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Territorial Dispatch

Yuba-Sutter Defies Orders and Re-Opens

May 15, 2020 12:00AM ● By By Seti Long

Yuba and Sutter Counties broke away from the pack and allowed businesses such as salons, gyms and dine-in businesses to reopen. Photo by Kevin Bidwell from Pexels

YUBA-SUTTER, CA (MPG) - In a defiant move, Yuba-Sutter has chosen to bypass Governor Newsom’s orders and allow “unauthorized” establishments to open for business ahead of schedule.

Last week, Yuba and Sutter Counties broke away from the pack and allowed businesses such as salons, gyms and dine-in businesses to reopen. On Wednesday, May 6th, Yuba City’s Mall was the first in California to opens its doors after the COVID19 shelter-in-place order went into effect.

This action by the two counties has made them the target of some veiled and not-so-veiled threats. Businesses that have dared to serve alcoholic beverages to their customers along with liquor stores have been visited by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which have suggested that licensing could be lost if they did not adhere to specified state guidelines. The California Office of Emergency Services also sent a letter to Yuba and Sutter Counties threatening to withhold federal disaster funding if they continued to defy Governor Newsom’s orders.

City Council Member, Marc Boomgaarden,  tried to put some context to the “warning/threat” from the state, saying in a Facebook post that, “The total amount of disaster aid funding that the City of Yuba City would potentially “lose” if our State decided to withhold Disaster Aid funds is currently estimated at $14,000.00.” He continues, “Let’s balance that potential loss of funds against the financial costs and emotional stresses being experienced daily, and in the future, by our local residents. Personally, I am willing to take the risk of potentially losing those funds in support of my fellow citizens and the businesses they own…” In an interview with CBS Sacramento, Yuba City Mayor, Shon Harris, says he stands behind the decision of his local businesses, saying that the potential federal funding lost is “not very significant.”

With the very real threat to many small businesses’ survival, owners have had to weigh the options between staying closed and losing federal disaster funding or taking their chances with the State government and the virus with reopening. Most have chosen to reopen with protective measures in place.