2355 Crenshaw Blvd., #125 Torrance, CA 90501 (310) 371-7222 [email protected] www.southbaycities.org
November 30, 2020
Governor Gavin Newsom
RE: Concerns Regarding COVID-19 Restrictions on Small Businesses
Dear Governor Newsom,
On behalf of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments, we are writing to express our concern about the recent actions that have been taken in this unprecedented public health crisis.
Because of the distress that has been created for our restaurants specifically, the SBCCOG held a special board meeting on November 30 at which time we took unanimous action to seek more state funding for struggling businesses. We understand that you have announced a set of relief programs for small businesses, but we are concerned that the focus is on tax deferment. Businesses shouldn’t be asked to defer payments they should receive unencumbered funds now. To paraphrase L.A. County Supervisor Hahn who was at our meeting, it is unconscionable for government to shutdown businesses without providing the money to pay people to stay home.
The Board also unanimously voted to request your reconsideration, in allowing those areas not as severely impacted, such as most of the South Bay, to be given the responsibility to measure our cases and take action when they become as severe as the measurements that are controlling your shutdown orders. Our cities would work with the Beach Cities Health District and local hospitals to monitor hospitalizations and new cases.
Los Angeles County is the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. It is the largest populated County in the United States, and larger in population than 41 individual states in the Union. It is time to replace the "one size fits all policies" with an ability to adopt local restrictions in designated areas. In Los Angeles County there are 8 Service Planning Areas within their health department. They can be given the jurisdiction to review cases in their areas and take action accordingly. Cities, like Inglewood, which are more heavily impacted could be excluded based on their number of cases and hospitalizations.
We respectfully request that you make more unencumbered funding available to businesses as soon as possible to allow them to survive during this unprecedented shutdown. In addition, we request that you reconsider allowing significantly large areas that are less impacted by COVID cases and hospitalizations to have more local control over the restrictions on businesses in their area.
Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact SBCCOG Executive Director, Jacki Bacharach at [email protected]
Sincerely,
L O C A L G O V E R N M E N T S I N A C T I O N
Carson El Segundo Gardena Hawthorne Hermosa Beach Inglewood Lawndale Lomita Manhattan Beach Palos Verdes Estates Rancho Palos Verdes Redondo Beach Rolling Hills Rolling Hills Estates Torrance Los Angeles District #15 Los Angeles County
Olivia Valentine, SBCCOG Chair South Bay Cities Council of Governments
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