Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro Bashes Trump Tariffs And How They'll Affect Small Businesses

2 days ago

On Wednesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) held a press conference in Lancaster, PA, to highlight small businesses.

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Transcript

00:00Okay, good morning, everyone. It's so nice to be with you all this morning. I'm Deneen Sirachi,

00:06Mayor for the City of Lancaster, and it's a pleasure to welcome you all here. I want to also

00:11welcome, I'm going to introduce this guy in a minute, but I want to also represent, welcome

00:16our State Representative, Izzy Smith-Wydell, as well as our Senator-elect from the 96th Senate

00:23District, James Malone, who is a face that we will be seeing more of around Lancaster County.

00:29I'm pleased to welcome Governor Shapiro to Lancaster City's Main Street, known around

00:35here as Queen Street, where local businesses reign. You know, I had to get that in there.

00:41We know that in every community, whatever the street name is, that Main Street matters. These

00:46are the core of our local economies, attracting residents, visitors, businesses, and visitors,

00:51and we know in Lancaster that we are very well known for our local shops, and that means that

01:00you are having an experience that is being curated by people, entrepreneurs, that you're not going

01:06to have that experience anywhere else. So when Main Street does well, there is a pretty good chance

01:12that our whole community does well. So I'm very grateful to Governor Shapiro and his administration

01:17for continuing to invest in Main Streets across Pennsylvania, and highlighting their importance.

01:22And so, with no further ado, Governor.

01:25Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Thanks, Mayor.

01:29It is, it's always awesome to be in Lancaster. It's especially great to be here with your mayor,

01:37who I must say has done an extraordinary job as mayor of Lancaster. She has helped move this city

01:43forward. She's helped put it on a path to success and vitality going forward for many, many, many years

01:51to come. I think her tenure will be marked not just by the work she did during her years in office,

01:58but what she set in motion for many years to come. So we're just really indebted to you for your leadership.

02:04We appreciate you very, very much, Mayor. And I want to say this is one of the coolest stores

02:09in all of Pennsylvania. So, Wes, thanks for having me back to Foxtec. I've been in here

02:14to purchase a whole bunch of stuff just quietly as a citizen. And I'm glad to be here today as your

02:21governor to highlight important small businesses that line our Main Streets, Queen Street,

02:27and really do just so many important things for the economy, for local individuals, for tourists.

02:33It's really a special place. I want to say thank you, Wes, for having us here today. And I definitely

02:39got to get a new lid while I'm here. So we'll do that in a few moments. We've got some business

02:44to do first. I had the chance to visit with Laura over at Bellaboo. You know, Laura and I are blessed

02:51with Laurie, not Laura, Laurie, my wife, our first lady, are blessed with four children. And it kind of

02:57made me think about when to have a fifth, I got to tell you. It was really awesome stuff over there.

03:03And Laura and I had a really good conversation about her dedication to Main Street, about the

03:09customers that come in and out of her very, very cool shop, but also some of the serious challenges

03:15that she's facing with tariffs and some of the other challenges in our economy today.

03:21Then I had the chance to go over to Rick's. Have you all ever had those cheese crackers? Those are

03:26amazing. So I left with some cheese crackers and cinnamon bread. I'll be making French toast

03:31for my kids in the morning. And that's a really wonderful place. And I saw two tourists

03:37from Durham, North Carolina on my way out of Rick's who were stopping at Rick's because they had to go

03:43home with a bunch of cinnamon bread and they were worried that I got the last loaf. So hopefully

03:47there's more for them. I want to say that so many of these storefronts, so many of these stores,

03:55so much of this community has been strengthened by the service of Marshall Snively and the Lancaster

04:02City Alliance. I really want to thank Marshall. You'll hear from him in a moment, but his dedication

04:07to downtown Lancaster, to our main streets, has been really extraordinary, not just for Lancaster,

04:13but has been a model for others across our Commonwealth. And then, of course, Representative

04:20Izzy Smith-Wadell, who is a partner to me in everything we do, from how we educate our kids,

04:26to make sure we've got safe communities, to economic opportunity on main streets like this.

04:32Izzy does a great job for you as your state representative. And I look forward to many,

04:38many more successes working together with him. And, of course, now welcoming a new member

04:43of Team GSD, Team Get Stuff Done. And that is your Senator-elect, James Malone. We had the opportunity

04:52to spend a few minutes together at the PIAA Basketball Championships the other night. He's

04:58a guy who cares deeply about the broader Lancaster County and this community, and knows the importance

05:04of a main street. And that's really what I wanted to focus on today, the importance of a main street.

05:10I feel privileged to be the 48th governor of the Commonwealth and travel all across Pennsylvania.

05:16And the terrain looks really different, right? The main street here in Lancaster looks very different

05:21than the main street in a more rural part of our state. It looks different than the downtown or

05:27the main street in the city of Philadelphia or the city of Pittsburgh. But what's so unique and

05:32wonderful about our state is no matter how different the terrain looks, every community has got a main

05:37street. And I believe the main street is the beating heart of the broader county or the broader

05:42region. The health and success and vitality of a main street tells you a whole lot about how that

05:50county, how that region is functioning, what their economy looks like, the level of safety in that

05:56community.

05:57Main streets matter and they are critical. It's one of the reasons why when I got elected as your governor,

06:03we made a real commitment to main streets and working together with Izzy, we were able to pass for the first

06:09time ever a massive fund of 20 million dollars for a new initiative that I call Main Street Matters.

06:16The idea behind this is to have enough resources to be able to invest in the needs of a main street,

06:23the needs defined not by a state actor, but rather by your local state representative on the ground or

06:30folks like Marshall all across Pennsylvania have dedicated themselves to the community. What I mean by

06:35that is we want to hear from those who are leaving locally on the ground and invest in the work that

06:41they are doing and Main Street Matters allows us to do that, allows us to build on the progress that

06:48was already being made already being made here on Queen Street and across Main Streets across this

06:54Commonwealth. And so on Monday, I announced the results of that new initiative that with that 20

07:00million dollars, we're funding 81 different projects all across Pennsylvania, including five right here in

07:07Lancaster. A million two is coming to Lancaster County, including three hundred thousand dollars

07:14specifically earmarked for this downtown district to help make sure that we're repairing and improving

07:21facades and signs and windows and that big lighting project that I'm sure Marshall will talk more about

07:27that I think is going to make this community even more welcoming, even more exciting for people to visit.

07:34We have got to continue to invest in Main Streets and it is a heck of an ROI, a heck of a return on

07:40investment. For every one dollar we invest in Main Streets, we have an eight dollar return. So that 20

07:48million dollars, we invest in that with an eight dollar return. Rep, how much money is that? That's a lot of

07:54money, right? 160 million. That's why he's your state representative right there. No, but in all seriousness,

08:01we know that it is a smart investment. It's a wise investment and we get a heck of an ROI on that.

08:07And as a result of it, a place like Bellaboo and Fox Duck and Ricks and others, they get more foot

08:13traffic, more people coming in to buy their goods, to buy a hat, buy that cinnamon loaf, buy the baby,

08:20you know, carrier. And that is really, really important. But what we learned from this process

08:25is we need more money for our downtowns. Because even though we awarded 81 different applicants,

08:31there were 200 quality applications. So we need more money. So in this budget, I'm doubling down

08:38with another 20 million dollars for our Main Streets. And I hope that the representative and the senator

08:43are able to impress upon their colleagues to again fund our Main Streets because Main Streets matter.

08:50Here's the last thing I want to say before turning it over to Marshall. We're going to keep investing

08:55in our Main Streets. We're going to keep cutting taxes for small businesses like this one, which I've

09:01been proud to lead the way on to cut our business taxes here in Pennsylvania. But I know our small

09:07businesses are facing strong headwinds right now because of the decisions made by the federal government

09:13government to impose these tariffs on our trading partners. And just bottom line, make things cost

09:20a whole lot more for our business owners. I talked before with Laura about some of her excellent,

09:29you know, goods that are being brought in from other countries, things that people here in Lancaster

09:34and visitors want to buy. And those prices are now looking to have to go up 20 percent. It's not fair to ask

09:41our small business owners to eat that cost. And unfortunately, it's going to have to be passed

09:46on to consumers. And the only reason this is happening is because President Trump pushed a button,

09:53started a trade war and spiked the prices of goods in our country based on his desire to fight with our

10:03allies across the world. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. By the way, given what's going on in D.C.

10:09nowadays, I think the world would have been way better off if on September 27, 1777, I think it was,

10:18folks decided to stay here for more than one day and make this the nation's capital. We would have had

10:24a whole lot more common sense and sensibility in our federal government if it stayed right here

10:30in Lancaster. Listen, we've got to do everything we can to keep driving down the costs of goods and

10:38services for people who live in Pennsylvania. It's why we've cut taxes. It's why we're investing in

10:43our small businesses. It's why we're investing in our main streets. We want to make it easier for folks

10:48here in the community. I wish the federal government wasn't working against us and making it harder for

10:54small business owners with these tariffs. I hope our senators and I hope your local congressmen stand up to

11:01the president on this. Because I think it's a wrongheaded policy that's only going to hurt our small

11:05businesses and our farmers right here in Lancaster County. So listen, we're going to continue this

11:12important work. We're going to continue to invest in our main streets. Main streets matter. And I want to

11:17congratulate Lancaster on putting forth some great applications that are now going to be funded in our

11:23inaugural round of Main Street Matters investments. So thank you for all that you've done. And I specifically

11:29want to thank Marshall for the work he's done to organize efforts here in downtown Lancaster.

11:36And with that, I'll invite Marshall Snively to share a few words. Thank you all very much.

11:47Governor, thank you so much. And Wes, thank you for hosting us here. Wes is a great asset to this

11:54community. He serves on the downtown investment district board. And like many of you here really

11:58contributes to what makes Lancaster so strong, especially for our merchants and our small

12:03businesses. So my name is Marshall Snively. I'm president of Lancaster City Alliance. For those of

12:09you who don't know, we are a nonprofit focused on community and economic development for the city of

12:14Lancaster. We also manage the downtown investment district. And you know, before I start, this isn't

12:19something that we do alone. And Governor, I thank you for the kudos and all the hard work. But this

12:24really is a partnership. And I have a great team that are here with us today. We have other partners

12:29like SACA who also were awarded, I think, some Main Street Matters funding. And again, our merchant and

12:37business community. So thank you for this opportunity. And I'm thrilled to take part in this. I'm so excited

12:45about this. Speaking of which, so it's with great excitement and appreciation that Lancaster City

12:52Alliance and our downtown investment district has received a total of $300,000 in the latest

12:57round of Main Street Matters funding. So what are we going to do with this money? $100,000 is going

13:04towards our facade improvement program. And that is to support improving our storefronts, buildings,

13:10and pedestrian experience. And to ensure that our commercial corridors, not only downtown,

13:14but throughout the city and businesses, remains so special. And it's an environment that welcomes

13:20the community and visitors alike. We've also been awarded $200,000 to support our Light Up Lancaster

13:27program. This is an effort to highlight the beautiful architecture that we have downtown. I mean,

13:31just look out that window. And not only our architecture, but enhance the pedestrian experience.

13:39And this is in conjunction also with the city, who are doing some great things working on the

13:42pedestrian level environment. And we're working with the merchants also to improve storefronts and to

13:49really shine light, not only in our awesome businesses that are here, but also out on the sidewalks. So

13:54that is a more welcoming environment for our folks. This was two years in the making. And we couldn't have

14:00done this without the help of the business owners, the philanthropic partners that are also contributing to

14:06this. And this funding from the state is really key and really allowing us to move this forward.

14:13These dollars are critical because while these programs are successful, there's still a great need

14:17to continue and reach more areas of the city. We stand in downtown this morning, but we know the need

14:22is far reaching. Our facade program alone, we have interest from over 80 additional small businesses and

14:28property owners representing over a half a million dollars in projects, many on commercial corridors that

14:34support our neighborhoods throughout the city. Our small business and merchant community is the

14:38light blue of Lancaster and a major reason as to why this city is so special. This city has over 300

14:45places to eat, shop and enjoy. And that rivals most shopping malls. I love that. I love that.

14:51And you got those cheese crackers. And we have those cheese crackers.

14:55And it continues to grow as the vibrancy of downtown is expanding in all directions. In fact, we've had 16

15:01ribbon cuttings in the city in January since January. This alone that is over about one to two new

15:10businesses opening each week in this city. And with that said, we also know that it's not easy,

15:16especially these days. And to those who have set up shop here in Lancaster, we truly appreciate your

15:21investment in our community. And we are grateful for Governor Shapiro and his commitment to and support

15:27of small businesses. Main streets do matter. And their preservation is key to the continued growth of

15:33Pennsylvania cities like Lancaster. And we thank you. And with that said, it is my pleasure to turn it over to

15:40one of our greatest downtown retailers who's celebrating 20 years next year, Laura Hages, owner of the best

15:48children's boutique anywhere. And if you haven't been there, get there after this, Bellaboo. So thank you so much for this

15:56opportunity. And Laura, I will turn it over to you.

16:07First of all, a big thank big thank you to Governor Shapiro and his team for taking the time to come to

16:11Lancaster and recognize our small business community. We all take immense pride in being a part of this evolving and

16:17exciting city. I have wonderful childhood memories of shopping in downtown Lancaster with my family at flagship

16:24stores like Watten Chan and Schaub Shoes. We visited market every weekend and attended many events at the Fulton.

16:30It's main streets in small communities that serve as a gathering place, whether it's a coffee shop

16:35meetup, a farmer's market, or a community event. Main streets offer common ground where people connect

16:40and feel a sense of belonging. They are where the soul of a town lives and everyday moments that shape the

16:45community identity. And I wanted to be a part of that.

16:49So in 2006, after the birth of our third child, I recognized that Lancaster needed a children's

16:54boutique. I created Bellaboo as a place where parents could find stylish and high quality clothing,

16:59as well as carefully crafted toys for children. It did not take long to build a loyal customer base

17:05and Bellaboo flourished. So much so that after one year opening, I quadrupled our square footage and moved a few

17:12doors down. Fortunately, I have an amazing and dedicated staff that have helped me grow.

17:17Their efforts allowed us to launch our website in 2012 and in 2016 we opened a second location

17:23at Women's and Babies Hospital. I never imagined that my crazy idea would have led to almost 20

17:28years of involvement in this wonderful city. And the support that all of our downtown businesses,

17:34large and small, receive from both local shoppers and out-of-town visitors is a testament to this

17:39strong community and I'm thrilled to be a part of it. With that, I'd like to turn things over to

17:45Representative of the 49th District, Representative Smith-Matell.

17:49Thank you. Awesome job, Laura. Thank you.

17:57Actually, can we have another round of applause for Laura? I'm not sure you quite heard everything

18:02that she said, having kept a business alive through the Great Recession and COVID,

18:09while raising three daughters. That deserves another round of applause, which is exactly the kind of

18:21business and entrepreneur that we have here in Lancaster in spades. As was said,

18:27State Rep. Izzy Smith-Matell, I have the privilege of representing the 49th District and the opportunity

18:34to thank the governor and his staff for recognizing over and over how special what we have here in

18:41Lancaster is, not just downtown and not just with the facade investments on Howard, but as you well know,

18:50Governor, this is a city of neighborhoods. And the neighborhood that I live in, Lancaster Southeast,

18:57has often felt disenfranchised. But you've never shied away from coming to our community and investing in our

19:04neighbors and small businesses. And so we are grateful. Thank you. What the facade improvements mean,

19:11I will say to me, is this. Both for storefronts, for homes, people in Lancaster are deeply proud. In

19:20every neighborhood, we want to put our best foot forward. We want to take care of and welcome our

19:26neighbors. And the investments in facade improvements let us put our best foot or best porch forward.

19:34They allow us to spur the kind of entrepreneurship that doesn't just create places like Fox Duck and

19:42Bellaboo and South County, but also El Jimarito and Mr. Vic's family styling, my barbershop, which I

19:50need to visit, which the governor has come to twice. Yeah. There is a difference between the kind of

19:59leadership that just talks, that makes decisions like they are the push of a button and the kind

20:07that comes to a community and says, first, what do you need? What would make your life easier? How would

20:14we help you make your home better? That's the that's the work that the governor has done. It's work that I

20:21am proud to be a part of and proud to be part of a movement in the General Assembly now soon to be

20:29joined. May 5th? May 5th. May 5th. Come up here a little bit. There's just we're starting a really big

20:37big dudes caucus in the General Assembly, but soon to be joined by Senator-elect James Malone. In just a few

20:51years, we have lowered taxes for Pennsylvanians, made our streets safer across the Commonwealth and here in

20:59Lancaster invested in community programs, all while giving more money back to seniors and investing

21:08more in local communities than Pennsylvania ever has. I'll tell you what, that's pretty good work for

21:14two years and I look forward to the next two years to come. And now it's my honor to welcome Governor

21:19Shapiro back to the podium so he can take all the questions that you have because I don't want to answer

21:24them. Go for it. Thanks. Thanks guys. We've got time for a few questions then we got to do some

21:33shopping here at Foxtoc. So any questions from the media? Yep. According to the Pennsylvania Downtown Center,

21:41before Main Street Matters, these types of programs saw their funding decrease over a period of about a

21:47decade. Were you aware of that and did you know why that occurred? We saw funding going down which is

21:54why we wanted to make a commitment at the state level to increase funding for our main streets

21:58because our main streets matter. We know that for every dollar we invest in our main streets we get

22:03an eight dollar return on investment. We also know that when communities like Lancaster have their act

22:10together with public private partnerships and nonprofit leadership that that's a smart thing to

22:16investing because it means everybody's rowing in the same direction. They've got a plan they're executing

22:20and we want to come in and be supportive of that. So we saw that folks were disinvesting or divesting

22:26pardon me from our main streets and we want to do the opposite and we were able to pass a bipartisan budget

22:32to make this historic investment in main streets and I'm trying to double down on that and come back for

22:37more in the future. Okay. Yeah I think look that's a matter that's going to be handled locally in

22:50Dauphin County. I've got all the faith that they'll handle it properly there both from a kind of an HR

22:57perspective if you will and I've confidence in the Attorney General that you know he'll conduct a thorough

23:03investigation and do what's necessary there as well. It's not for me to opine on I'm sure they'll

23:08they'll handle it appropriately. Obviously that that behavior is very troublesome but they're going

23:13to handle it locally in their community. Thank you. Anything else? Okay. Sorry. That's okay.

23:19That we've been to arrive in and you've been at a talk about Penn State. Yeah. Penn State hockey tomorrow.

23:25What a big frozen four. I'll tell you what I first off I think they're going to win they got a hell of a

23:31a great run with their football team wrestling one again for the 12th time. Women's volleyball was on fire this

23:42year. I think Penn State is not only an extraordinary academic institution. They got hell of a great and

23:50diverse set of sports teams. They got men's sports women's sports all doing great and I'm a proud fan of Penn State

23:57what Pat Kraft and his team are building there. Does that help people handle it? Just how good those teams

24:04are doing? Yeah without question. Look I think communities feel good when their sports teams are

24:09playing well. I think you saw that in Philly with the birds winning the Super Bowl. People feel good when

24:14the schools or the teams that they care about do well. I actually think in these kind of divided polarized

24:22times I don't mean to get political but I think we can all agree no matter what our views are on

24:26politics that times are a little too divided a little too separated sometimes in our communities

24:32that there are still a few things that allow people to come back together and have conversations and

24:37understand one another and enjoy one another's company even if they have different views on politics.

24:42I think downtowns and main streets and walkable communities and trails are one example of that.

24:48I think art music and culture is another and I think sports is a big one as well. You go sit in

24:55the stands at a Penn State game you got a whole lot of different opinions on a whole lot of different

24:59issues but everybody is unified in supporting Penn State against whoever the heck they're beating that day

25:07in whatever sport. The point I'm trying to make is sports actually brings us together. It allows us to

25:12understand one another better. It allows us to see one another for the people we are as opposed to just

25:17the political views one might have and I think that that's really healthy in a community. I think

25:22that's good for the psyche of a community. So the better Penn State does, the better Pitt does,

25:27Temple, you name it, the better it is for all of us. Okay, thanks everybody. Appreciate you.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro Bashes Trump Tariffs And How They'll Affect Small Businesses

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