A small business effort, too little but it is better than nothing

“Strategic” is a nice way of saying there just isn’t enough money to make everyone whole in this crisis. There’s no right answer and we muddle through, as Wall Street marches on, virtually unscathed.

It’s a truism of government: Whenever an elected official rolls out a grant or a subsidized loan, no matter how large or small, no matter what the purpose or who gains from it, it’s presented with fanfare roughly equal to the ticker tape parade for Charles Lindbergh after he flew alone across the Atlantic without dying in 1927.

So it was on Tuesday in Windsor, when Gov. Ned Lamont, U.S. Rep John B. Larson and a bevy of state officials announced $ 50 million for very small and micro businesses hurt by the coronavirus shutdown. This is a worthy program, designed to be simple — the state will hand out $ 5,000 to each of 10,000 businesses that saw at least 20 percent of their revenues disappear in the first nine months of 2020.

The businesses must have no more than 20 employees or no more than

$ 1.5 million in annual revenue. That could apply to a universe of as many as 50,000 businesses, which employ 350,000 people, Lamont and Glendowlyn Thames, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development, said in front of Lilly’s Soul Food restaurant — a likely recipient.

And the state will target at least half of the $ 5,000 grants to Connecticut’s 25 municipalities designated as distressed. But of course, only 10,000 businesses will see the aid, and only at the $ 5,000 level.

So it’s a nice program, if not a lifesaver, using money from the state’s $ 1.4 billion federal coronavirus grant.

Within the hour, the Connecticut Restaurant Association came out with a sharp critique. The group wasn’t angry but it reminded the governor and DECD that, um, thanks, we know your heart is in the right place, but — are you kidding?

“While we appreciate their attention to this matter, the plan they’ve put forward today falls clearly short of what other states are doing. We hope this is just a first step to match what other states are doing to keep small businesses open,” the association’s president, Scott Dolch, said in a written release.

He continued: “Just looking at the rest of New England draws a stark comparison. How can it make sense for Connecticut to put a maximum of $5,000 on its small business grants when Maine is allowing up to $ 100K, New Hampshire up to $300K, and Vermont up to $350K? Not only that, but each of these states, while smaller in population, has a program that is larger in total dollars than Connecticut’s at $ 50 million.”

And remember, restaurants are far from the only businesses that will apply for this money.

Dolch told my colleague Ken Dixon that expanding restaurant capacity to 75 percent indoors, from 50 percent, which Lamont did on Oct. 8, isn’t helping enough because customers aren’t filling up those 75 percent of seats, and with distancing and plexiglass rules, many businesses can’t reach 75 percent anyway.

Then there’s the matter of customer confidence. On a recent night, I went to a restaurant in West Hartford Center that was packed. We were seated next to a table with at least 15 people, all about my daughter’s, age basically shouting at one another over drinks. We got up and waited for a seat in the bar area — I, because it was too loud, my friend because it was too germy.

I talked about that scene with Lamont — who has barely eaten inside a restaurant yet, if at all — and we agreed it can’t be allowed under his rules. And yet, it is — clearly outside the spirit.

The point: I won’t rush to do that again, and a lot of restaurant patrons are way more cautious than I am.

“I’m just scared to death with the winter coming,” Dolch said to Dixon. Scared, that is, of businesses failing.

“Realistically, most restaurants are fighting to get to 50 percent,” he said. “People have to understand restaurants are safe.”

The answer, of course, is more government money. And with the state looking at a $ 7 billion hole over the next three years, that means the federal government — which remains in gridlock over the next round of coronavirus aid.

Bear in mind, these ultra-small businesses targeted in the latest program were not all able to get the Paycheck Protection Program forgivable loans, and if they did, and they survived, that money is gone.

Larson, the Democrat who has represented the 1st District for 22 years, boomed at the mic, as he does. “They need to do the job they were elected to do!”

A former high school social studies teacher who grew up in a family of eight kids in East Hartford public housing, Larson does righteous anger better than anyone. Way better than Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, and she’s top 10 percent nationally.

Thames was left to defend the program when reporters asked about that relatively small amount per business.

“We spent a lot of time sizing this,” she said. “It was really, how can we efficiently and most simply provide grants to small businesses that we know will be hardest hit?”

She added, “We have been very strategic in how we assist small businesses.”

“Strategic” is a nice way of saying there just isn’t enough money to make everyone whole in this crisis. There’s no right answer and we muddle through, as Wall Street marches on, virtually unscathed.