© 2024 WBGO
Discover Jazz...Anywhere, Anytime, on Any Device.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

New Jersey Assemblyman Jay Webber Collecting Petition Signatures with Hopes of Opening Parks

Parks
Seth Wenig/AP

There’s a growing call to reopen parks in New Jersey after they were shut by Governor Murphy to help slow the spread of coronavirus. 

The governor shut state and county parks earlier in the month. He says he got reports of too many people forming gatherings in the parks which disobey social distancing rules.

However, a number of politicians including Republican Assemblyman Jay Webber say closing all of them went too far

“Break up the groups that are not obeying the social distancing guidelines.”

Webber thinks the park closures will have a negative physical and mental health impact on residents. “

They can’t go to church, they can’t see their friends. There’s no ballgame on TV to watch. Now they can’t go to a park to fish or to hike or to run.”

More than 10 thousand people have signed Webber’s online petition asking the governor to reopen parks.