THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2020 Page 3 Plastic sneeze guards create barrier between cashiers and customers By Tara Vocino A s the coronavirus pandemic continues, Stop & Shop has begun to install Plexiglas to ensure that customers and cashiers remain healthy. According to Stop & Shop Senior Public Relations Account Manager Lindsay Levitts, to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, the company has begun the installation of clear plastic sneeze guards, called Plexiglas shields, at registers and pharmacies, which are slated to be installed within the next week. “Because the register area doesn’t allow for the cashier and customer to maintain a distance of six feet apart per the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, plastic guards have been added for protection,” Levitts wrote in an e-mail Wednesday morning. “We’re asking that customers please stand behind the clear plastic guards until all groceries have been scanned and payment is complete.” Similarly, groceries must be bagged at the end of the belt to ensure distance between cashiers and customers. When possible, the store is opening only every other checkout lane to create further distancing between customers. The store is following the recommended social distancing 6-foot rule by taking other precautionary measures. “Floor tape has been added at registers to clearly delineate for customers how far back six feet is from the pin pad, so customers have a clear understanding of where they should stand,” Levitts wrote. Other local stores, such as the Saugus CVS, have also added floor tape. At both stores, signs have been added throughout the store that remind customers to stand at least six feet apart from others, plus other guidelines from the CDC, like sneezing into your elbow. Those signs are placed at every register, on front doors, and at many other places throughout the store, including by the deli and pharmacy counters. City Council asks for inspections of front yard driveways By Barbara Taormina down there, and I couldn’t believe what was going on,” McKT he city may soon be clamping down on residential property owners who are digging up front yards to make way for driveways and parking spaces. Ward 1 Councillor Joanne McKenna asked this week that Inspectional Services look at illegal driveways and parking spaces being built around the city without variances and enforce zoning ordinances. The council voted unanimously to support her request. McKenna said she heard about the growing problems of front yard driveways from residents on Taft Street. “I went enna told fellow councillors. “A lot of houses are taking out their front lawns – they don’t even have curb cuts.” McKenna said some houses have barriers and four or five cars parked in front, some of which extend out and hug the sidewalk. “And they are just doing it,” said McKenna. “They are doing it without the city’s permission.” McKenna asked Inspectional Services to go out and look at the increasing number of front yard driveways in city neighborhoods. “They should pull them down; some of them, I know, have been there for more than a year, but they should pull them down and make them stop,” she said, adding that the problem is all over the city, not just on Taft Street. “We need to be more aware of this,” she told the council. Ward 5 Councillor John Powers praised McKenna’s request and said it affected the area that he represents. Powers said he believes zoning regulations allow for a curb cut every 20 feet. “Beyond that, [property owners] would have to get a special permit or approval from the DPW, one or the other,” he said. In addition to violating zoning regulations, Power felt the front yard driveways are changing the character of the neighborhoods. “They shouldn’t be taking away from the appearance of homes in the city by adding in driveways,” he said.
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