WEST HOLLYWOOD—On December 21, the West Hollywood City Council voted 4-1 on several business recovery measures coming into the New Year for economic recovery.
“The intent behind this … really is to help our most vulnerable businesses,” said councilwoman Sepi Shyne. “The whole point of this is to really keep our businesses going, at least until we get funding from the new federal government.”
The city council directed staff about seven specific measures that are to be considered, including small business grant programs, organizing small business round table meetings that would allow owners to provide feedback, and the setup of a Business Recovery Task Force to develop an economic blueprint for West Hollywood.
The city council will discuss further how to best allocate the $250,000 to local businesses, that would best benefit them. The staff report outlined how the amount could provide up to 50 grants at $5,000 each.
“This shows the business community the council’s commitment to our issues and we can certainly use all the help we can get right now,” stated West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce CEO Genevieve Morrill.
The consideration of the grant amount is still being decided, but will range between $5,000- $10,000.
During the meeting, staff members expressed how the COVID-19 public health and the economic shutdown has impacted the city of West Hollywood. Restaurants like Aburiya serving Mitsuo Endo’s deeply Japanese izakaya, Villa Blanca, and the Roxbury Café are some of few that have had to shut their doors permanently.
