As California moves into ‘Stage 2’ of reopening, some Central Valley cities go all-in
Fresno County cities Coalinga and Parlier are jumping ahead of California Gov.. Gavin Newsom’s plan to slowly pull out of the coronavirus-induced economic shutdown.
Nearly eight weeks after the governor ordered cities to close non-essential businesses, some cities are starting relax the measure meant to keep activity limited and slow the spread of COVID-19, the coronavirus. Some city governments cite economic effects for reopening their businesses and are moving to open business faster than the state.
The city of Parlier on May 1 allowed salons and barbershops to reopen and this week decided to reopen all other businesses formerly closed since the shelter-in-place order. On Thursday night, the Coalinga City Council allowed all businesses to reopen at the discretion of owners. The Coalinga vote was 4-1.
Coalinga City Councilmember Adam Adkisson, who brought the vote forward, said the city is losing revenue and workers have not been provided with unemployment benefits for months. Also, he said, reopening the businesses would also make it safer for residents so they don’t have to travel far to shop at big-box stores that were allowed to stay open.
“I go out there and I see the pain on their faces because their businesses are failing,” Adkisson said Friday. “It would actually be safe for us to open up with the few cases we have.”
As of Thursday, Coalinga had just five of Fresno County’s 813 total positive cases of COVID-19, according to data from the Department of Public Health.
Adkisson added that he’s only heard of one business in the city that has been provided with a loan since the closures. He said theaters, restaurants and other businesses can reopen with safety measures in place. He said a coalition of San Joaquin Valley cities will be joining each other in the coming weeks to pressure the state to reopen sooner.
Cities push return to normal
In another sign of cities aiming to get back to some normalcy, Hanford resumed its annual spring market with about 200 people showing up on the first night Thursday, some with face masks. The Leader community newspaper reported there was a sanitation station in place.
As the urgency grows to reopen business and life, officials in Valley counties and cities who feel differently than the rest of the state have repealed their emergency declarations in order to work under the state’s shelter order.
In doing so, Clovis on Monday voted to send the governor a letter asking for a swifter reopening.
In Visalia, the City Council said this week that it was still following the state’s order and pace in reopening businesses, but said no fines have been given to business owners who don’t comply with the order. Local authorities were also not enforcing the order.
That’s in contrast to the city of Fresno, which has levied a total of $35,000 in fines in the past month to businesses that violated the closures. Other businesses were fined for price gouging.
State moves to ‘Stage 2’
As some rural towns moved beyond the state’s updated guidelines to reopen cities. State officials announced a new roadmap that moves the state into “Stage 2” of reopening, where only “low-risk” businesses can reopen if they have ways to protect workers.
Previously, the governor released six key steps the state must meet in order to lift all restrictions. But Newsom said there has been progress with shelter-in-place by residents, allowing for a gradual reopening of some retail businesses.
Schools and offices would follow in the same stage before moving into reopening of higher-risk workplaces and eventually a full lifting of shelter orders. The new roadmap states some cities may be able to move faster than others in the second phase of reopening.
But there is still concern for cities who are seeing their coronavirus numbers rise even as they choose to reopen non-essential businesses. The city of Parlier had 34 cases as of Thursday in a population of just over 15,000 – about the same number of residents as Coalinga.
Some city officials have expressed the need to reopen businesses without interference to avoid further economic impacts from closures. On Thursday, California officials announced a projected $54.3 billion deficit due to the statewide reduction of economic activity during the past two months.
This story was originally published May 8, 2020 at 2:27 PM.
