“Save Our Jobs! Save Our Jobs!”
That was the rallying cry as about 50 people marched Saturday afternoon in a 4.5-mile Save Small Businesses protest march demanding the state of California quit ordering business closures as a way to stop spikes in COVID-19.
Organized by the recently formed California Coalition for Safe Reopening, the march started in Hollywood on Hollywood Boulevard, went south on La Brea Avenue and then turned west on Santa Monica Boulevard through West Hollywood, ending in Beverly Hills near Doheny Drive.
The protesters wore green t-shirts which read “Save Small Businesses. Stop the Closures.” Sheriff’s cars escorted the group along Santa Monica Boulevard, blocking intersections as they passed through.
Genevieve Morrill, the president of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and a co-founder of the Coalition, lead the march with a megaphone chanting, “Gov. Newsom, Quit Shutting Us Down, We’re Safer at Work!”, “Gov. Newsom, Save Our Small Businesses!” and “What do We Want? Open and Safe!”
The Coalition says that the vast majority of small businesses such as restaurants and nail salons are not the cause of recent surges in coronavirus cases. They point out these small businesses have spent many thousands of dollars to install plexiglass and follow other safety protocols, yet they are now being punished for following the rules with these closures.
Many small businesses are in danger of closing permanently due to this most recent lockdown order from the state. The Coalition contends the economy has become a public health matter.
The Coalition wants the state to create a Safe Reopening Task Force to come up with long-term solutions for reopening rather than the haphazard method currently being utilized. They also want the state to create a California COVID-19 Emergency Business Interruption Fund to help businesses get through these unanticipated shutdowns.
Los Angeles County shuttered outdoor dining at restaurants on Nov. 25 because of the recent COVID surges, meaning restaurants can now only offer take-out orders and delivery.
The state of California’s lockdown order on Dec. 7 for the 11 counties in the Southern California region shuttered outdoor dining in the rest of the region.
The state’s lockdown order also forced barbershops, hair salons and nail salons to close entirely, while other businesses classified as non-essential must operate at 20% capacity.
The lockdown order is currently scheduled to be lifted on Dec. 28, but could be extended if COVID numbers don’t come down substantially.
Save Our Small Business March through West Hollywood pic.twitter.com/qhSsA7wOA9
— WEHOville (@WEHOville) December 12, 2020
The only thing that will solve this problem is the government paying businesses to close and people to stay home–but of course the Chamber of Commerce, which organized this farce, is opposed to simply paying people. And it isn’t just the draculas on the right wing that refuse to pay people to stay home. The despicable and feckless Democrats also refuse to do the right thing–pay people to stay home. The ruling class is betting on the vaccine. They hate us and hold us in contempt. We are going to see untold misery
WeHo Poster, where is the money going to come from to pay everybody? Government is funded by the money that people earn by working. If everybody is staying home no one is producing anything or providing any service which means there is no money exchanged out of which the government gets its share.
Fine and shut down the offenders, not the businesses who are following guidelines. Newsom needs to respond.
Only the elderly and those with health issues need to stay in, which means that everybody else can go to work and school, shop, play and lead normal lives. It isn’t necessary to close down the entire state and destroy businesses and lives for those who should know not to go out.
It would have been nice to see the WeHo Mayor come out and support this, or even tweet about it. But, there’s no BLM/social justice angle to it, so she didn’t. Our female majority council members didn’t support this event by participating or tweeting about it.
City Council was quick to jump on the social justice task force to get it up and running. How about the same level of effort to keep our small businesses open?
What can you expect from busy body politicians who are only interested in gender studies and all that ludicrous claptrap?
The council could look into their own backyard and ask why all these executives at City Hall are still earning money. And not laid off like any business would do. Watch when all the little businesses close down permanently, hotels aren’t booked and there’s no tax base in this town.
What does “female majority” have to do with anything?
The support for the cause today from businesses and residents alike was loud and clear— car horns blaring, residents cheering and onlookers smiling to see an organized push back on objectively unreasonable closures.
At least they were wearing masks
Regrettably not all of them. Would make a better case if they strictly adhered to that code, but some of them won’t.
“Many small businesses are in danger of closing permanently” ……..versus many people have died permanently. It’s a no brainer, our state most certainly did the right thing and the vaccine is on its way. Glad to hear it was a very small turnout.
I’m trying to figure out how many deaths Genevieve and the Chamber feel is acceptable.
Bertha Bullhorn doesn’t want health and safety to even be in the same room as the almighty dollar, lest empathy and humanity rear their ugly heads. This is West Hollywood. No surprise.
It was a small turn out to support small businesses. We all feel bad about these impacts on the businesses we love but Tom has certainly put it all in perspective.