SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS PROTEST AT COURTHOUSE
County official pushing to open more businesses
Many owners of restaurants, salons and other small businesses that have not been allowed to open yet staged a protest in front of the Mendocino County Courthouse in Ukiah Friday, waving signs that read “Feeding Your Family is Essential” and “The Pub Sports Bar: 8 employees laid off” as many vehicles driving by honked in support.
Their frustrations were also expressed repeatedly by 2nd District Mendocino County Supervisor John McCowen this week during the last meeting of the county Board of Supervisors held virtually Tuesday.
“This is actually life and death for small businesses in Mendocino County, and every day of closure dooms another small business,” said McCowen, urging his fellow supervisors and county staff to move as quickly as possible to submit a plan to state officials that could allow business owners to offer a limited amount of in-store shopping, sit- down dining and other activities.
Called “Attestations,” the plans “attest” that a county can meet the required readiness criteria, including a low number of COVID-19 cases, adequate protection for essential workers, hospital readiness and testing capacity. The plans need to be submitted to the California Department of Public Health by the local Public Health Officer and accompanied by letters of support by both local elected officials and local hospitals.
When told Tuesday that the attestation plan for Mendocino County would likely take two weeks to prepare, McCowen said, “I wish there could be more of a sense of urgency. We want to be thorough and we want it to be complete, but I’m still a little concerned about it taking two weeks. Have we asked the hospital for a letter? Are we taking the steps necessary, and if not, when would we?”
“This (attestation) is a process that was announced May 7, and it’s May 12, so it’s brand-new,” said Mendocino County Health Officer Dr. Noemi Doohan. “I have continued to work on this every day since Thursday, continuing to have no days off for over a hundred days, so the idea that I’m moving at a slow pace is a bit surprising — I don’t think we are going slow at all.
“We’ve started the process, and hopefully in two weeks we will have it ready,” said Doohan, adding that her latest ShelterIn-Place order released May 8 “allows quite a significant amount of limited reopening, and I think we need to see what effect that has. It takes about a month to see what the effect of opening has.”
Later in the meeting, McCowen explained further why he was pushing for more opening of local businesses.
“I spend a considerable amount of every day reading and responding to phone calls and emails from members of the public who are very concerned about their health, but also hearing from many people who have fear and concern about the future of our local economy, and their individual business,” McCowen said. “So if I seem a little persistent in raising my questions, it’s out of concern for the people who are essentially seeing their livelihoods destroyed as part of the cure to COVID-19. For some the question is, ‘Is the cure worse than the disease?’
“We are crushing the life out of local businesses,” McCowen said. “I don’t see why the attestation process isn’t more of a priority.”
“I am so sorry that you do not see my behavior as being appropriately focused,” Doohan said. “I don’t even know how to respond to you at this point. I’m working night and day, and I will get attestation done as quickly as humanly possible.”
In her latest COVID-19 update Friday, Doohan said her
plan was to file the county’s attestation plan with the state in the middle of next week “so we could fully go into Stage 2 by Friday ( May 22). And this will have significant impacts in two areas: retail and restaurants.”
Currently, Doohan said, all retail establishments and restaurants can offer curbside delivery, but the next phase of Stage 2 would allow a limited amount of in- store retail shopping and sit- down restaurant dining.
Also Friday, Doohan said she would be releasing a new Shelter-In-Place order that will allow more activities, and she specifically pointed to dog grooming and landscaping.