Stage 2 Begins, Juneteenth Celebrated, Towns React to Budget Woes, Policing at Center of Debate

June 15-21  
What to Make of Stage 2
New Jersey stepped over the threshold June 15 into Stage 2 of Gov. Phil Murphy’s Road Back plan. Across the county, restaurants started open-air dining and individuals bought alcoholic beverages to go and consumed them on beaches, boardwalks and city streets, while retailers opened their doors for the first time in three months.
Capacity limits, social distancing restrictions and hygiene protocols made it difficult for businesses to service their customers, but at least some money was being made. In smaller numbers, people were coming back to work. The task of salvaging some part of the critical summer season was underway.
The county economy took a huge hit in the three months of the state lockdown. Unemployment soared. Some shuttered businesses still face existential questions concerning long-term survival.
The piecemeal reopening of the economy, with business restarted, but staggered, so that a visitor can sit on a beach, but not at a restaurant table one week, buy a sealed drink that must be taken home to be consumed only to find days later that drink can be enjoyed on the beach, have served to disrupt and disconnect the normally integrated tourist experience of summer’s past. 
Men whose hair gives them the appearance of a mad scientist in a B-grade movie were finally able to get it cut after June 22.
Murphy announced indoor dining will be permitted at 25% of capacity, beginning July 2. He is also giving permission for casinos to reopen at 25% of capacity on that date.
Juneteenth, a Holiday Many White Americans Learn to Celebrate
 This week, millions of white Americans first heard about a day that was celebrated by Black Americans for over a century. There are worlds in America that seldom touch. The day in 1865 when some of the last remaining enslaved Blacks in Texas found out they were free has not been part of the general knowledge average citizens have of the Civil War. A light was shined on the day Blacks call Freedom Day, by protests and demonstrations over the wrongful death of a Black man.
In the county, Juneteenth public events were held, many organized, in part, by municipalities that had never celebrated the day before. Middle Township issued a proclamation honoring the day. Whitesboro, a historic community in the African American heritage of the county, held events at the Martin Luther King Center, co-sponsored by Middle Township and the county NAACP. In Cape May, the new Harriet Tubman Museum held a virtual opening.
Virus Attacks Municipal Budgets
The state is set to borrow billions, the nation is officially in a recession, the political blame game is well underway, and municipalities in the county are left to project what the impact of a slower summer and the loss of three months of business activity will have on budgets. 
In Cape May, one action was the introduction of an ordinance to increase parking rates.
In Lower Township, a non-binding-referendum-supported aquatic center project was tabled, the Open Space funds intended for it set to be distributed to other projects in that municipality.
In Upper Township, capital requests will be met by repurposing surplus funds from 2018 rather than using 2020 funds.  
Discussions about Policing Take Center Stage
Across the nation, movements and demonstrations share a focus on racial bias in policing and call for shifting funds from municipal police departments to social services programs. Calls are loud and insistent that social programs that attack the root causes of crime are more deserving of public funds than increasingly militarized police forces engaged in biased enforcement.
In the county, several peaceful protests led to open discussions that otherwise might never have taken place. These discussions jump-started the Juneteenth celebration as something more widely recognized by white residents. These protests also brought front and center questions about policing in Cape May County.
This week, Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner and Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland co-hosted a virtual town hall on the subject of 21st century policing. Leusner and Sutherland lauded community centered policing practices that concentrate as much on intervention and prevention as they do on enforcement. Both also outlined the way in which they deal with inappropriate enforcement actions.
And…
While this was all happening, the growth of new COVID-19 cases remained slow. Attention is never far from the health metrics, especially when the county’s death toll stands at 61.
While 75% of all county cases have recovered and are off quarantine, the grim reality is that almost 9% of all reported cases lost their lives in the fight against the virus.
ED. NOTE: The Wrap is a new feature from the Herald editorial team that offers our take on the news of the week. Let us know what you think by emailing editor@cmcherald.com.