Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
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!
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