Dear Mr. Governor:

I’d like to open Mendon Twin Drive-In on Friday, May 8. To properly prepare, I need your permission and guidelines by the end of April.

In 2014, when my brothers and I bought the business, we made sure page one of the employee handbook stated “The safety of our customers and employees is our number one priority,” and this remains so. Ninety nine percent of the experience at our drive-in is outdoors or in your vehicle at our immaculate 16-acre property. Customers can purchase their tickets online. We can instruct every employee to wear a mask and gloves. We can require a picture of their temperature before every shift. We can mark lines so that customers maintain a 6-foot distance. Food and drinks including popcorn can be covered. Our business will be safer than a supermarket, big box retailer or a bus.

World renowned scientists and economists working for the federal government have determined that we can’t treat every spacious, suburban town like Times Square or every business like a 100,000-person stadium. We should focus on safety not necessity. Our state, having virtually closed business and lost half a million jobs, faces a budget shortfall of several billion dollars, getting worse, meaning less funds to run the government including health care. The drive-in provides wages and affordable, family friendly entertainment, both desperately needed given current circumstances.

I’ll work at the drive-in every night we’re open. I have family, friends, employees and customers whom I love; I’d never do anything that’s not in their interest or the public interest. I’m not a hero like a first responder or health care worker or food provider. However, I hire people and generate tax revenue. I believe I have a civic and moral obligation to do this. It’s my contribution to a country that enabled my great grandparents to arrive here with nothing, opening a path to freedom and prosperity for my seven nieces and nephews, which my brave ancestors never could have imagined.

Like the song says: “Put me in, coach, I’m ready to play, today.” Thousands of business owners in this state and millions across the country feel the same way. I urge them to publicly announce their plans to safely reopen (permission to plagiarize and customize this letter is hereby granted). Let’s start building and creating again — it’s what Americans are born to do, and what’s more American than a drive-in movie theater?

Yours in flicks, food, and fun,

Dave Andelman