Santa Monica has been hit hard by the pandemic, which created a $224 million deficit in the City’s operating budget leading to mass layoffs and reductions in City services. In an effort to increase funding, the City is supporting the Democrats’ newly proposed HEROES Act for COVID-19 financial relief and also fighting for a more equitable distribution of relief funds through the state government.
In a seemingly rare bipartisan effort for these times, mayors from across the State of California have banded together to tackle the challenges brought about by COVID-19 and fight for equitable financial relief from the State.
All of Orange County’s 34 mayors have teamed up to send a message to residents, businesses and visitors: “Mask up to open up OC!” The message comes in a video featuring Orange County’s mayors socially distant and masked up at iconic locations across Orange County.
The Coalition is excited to welcome Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as one of its newest members. While this diverse group of 60+ mayors from across California is mainly composed of smaller cities, Mayor Garcetti’s membership highlights the importance of all cities, no matter their size, supporting one another during these unprecedented times.
We need to safely re-open California – or at least Orange County – now. We are three weeks into the new “tier” system to reopen California. The official guidelines have changed three times and we expect more changes to come. Shifting standards have been the only consistency and we are – simply put – beyond frustrated.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the country has sought and developed solutions to flatten the curve of the virus’s spread and lessen the financial impact felt by business and government alike. It doesn’t matter if you run a neighborhood convenience store or a city government; you’ve likely taken a severe revenue hit since March 1.
Small and midsize cities in Orange County are lobbying state and federal legislators for more funding, saying the money they’ve received from the first federal coronavirus rescue package is not enough, especially compared with bigger cities such as Anaheim and Santa Ana.
California Mayors Coalition Member and Mayor of Fontana Aquanetta Warren recently joined forces with Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, to make a strong bipartisan call for federal assistance.
While we know that the Big 13 Cities in California are regularly talking to the Governor, we too have been fortunate to have both State and Federal leaders join some of our recent weekly Coalition member calls.
The following video features real California mayors and the challenges their cities are facing on the front lines in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.