Sanitation District will help struggling local restaurants
LANCASTER — Los Angeles County Sanitation District No. 14 will dip into its reserves to support Lancaster’s Restaurant Rescue Program and a similar effort in Palmdale to help alleviate the financial burden locally owned restaurants are suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sanitation District No. 14 serves Lancaster, part of Palmdale, and portions of unincorporated Los Angeles County.
Monday, in a special meeting of District 14’s Board of Directors, Supervisor Kathryn Barger Palmdale Mayor Steve Hofbauer, and Lancaster Vice Mayor Marvin Crist agreed to request the Los Angeles County Sanitation District contribute $1.5 million to Lancaster’s Restaurant Rescue Program, which was unanimously approved by the City Council on Dec. 8.
Lancaster’s $850,000 Restaurant Rescue Program provides assistance to small locally owned restaurants, wineries and breweries following the Los Angeles County Public Health Department’s order prohibiting outdoor dining after spiking COVID-19 cases in the county.
“Time is of the essence — let’s not continue holding meetings to discuss our options. We need to act now,” Crist said in a statement. “Let’s move forward with this motion and if we find a reason that it won’t work, then we will come back to find an alternative.”
Crist’s motion pulled $1.5
million from the Sanitation District 14 reserves to support Lancaster’s Restaurant Rescue program, with approximately 13% going to Palmdale and their overlapping effort. The money will be used to buy cards that will stimulate the economy for local restaurants.
“This isn’t a charity — it’s a rate stabilization plan. The more we can do for our restaurants during this time of crisis, the better our City will be in the long run,” Crist said in a statement.
Crist also spearheaded the rebate program that was approved earlier this year. To date, eight different property owners have taken advantage of the rebate program which adds up to $74,000 in rebates for local business owners.
Visit cityoflancasterca.org/restaurants for details on the Restaurant Rescue Package.