Restaurants need state aid — and they need it now

The effects of the pandemic that has ravaged the small-business economy in the U.S. is nowhere more pronounced than in the restaurant industry, particularly locally owned restaurants that depend on and interact with their communities.

In our towns, restaurants were shut down last spring by state order, then reopened in the summer with restrictions, only to experience a temporary shutdown again during the December holiday season that is typically their busiest and most lucrative.

Local restaurants have also proven to be among the most resourceful of businesses, changing their model to takeout first, then adding outdoor spaces to expand dining options within the seating restrictions put in place by the state health department and Gov. Tom Wolf.

But when a fall resurgence of the virus took hold, and outdoor dining fell victim to cooler weather, business slowed. When Wolf put in place the three-week December to January restriction on indoor dining, some considered it the final straw.

Judy Henry, owner of Judy’s on Cherry in the city of Reading, is an example of a small-business owner doing everything asked and paying the price.

Henry told Reading Eagle reporter David Mekeel that she closed her restaurant when told to in the spring, limited seating capacity when allowed to reopen, and followed masking and distancing and cleaning guidelines.

And when Wolf announced on Dec. 10 that indoor dining would be closed down again, she complied.

But following the rules has put her business in jeopardy, she said.

“We’re unfairly caught in a real internal struggle, pitting our desire to do the right thing, to abide by the governor’s orders and look out for the health and safety of our customers and our staff, against the absolute economic reality of losing our livelihood,” Henry said.

She pointed out that when the governor issued his shutdown order it wasn’t coupled with any sort of financial help. Making matters worse was that restaurants which defied Wolf’s ban — 10 of them in Berks where Judy’s is located — hurt the takeout business in restaurants that complied.

Henry recently organized an online meeting with restaurant owners and state Sen. Judy Schwank. Finding a way for the state to help must be a priority, restaurant owners told Schwank. It’s something the state Legislature needs to address as soon as it reconvenes this week, they said.

The calls for state aid prompted Wolf to announce he would be transferring $145 million from the Workers Compensation Security Fund at the Pennsylvania Insurance Department into state grants for businesses impacted by COVID-19, including restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues. Although Wolf’s move makes the money available, it will be up to the legislature to authorize its appropriation.

That’s where concerns arise. Many state lawmakers, including Republicans in majority leadership posts that control actions, have been more concerned with railing against Wolf’s restrictions than finding ways to help businesses that are abiding by them.

A restaurant aid proposal put together by two area Democrats didn’t get any traction in the Republican-controlled legislature last summer when first proposed. Montgomery County state Rep. Joe Ciresi, and Rep. Tina Davis, D-Bucks, are trying again.

They are reintroducing a bill to provide grants — not loans — to eligible bars, restaurants, catering halls and banquet halls. The bill will utilize funding from Pennsylvania’s Rainy Day Fund “because these restaurants are in need of help now, and the consequences of our state will be much worse if they go under,” Ciresi said. There will be a cap on assistance to ensure as many local businesses as possible are helped.

A program was also announced last week by Montgomery County Commissioners to use CARES funds for a MontcoStrong 2021 Restaurant Grant Program to provide up to $10,000 to restaurants that have complied with state guidelines and orders.

As state lawmakers head back to Harrisburg, we urge them to take stock of where we are as 2021 begins. Locally owned businesses — with restaurants among the most integral to our towns — need help.

We urge lawmakers to put politics aside and focus on helping restaurants survive this crisis. They have risked their livelihood in the interests of public health. It’s time the public paid them back with the financial aid to stay afloat.