Anyone who has ventured out around town over the past days knows that these are desperate times for many small businesses, the life blood of our community. Dire times demand bold measures and strong leadership from our city council and officials. During past crises, floods and fires, the city has acted decisively. Its leadership during the Kincade Fire avoided a devastating scenario for the community. However, now, with the double threat of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn, the city should immediately start relief efforts and plan for a strong economic recovery. The citizens group Healdsburg 2040 encourages the city to use some its financial bolster of approximately $49.4 million in invested reserves and over $3.3 million in cash reserves for disaster relief.
• Given the strong reserves, the city should fully fund its payroll during the crisis and not resort to economically punishing layoffs, especially among hourly workers. But if pay cuts are needed, they should be from the top down not the bottom up. Like any prudent business would now do, the city should freeze the hiring process until this crisis has passed.
• A relief fund of a couple million dollars would offer short-term, no-interest loans to businesses to cover rents and payroll, to cushion the economic shock and make sure that they can quickly proceed into recovery mode. An immediate response by the city is needed, since we can’t count on the Federal Government to act as swiftly. The costs are minimal compared to the benefits since the free reserves of the city yield a very low interest now.
• Several institutions with an important, community-building role are in dire straits and need immediate help. The Healdsburg Center for the Arts for example has recently shared that it received a rent increase in excess of 16% for each of the next three years and had to lay off its director. Its demise can be stopped if the city works with the landlord to freeze the rent. For The Healdsburg Tribune, the traditional business model based on advertisement stopped working. It transitions now to a nonprofit foundation to secure its future. With a generous donation to the new foundation, the city can make sure that the community will not lose this important, 155-year-old public platform.
• The city should implement its own emergency ordinance to temporarily protect tenants from eviction and help struggling renters as long as the stay at home orders last. From a strategic point of view, council should additionally adopt a vacancy ordinance for commercial retail in town as other Bay Area cities have done. Use the “moral authority” of city council to urge landlords to forego or lessen rent payments for the next 60 days (or longer, as needed) and forestall evictions and rent increases for the same period. What if the city suggested that anyone who receives a check from the Federal Stimulus Package and doesn’t need it for their survival, contributes it to a fund for ineligible workers? Such a move would strengthen the cohesion of the community, something the SDAT report urged us to do.
• Looking ahead to the recovery planning, the city should appoint a panel of city personnel, representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and interested private citizens. Together they could develop an action plan to get our retail and tourist industry back in business. The downturn shows that the city needs to think very seriously about a broader economic diversification, so that the next crisis, and there will be one, is not as devastating. This includes hiring an Economic Development Director immediately after the crisis ends. On the other side, the city should not fill the vacant positions of the Assistant City Manager and the newly announced post of highly paid Community Development Director.
We think, that the city has an obligation to assist the neediest residents and entrepreneurs. Bold and swift actions will benefit our entire community in the long run. Without it, we fear that we will see more vacant storefronts and more layoffs.
Healdsburg 2040 is a group of interested citizens advising the city on the implementation of the SDAT report.
