Helping our restaurants

San Diego County restaurants have suffered greatly over the last year. We’ve all

seen the out-of-business signs on many of our favorite local establishments and I

want to make sure we do all we can to help those holding on. I have proposed to

my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors that we waive all restaurant permit

fees for the upcoming year.

Before the pandemic, there were 8,131 restaurants with over 126,400 workers in San Diego County. We know many of these employees lost their jobs and some restaurants are, sadly, closed permanently. We need to do all we can to help move forward and get people back to work.

According to the San Diego Association of Governments, restaurants

were among the hardest hit early in the pandemic during the first week in April

2020, with foot traffic down between 60% and 77%. As of January 2021, with the

San Diego region in the purple tier, activity at various businesses remained down,

between 26% to 61% percent below pre-COVID-19 level. 2.7 million jobs were lost due to the pandemic and 56% still remain jobless.

While there is light at the end of the tunnel with the removal of COVID-19

restrictions on June 15, many restaurants will never be able to recover from the

last year.

As we continue to make our road to recovery, I believe it is my personal

responsibility to do all I can to preserve our small business community, which

provides thousands of jobs in our region. Restaurants supply so much more than

food, from jobs to a sense of community. I will do all I can to help them survive!