Council to Hear Report on Opening Rose Bowl Loop, Funding Local Business Survival Grants

City Manager Steve Mermell will present an oral report to the City Council at Monday’s meeting on several key items geared at easing the impacts of the Coronavirus on local residents and local businesses.

The council will discuss the items, which include actions relative to opening local businesses, the possibility of reopening the Rose Bowl Loop and other recreational facilities,  and the concept of establishing a fund to support small businesses.

According to Pasadena Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Paul Little, the Pasadena Community Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce have been exploring a collaboration that would provide $10,000 grants to local small businesses to help them survive the current pandemic.

According to Little, the Pasadena Small Business Relief Fund could be seeded with a city donation and augmented with funds from private donors. The relationship between the foundation and the chamber would be legal and contractual. It is based on a model being pioneered by the Monterey Peninsula Small Business Relief Fund that is a collaboration between the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and the Community Foundation of Monterey with significant financial support from the city of Monterey.

“The objective of the fund is to augment federal, state and local aid by financially supplementing Pasadena businesses in hopes of reducing business closures and workforce layoffs, sustaining the local economic base and stimulating an early economic recovery,” Little wrote. “Funds will be used for working capital, business expenses, including payroll, rent, inventory, supplies/materials utilities, professional services and more. Preference will be given to those businesses which commit to and have the most likely chance of reopening after the release of the Safer at Home orders. Priority will also be given to businesses that have difficulty accessing funds through traditional means and those that serve traditionally underserved populations.”

All but essential businesses have been closed since the state issues the Safer at Home order in March. Restaurants have been hit particularly hard. According to one survey, most restaurants will need an infusion of $100,000 to reopen.

On Friday, some low-risk businesses were allowed to begin operating using curbside service.

The City Manager will provide an oral report on those actions and future actions regarding reopening the Rose Bowl loop.

The City Manager closed the popular area on March 29 after local residents continued to flock to the area on weekends and ignored warnings to practice social distancing at the 3.1-mile location.

Electronic signage was placed in the area emphasizing the need to remain six-feet apart. Despite the signs, the Pasadena Police Department still received calls and concerned residents posted on the city’s social media page.

Last Friday, L.A. County began to reopen some recreational areas as part of Phase 2 reopenings allowed by the Governor.

Many multi-use trails, trailheads, and park facilities that serve as trail staging areas reopened.

City-owned areas have remained closed, however. Monday’s discussion focuses on when those might be reopened.