As restaurants welcome diners back and other retail businesses open their doors to customers under Los Angeles County’s revised public health guidelines, the Board of Supervisors this week approved a variety of plans intended to support those businesses.
Supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn co-authored a motion calling for grants of up to $3,000 for businesses with less than 100 employees to help them pay for masks, hand sanitizer and other safety-related supplies.
Ensuring compliance with public health regulations is critical not just to limiting the possibility of a surge in coronavirus cases, but to consumer confidence, the supervisors said.
“The challenge will be bringing consumers back. Consumer spending is two-thirds of the United States (gross domestic product). Our confidence in our ability to interact with others while staying healthy has been diminished. Absent a vaccine, businesses will have to find a way to convince consumers to shop or eat out, to travel, or go to a concert or a game,” the motion reads in part.
The supervisors asked that $60 million be identified-including through outreach to private partners-to help businesses succeed under new regulations, which would allow the county to offer grants to as many as 20,000 business owners. However, the motion also notes that an estimated 434,645 Los Angeles-area businesses employ less than 100 workers, highlighting the fact that grants would be available to less than 5 percent of the total.
The motion anticipates that priority will be given to businesses in historically underserved communities and businesses impacted by recent protests against police brutality.
The board voted its unanimous support, and a report is expected back in two weeks.
Hahn and Supervisor Kathryn Barger submitted a separate motion seeking ways to help restaurants expand space for outdoor dining, which many think will be a first step to convincing many diners to return. They acknowledged that it may be late for some owners.
“Seemingly overnight, these establishments, large and small, were forced to fully transition to takeout or delivery service in order to stay in business. Many establishments could not make this sudden change and were forced to shut their doors; some may never reopen,” the motion states.
Even as the board took steps to support more outdoor dining, it recognized that many county residents will continue to rely on platforms such as DoorDash, Postmates, Grubhub and Uber Eats to deliver take-out meals.
Solis and Supervisor Sheila Kuehl co-authored another motion recommending that the county consider capping the fees that such services charge eateries, which sometimes run as high as 30 percent of the overall bill.
