As California reopens, salon workers excitedly rip off ‘closed’ signs, restaurant phone rings off the hook for reservations Written by Amy Ta, produced by Rosalie Atkinson Listen 9 min MORE Salt Creek Grille in Valencia will be able to serve customers outdoors starting January 29, 2021. Photo courtesy of Greg Amsler.
As Gov. Gavin Newsom is lifting the statewide stay-at-home order, KCRW hears from two business owners about how they’re preparing to reopen.
Rosey Ibarra owns Social Salon Suites in Glendale, where she rents out work stations to stylists and estheticians. She’s currently recovering from COVID-19 and says she still has a lingering cough.
Senator Wilk Sends Letter In Support Of Classifying Restaurants As Essential Businesses
Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, sent a letter signed by senators of both parties to California Governor Gavin Newsom last Friday evening, asking the state to reclassify restaurants as essential businesses.
The letter comes in the face of the fact that outdoor dining is set to remain closed until at least Dec. 27, at a time when many restaurants would normally be experiencing a business-saving boom of holiday business.
“In 2019, more than 1.8 million jobs were attributed to the restaurant and foodservice industry in California. This equates to approximately eleven percent of employment in the state. Closed restaurants means jobs lost, missed rent, mortgage and car payments and a lot of unemployment checks,” reads the letter.
A bipartisan group of California senators, including Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to reclassify restaurants as essential businesses amid ever-changing safety restrictions and COVID-19 surges.
The letter, signed by 11 legislators on Dec. 11, criticizes guidelines the governor’s administration has implemented and the effects it has had on the restaurant industry in California.
“Many restaurants have gone out of business, and now, with the approach of winter and new guidelines that restrict indoor dining, many others will be forced to consider a similar choice,” reads the letter.
The senators ask in the letter that Newsom “immediately reclassify the restaurant industry as critical infrastructure before even more damage is done to our communities.”