As the end of the workday nears on March 16, people holding protest signs began to gather outside of Santa Maria City Hall. One man carried a camping chair with an American flag printed on the canvas and set it up among the growing crowd. A woman held a white sign with “We are essential” written across it in thick lettering.
The Reopen our Cities rally was organized by the Reopen the Central Coast business coalition. Ongoing COVID-19 pandemic regulations have caused many businesses to remain closed or be open with a limited capacity. Advertised on Facebook, the event drew about 50 people to the lawn at the corner of Broadway and Cook Street. Virtual flyers encouraged attendees to bring their children, employees, customers, and signs to peacefully protest “the one year anniversary of ‘two weeks to flatten the curve.’”
Ashlee Carranza, owner of Rancho Bowl in Santa Maria, is one of the business owners who initially organized the Reopen the Central Coast Facebook group, which she said has nearly 200 local, business owning members.
“In our community of families and friends, we know a lot of different business owners, specifically long-standing restaurants here in the area. We talk amongst ourselves, the problems that we’re facing over the years,” Carranza said. “This has been going on for so long now that we ended up forming this coalition. … We just have an array of different businesses that have been affected by the shutdowns.”
Eddie and Joanne Plemmons, who own The Swiss Restaurant in Santa Maria, attended the March 16 rally. The couple told the Sun that they’ve been part of the coalition “since day one.”
“Sales are down dramatically; it’s horrible,” Eddie said. “Food costs are up, we couldn’t raise menu prices because it just wasn’t the right time. Just a big impact.”
Joanne said it’s been challenging to keep up with changing restrictions and the extra costs associated with them.
“Trying to do a combination, all the restrictions and new codes, and the tent, and all the things we’ve had to do to be able to stay open,” she said. “It’s been really hard.”
With Santa Barbara County back in the red tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening system as of March 16, Eddie said he’s looking forward to seating a limited number of customers indoors. Under the red tier, restaurants, museums, and movie theaters can reopen indoors at 25 percent capacity.
“The Santa Maria wind and the weather is very unpredictable here,” he said. “People don’t realize it, but the tents, most people are paying a daily fee for those on top of their rent. And then the propane is another, too … . The paper products and everything else. Your profit margin really just goes away. It’s a survival, not a profit-making, industry right now.”
Carranza lamented how the state’s reopening system has been confusing at times.
“We just have so many questions, and we’re not getting the answers we need,” she said. “And the statistics are changing all the time, the criteria for tier and opening is changing all the time, so we can’t even keep up with it.”
After meeting a vaccination benchmark, state officials recently shifted the tier thresholds to make it easier for counties to move up in the reopening system. Santa Barbara County wouldn’t have moved to the red tier assignment under the previous metric requirements, but with the change it was able to shift into the less-restrictive tier.
Teri Stricklin, general manager of The Hitching Post restaurant in Casmalia and a member of Reopen the Central Coast, spoke at the rally.
“We know COVID’s real. We’ve had employees, close family friends who’ve been very sick,” Stricklin said to the crowd. “But shutdowns are not the answer anymore, and they have to end. And even though the governor has kindly given us the move to the red tier, to open 25 percent inside our restaurants, it’s not enough.”
When Santa Barbara County Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso announced the county’s move to the red tier at a March 16 Board of Supervisors meeting, she said metrics in the county have improved considerably. However, Do-Reynoso added, it’s important that the community continues to follow public health guidelines if it wants to keep progressing through the tiers and see additional economic reopening.
“Yes, the winter surge in cases is now over. We’re seeing that our active cases, our daily new cases, our testing positivity, our case rate, hospitalizations, ICUs, and deaths all have decreased substantially,” she said. “But I really want to stress that we have to stay vigilant, collectively, as a county, so that we can continue to see a decline in case rates and other metrics.”
Highlight
• With Easter just around the corner, the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department is hosting a free “Eggsplore” Our Parks Spring Egg Hunt at parks around the city from April 2 to 4. Participants who find hidden eggs signs at the parks, or the special “golden egg,” can enter to win a prize. Participants who manage to visit all 12 of the city’s parks and submit pictures from each will be put into a special drawing. Entries can be posted to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with the hashtag #smrecandparks. For more information, visit cityofsantamaria.org/recreation.
Staff Writer Malea Martin wrote this week’s Spotlight. Send tips to spotlight@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 25 – Apr 1, 2021.
