Post on : January 23, 2020

PSA – City of St. John’s Thursday, January 23, 2020.

All businesses and other community organizations in St. John’s will be allowed to access their premises as of 6 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 24 for the purposes of PREPARING to reopen.

Businesses and organizations are reminded that they are not permitted to operate, or resume normal operations or to be open for clients/customers until the State of Emergency is lifted

Effective Friday, Jan. 24 at 6 a.m. all businesses and community organizations may:

  • call in staff
  • have suppliers make deliveries
  • procure any and all technical or supportive services required to reopen

The City of St. John’s hopes to be in a position to lift the State of Emergency on Saturday, Jan. 25; a decision on this will be announced on Friday.

Due to current snow volumes on Downtown streets, No Parking will be permitted on City streets until after the State of Emergency is lifted.
Please use off-street lots and parking garages. For more information on off-street parking visit https://www.downtownstjohns.com/live/downtown-parking/

This adjustment to the State of Emergency is mostly intended for the food and beverage industry to deal with food spoilage, ordering supplies, clearing snow from entrances/exits, etc. in an effort to help PREPARE to get up and running on Saturday, January 25, 2020 when the SOE is lifted. 

This adjustment to the SOE is NOT meant as a green light for people to go back to work and for businesses, offices, etc. to open.  Buildings are to remain closed but business or property owners can can send in a couple of essential employees to make sure the building’s/businesses systems are operating properly –  make sure servers are still on line, reboot systems, etc.  The City of St. John’s is still under a SOE and buildings should not open.

All streets within the Downtown St. John’s Business Improvement Area (BIA) district have been plowed and the City continues to improve vehicular access throughout the area. City sidewalk snow clearing equipment will be in the area later this evening and/or tomorrow to make a cut through the area along the sidewalks until a full and complete removal can be made.

Once the State of Emergency is lifted, employees and customers are encouraged to use off-street parking facilities to avoid traffic congestion and potential emergency vehicle access issues.  Parking is available at several off-street parking garages throughout the area. For a list of off-street parking lots and garage please visit https://www.downtownstjohns.com/live/downtown-parking/

For State of Emergency updates and other City of St. John’s notifications please subscribe to the City of St. John’s E-updates: http://www.stjohns.ca/st-john-s-e-updates