But what would opening up look like?
What's next? Going to work, Uber, taxis, Airbnb, governments slashing spending.
Inkstone (Hong Kong)
Kevin McSpadden 14 May 2020
But what would opening up look like? Well, Hong Kong could provide a useful model. We are relatively free to move around these days and there has not been a significant outbreak in weeks.
Here is what life looks like for me, an average office worker:
Upon waking up in the morning, I need to complete an online health declaration 30 minutes before I arrive in the office. If I fail certain questions — say my girlfriend is sick or has recently returned from abroad — then I enter a 14-day quarantine period. Work from home continues.
Assuming I pass, I leave my apartment and don my surgical mask. I have been wearing these things all day every day since early February so I barely notice it anymore.
The only part of my day that I would consider to be “unregulated” is the morning commute. It is the one point where I could theoretically move about the city without getting my temperature checked.
Once I reach my building, I walk past a temperature checking camera (first of the day!) to be allowed to enter the elevator. If I were a guest to a different office, the front desk person would very likely also take my temperature and make me sign a medical release form.
These temperature checks are usually accompanied by a mandatory squirt of hand sanitizer. Many businesses also have disinfectant doormats.
I will get my temperature checked if I go to lunch, head to the gym or run errands. I estimate that I get my temperature checked five times every day.
Other changes that are useful to note:
It’s harder to get seats at restaurants because there are fewer available tables.
A lot of restaurants have partitions to prevent spit from getting into someone else’s personal space.
I suspended my gym membership because I could not book classes as they hit their maximum capacity almost instantly.
There is an army of workers disinfecting every surface imaginable.
Public transit is less crowded and many people stand to avoid sitting, another touchpoint for potential infection.
But what you may also notice about the “new Hong Kong” is that restaurants and gyms are open, public transportation is operating and I am required to go to the office every day.
The restrictions do drag on the economy, and local businesses are certainly struggling (there are a lot of good deals for people willing to spend). But the city is feeling cautiously optimistic and is making efforts to open up further (schools are set to open soon).
Survey suggests we're pretty done with ridesharing after all this
The Drive
James Gilboy 07 May 2020
America is returning to work with its recovery incomplete, and its situationally aware populace will do what it must to stay safe. To many Americans, that will require avoiding contact with the public wherever possible.
Studies by CarGurus and the IBM Institute for Business Value that together surveyed roughly 26,000 American adults found that around half have developed a distrust for ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. Thirty-nine percent of the former's 722 respondents said they plan to use less or no ride-shares whatsoever from here on out, and more than half of the latter's 25,000-plus respondents said similar. The IBM survey also found that 24 percent will cease using ride share-adjacent services like taxis, even though taxis may be less than a hundredth as germy your average Uber according to a 2019 study.
Some 28 percent of IBM respondents who take public transport such as buses or trains said they will use these modes of mobility less often, and more than 20 percent said they will stop entirely.
Seventeen percent of those surveyed by IBM and 49 percent by CarGurus said they will use their own vehicles more, and around 25 percent said they'll use their private forms of transport exclusively from here on out.
To that end, 41 percent of those surveyed by CarGurus said they soon "expect to purchase a vehicle," be it a replacement for their current car or a new set of wheels to augment it. Regardless of whether they purchase cars new as automakers want them to or seek a bargain on the used market, it looks like traffic after the shutdown is going to be even worse than it was before.
https://bit.ly/3fR5sS9
Airbnb webinar will help you curb the comeback
Flat Chat (Australia)
Jimmy-T 12 May 2020
Airbnb and other short-term letting agencies may be on the back foot at the moment, with an estimated 85 percent drop in bookings as world travel has effectively shut down.
But make no mistake, they will be back and they are targetting your apartment blocks (condo towers) for their recovery and growth.
Only last month, the Airbnb headquarters in Ireland responded to the new laws allowing New South Wales (NSW) strata schemes (condo corporations) to ban holiday lets, with a gloating (and erroneous) message to their hosts that we owners couldn’t pass the by-laws required because coronavirus lockdowns meant we couldn’t hold the necessary meetings.
Why are they targeting us? Well, apart from the inherent petulance of the entitled and selfish, well-run buildings with well-maintained facilities, especially in or near holiday hot spots, are exactly what their hosts need to profit most out of letting and sub-letting residential apartments.
In this so-called sharing economy all that’s being shared are the facilities on which you have spent time, energy and money.
And what do you get in return? At best, strangers wandering through your home, with no idea of how thing work and what is and isn’t allowed.
At worst, drunken morons blundering through your homes, not caring about rules and regulations, or how much disruption or damage they cause, because they will be long gone by the time your complaints reach your committees’ ears.
That is the typical pattern of bad behaviour, from Brisbane to Melbourne and beyond. Here in NSW we are now blessed with the option to create by-laws that can stop this terrible trend in its tracks.
The Owners Corporation Network – the peak organisation for strata owners and residents in Australia – is hosting a free online Zoom webinar on Wednesday, May 20 at 1pm, which will give you all the tools and strategies you need.
Right now is the time to act when so many holiday letting hosts are putting their properties back on the residential market and/or defaulting on their levies so they don’t even get a vote.
Airbnb and their clones will be back
We know from past experience that Airbnb and their clones will be back with a vengeance – relentless and ruthless in winning back their share of what they boast is the most penetrated market in the world.
To register for the Webinar, go HERE and you will get an email explaining how to login in next Wednesday. And if you haven’t used Zoom before, don’t worry – it does all the work and you don’t even need to download any software.
And you can find out more about the Owners Corporation Network HERE.
https://bit.ly/2LwVKq1
Essential California
Los Angles Times
Christopher Goffard 15 May 2020
As coronavirus deaths topped 3,000 across California on Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom asked lawmakers for sharp cuts in spending on public schools and government services, including healthcare. The governor unveiled his revised state budget amid predictions that the state will see a drop in nearly $10 billion in tax revenue for the fiscal year that ends in June.
‘No consultation’: Vancouver police chief slams $8.5M budget cut amid COVID-19 crisis
GLOBAL NEWS (abridged)
Amy Judd 15 May 2020
Vancouver’s police chief is expressing a “fundamental concern” about an $8.5-million budget cut to the department approved by city council.
a 1% cut
In an email sent Wednesday night and obtained by Global News, city officials notified Chief Adam Palmer of a motion that was passed that night in-camera to cut the police budget by one per cent to help offset the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cuts translate to about 80 fewer police officers, he added.
In a statement, the City of Vancouver says it is facing a “significant operating budget shortfall in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Revenue losses for the year are projected at $152 million.
In the statement Thursday afternoon, Palmer said police are an essential, core service. “In my view, it is problematic to cut an essential service to fund non-essential services.”
In a report presented at a news conference on Thursday, Stewart said Vancouver has lost 90,000 jobs and $2 billion in revenue due to the pandemic. More than 13,000 businesses have closed.
https://bit.ly/3cH25ey
I don’t know what going to work will be like in the next few weeks or months aside from being sure it will be a lot different than what it was like last February. People are returning to work. I see it in the increasing traffic during rush hour and in the steady increases in gas prices.
More people will be wearing face masks. Restaurant servers, bus drivers, cashiers and office cleaners will be among the last to remove them.
Many small independent businesses will not return. Many of the “temporary” layoffs will become permament job losses. Shopping malls will have an empty look to them.
Will people prefer to stand on the bus and subway rather than sit? Will people, those who can afford to, avoid Uber and buy cars? (There may be some great deals on returned leased cars.) It all depends on how knowledgable they are about how Covid-19 is transmitted and if they are still worried about contacting the virus.
Uber and Airbnb are not going to disappear. It may take a couple of years for them recover their lost revenues but their customers will return and the drivers and hosts will be happy to serve them.
I expected all levels of government to start cutting their budgets for education, health care and social services. The unbelievable debt levels they are taking on cannot be substained.
However, I did not think the cuts would start so soon.
I also predicted that the untouchable police and fire services budgets would get trimmed, even if just a little. Expect the Toronto Transist Commission to get hit hard. Less passengers mean less drivers.
In condos, I predict that many amenities, especially gyms, theatre rooms, pools and party rooms will be slow to open. They will have even more rules that residents and their guests will need to follow. Some amenities may never re-open.
Meetings by video conferencing is already here. You may see the introduction of plexiglass partitians between the managers and the residents. Visits to the office will be by appointment only.
—H. Marshall