Question: Concerning the reopening, a lot of the big employers and offices are not yet planning to bring back their workforces or even a small number of them. What do you think that that means for the overall health of the city's business climate since a lot of smaller businesses depend on their big office neighbors?
Mayor: I think what you're going to see is evolution. Even though remote offers certain advantages or continuity, it's not the same thing. Right now, as we're making sure we go through each phase safely, a lot of folks still want to be remote. That's fine. But as we get toward the fall, I'm certainly going to be encouraging people to start coming back more in person. You're right, a lot of small businesses, a lot of restaurants, so many different parts of our economy depend on people coming back to those office jobs.
There'll be some hesitation at first. There'll be some watchful waiting, people wanting to make sure it really works. People want to make sure they're comfortable with it. The economy will start to come back. And the more that people see it's working, the more that people will want to come back. I also think a lot of businesses will say, "Hey, we just cannot get this work done as well if people don't spend more time together." You'll see more and more businesses saying, Hey, it's time to come back or at least come back more often." So, it'll be stages. I think the summer will be slower. I think the fall is when you're going to see much more ramp up.
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