SAGINAW TOWNSHIP, MI - Tom Weber doesn’t agree with the temporary shutdown of local lawn care services as part of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s order to close nonessential businesses to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Weber, a 71-year-old Saginaw Township native, had two lawn care providers cancel on him to avoid being fined. Now, Weber says he is stuck with leaves in his yard that he cannot pick up himself, and he is concerned that his yard will only get worse as his grass grows in the warmer weather.
“I see people in my subdivision outside walking the streets,” Weber said. “So why can’t (lawn care) people mow my lawns for me? There’s really no difference. It’s a hardship on these people.”
Weber works with Don Frosty, the former owner of Frosty’s Lawn Care, and Becker Lawncare and Landscaping. While Weber said he understood Whitmer’s goal is to save and protect people from COVID-19, he fears local lawn care businesses won’t last until the shelter-in-place order is lifted.
“Telling people to stay home is just not doable for everyone,” Weber said. “I understand why car companies are shut down. If one person comes in with coronavirus, everybody gets it. But this is an outdoor environment.”
Weber said he needs help taking care of his yard, which measures a quarter to a third of an acre in size. He tried mowing, raking leaves and doing other lawn maintenance two to three times on his own, but he needs a lawn tractor, which he does not have, to properly take care of it.
Frosty, who sold his business about seven years ago, still does lawn care for people like Weber as a hobby and for exercise.
Like other lawn care service providers, Frosty is hopeful that a Michigan Senate task force announced Tuesday, April 7 will help some local businesses get back on their feet. The bipartisan task force, led by Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, will write guidelines for allowing some Michigan businesses and trades to reopen. The task force is expected to recommend businesses that largely work outside, including lawn care services, reopen for business first.
Frosty said the task force’s decision to permit lawn care services to operate again would make sense, since they have minimal, if any, contact with their clients.
“I don’t see anybody,” he said. “To the best of my knowledge, everybody else is in the same boat. We go out, do what we have to do and move on.”
Frosty said he hopes that his fellow landscapers can return to work before their businesses go under during the shutdown. He wishes the same is true for other small business owners hurt by the mandatory shutdowns.
“It’s a sad situation out there," he said.