Debra Rosen, president and CEO of the North San Diego Business Chamber | Facebook
Debra Rosen, president and CEO of the North San Diego Business Chamber | Facebook
The president and CEO of North San Diego Business Chamber wants people to shop at small businesses even as she said that some companies received discriminatory treatment in regard to COVID-19 mitigations or business protection programs.
Debra Rosen told the San Diego Record that no data has been produced to support the closing of certain businesses over others because of the coronavirus pandemic. Rosen, whose LinkedIn profile said she managed the chamber out of “massive debt,” said an example of discriminatory treatment is allowing swap meets to stay open while community street fairs are canceled.
“The community street fairs are an outlet for small businesses and many entrepreneurs to showcase their goods and services. Many of them rely on these community fairs to sell their goods and services for a living,” Rosen said.
Some chamber members were disappointed when they learned some companies affiliated with California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s PlumpJack Management Group received federal loans of nearly $3 million, Rosen said. Not every chamber member received help through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which the U.S. Small Business Administration website said is an SBA loan helping businesses to keep their employees during the pandemic.
“County Supervisors Jim Desmond and Kristin Gaspar have done a fabulous job making sure that our small businesses are taken care of with stimulus grant funds that they have,” Rosen said. “In addition, these two county supervisors have lobbied and advocated for the business community to stay open and operate in a safe manner.”
Newsom said in the “California COVID-19 Update: Dec. 21, 2020” video that the $900 billion relief package approved by Congress would provide $325 billion in small business relief.
“This is critical at this moment,” Newsom said in the video, as he reminded viewers of how the State of California helped small businesses, such as with the $500 million in COVID-19 relief grants. “The budget that we’ll submit to the legislature to become the state’s budget, after we work with legislative leadership, will also have some very significant small business support, so this is in addition to all of that.”
A regional chamber of commerce, North San Diego Business Chamber provides businesses with advocacy, programming and “dedicated committees,” its Facebook page said.
Alerts Sign-up