Lansing will turn into Kent State, with all the repercussions against government like the Vietnam War. And China was the main cause of continuation of the Vietnam War and American soldiers dying. Just like the Chinese coronavirus is now killing American civilians, and may soon kill more Americans than the Vietnam War.

[bmw]

Just wondering - if Whitmer had simply extended the existing executive order without the extra restrictions (no travel between 2 residences, no motorized boats, no roping off of gardening sections, etc), do you think these protests would have happened? If not, then does Whitmer share some of the responsibility for the problems caused by these protests?

[matt1]

Speaking of Kent State, it will mark the 50th Anniversary of the shootings (May 4, 1970) that killed 4 people & injured 9 others. Too bad that HBO won't show the made for TV NBC movie that was shown in March of 1981 on Monday May 4, 2020 with bonus material probably not shown in the 1981 movie (contains volence & strong language). The YouTube channel has the 1981 movie BUT the picture quality is bad.

[TC Talks]

I run a family business and I am also experiencing similar hardships. I guess that's what it means to be part of a society even if it's slightly inconvenient for Revenue over the next year. If only the government would come up with a 2 trillion dollar bailout plan.

I wonder if all the whining entitled idiots can just shut the fuck up. Since we're all just wondering about things. I've never seen a republican who doesn't come along with a good heartbreaking story when it comes to their money.

[audiophile]

Do talk to the pastor at TCP that way?

[Bryce]

I've never seen a republican who doesn't come along with a good heartbreaking story when it comes to their money.

Sort of like wealthy Democrats that oppose building a wall when they themselves live behind one?

[bmw]

I run a family business and I am also experiencing similar hardships. I guess that's what it means to be part of a society even if it's slightly inconvenient for Revenue over the next year.

Is your business in danger of going belly-up? And if it does, will you struggle to put food on the table? If the answer to either of these questions is NO, then I suggest you take your own advice: all the whining entitled idiots can just shut the fuck up.

Since we're all just wondering about things. I've never seen a republican who doesn't come along with a good heartbreaking story when it comes to their money.

Yeah, and I've never seen a Democrat who doesn't come along with a good heartbreaking story when it comes to being discriminated against and having the world plotting against them. In fact, you just made reference to this very fact just several days ago with your sarcastic "now you know what it feels like to be a minority" response to my suggestion that we're living through a modern-day Salem Witch Trial.

[TC Talks]

Do talk to the pastor at TCP that way?

Of course I do. As a matter of fact, he sent me these a while ago...

[TC Talks]

I run a family business and I am also experiencing similar hardships. I guess that's what it means to be part of a society even if it's slightly inconvenient for Revenue over the next year.

Is your business in danger of going belly-up? And if it does, will you struggle to put food on the table? If the answer to either of these questions is NO, then I suggest you take your own advice: all the whining entitled idiots can just shut the fuck up.

No Business is at risk if it is relevant.

Since we're all just wondering about things. I've never seen a republican who doesn't come along with a good heartbreaking story when it comes to their money.

Yeah, and I've never seen a Democrat who doesn't come along with a good heartbreaking story when it comes to being discriminated against and having the world plotting against them. In fact, you just made reference to this very fact just several days ago with your sarcastic "now you know what it feels like to be a minority" response to my suggestion that we're living through a modern-day Salem Witch Trial.

So what's your response to the 1.6 million dollar per person bail out of America's 43,000 millionaires? They certainly don't care about whether you make it or not. 900 Million dollars that should have gone to small businesses.

[TC Talks]

Looks like some of the protesters have the virus...

Commentary: Did Capitol protest of Whitmer's stay-home order just spread COVID-19 further outstate?
https://www.crainsdetroit.com/voices-ch ... d-covid-19