Family Owned East Longmeadow Driving Range, Mini Golf Course Issued Fine, Cease And Desist From Board Of Health For Opening “Non-Essential” Business
Fenway Golf is a popular driving range and mini-golf course in East Longmeadow that is being harassed and threatened by the Board of Health and it’s got a lot of people buzzing.
Aimee Petrosky is East Longmeadow’s resident Board of Health Gestapo agent.
As you can see, her and I have the same barber.
Prior to this her career highlight was being elected “President of Red Sox West” after starting an online campaign to win the crown. Her primary selling point was apparently, “look at this tattoo in my special place.”
Aimee was hired five years ago, and according to her she wanted to work with local businesses by meeting them on an “emotional level,” because she wanted them to be heard.
She added that she also has a background in social work, which is often beneficial to calm tensions during inspections.
“For me, the key is the help people feel heard because they’re running a business – this is their livelihood, this is how they feed their families – and it becomes emotional other than the technical part of the food safety,” she noted. “If you can help meet them on that emotional level … most of the time it is able to deescalate.”
Threatening the livelihoods of family owned small businesses by giving them fines instead of working with them to reopen doesn’t seem to be helping them on an emotional level.
After getting the full time position with the town she stressed that she wanted to build relationships with local businesses.
She continued, “One of the issues for the businesses is that they don’t have that consistency. They don’t have someone that they have been able to build a relationship with … One of the things that I try to let people know right when I go in [is], ‘I want to be your food safety partner.’”
If only businesses in East Longmeadow had some consistency. For example, if local businesses adhere to social distancing guidelines the town’s health agent could respond by not fining and threatening them. It seems like doing what she did to Fenway Golf is a misguided way to “build a relationship” with a family owned business that’s been in existence for 80 years. But alas, Aimee Petrosky has a degree from Smith College and a background in social work, which makes her an expert on infectious diseases.
The Karens were loving the crackdown.
If you think that people are dying because of people hitting golf balls outdoors then you are an idiot. There’s really nothing more that needs to be said about that.
“You broke the law.”
And what law was that Beth-Anne? Last I checked an “order” from a governor that hasn’t been challenged in court or voted on by anyone wasn’t a law. But as long as you feel “safe” and post about how we all need to “stay the fuck home,” I guess you don’t don’t really care if a family owned business goes out of business.
I don’t know anything about that poor guy in the picture with Beth-Anne, but I’m sure he’s secretly thinking, #GetMeTheFuckOutOfThisHouse every time he wakes up and sees that face.
Then there was Matt DelNegro.
- Opening up your business is not against any laws
- Your father isn’t in danger of dying if you hit golf balls
- “You’re not supposed to be returning to your normal life,” is a pathetic thing for a grown man to say. It means you’re dependent on the government telling you when you’re allowed to live a “normal life.”
- Being open is not “contrary to social distancing” because you have to stand at least 6 feet away from someone swinging a golf club, and if you go mini golfing you’re probably with family.
- People who say “if you can’t afford to shut down your business for 5 months then you shouldn’t be in business” are always people who have never owned a business.
- Point and laugh at this man if you ever see him in public.
Make sure you get within six feet of him and don’t wear a mask. Do whatever you can to make people like this upset. They are horrible, selfish people who want businesses to be destroyed so that they can feel safe.
Fenway Golf and every business in this state should be allowed to open up. COVID is on the decline, but it will not go away. Shutting down an economy and destroying people’s livelihoods is never an acceptable solution and has done nothing to stop the spread of COVID. They should refuse to pay the fine and continue to operate as usual. The people will overwhelmingly support them, and I’d love to take a trip to East Longmeadow to hit some balls around myself.
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