More People in Downtown Binghamton as Phase 2 Starts

Governor Cuomo didn't announce until Friday afternoon that the Southern Tier could move into phase two of the state reopening plan. At that point, I think a lot of people just figured they would wait until Monday to reopen.

As I stood outside the radio station on Court Street today (Monday) at noon, I noticed traffic up and down Court and State Streets has definitely increased since last week. I looked across Court street and noticed that the barbershop the Dapper Rascal Studio was open and customers were coming and going. Even looking down the sidewalks in each direction I noticed there was a lot more foot traffic as well.

When the stay-at-home orders first win into effect two and a half month's ago, traffic was extremely light and downtown Binghamton. There were plenty of parking spots available and you didn't see many people out walking at all.

Prior to today, you would see a handful of people walking into one of the banks or picking up food to go at one of the downtown restaurants, but it still felt a little empty.

You can definitely notice the difference today in downtown Binghamton. I hope we continue to progress in lowering the number of Coronavirus cases in our area, and hopefully we will be able to move into Stage 3 soon, and then continue on to stage 4 of the opening process.

It is a great feeling seeing downtown Binghamton coming to life again. It is definitely a sign that we are moving in the right direction.