With Long Beach small businesses facing rising rent, insurance costs and break-ins, the City Council wants to explore new strategies to help them — with the goal of investing more than $1 million to recruit, retain and reinforce local businesses.
The recommendation, which passed unanimously at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, requested that City Manager Tom Modica begin working with the city’s Economic Development Department on a Small Business Rebound initiative that would be part of next year’s budget.
Ideas include waiving first-year business license fees, offering low-interest loans through the city’s Grow Long Beach Fund and offering grants for businesses to purchase shatter-proof windows, security cameras and “cash-free store” stickers to deter burglars.
Long Beach needs to bolster small businesses, in part, because of the rising costs of commercial rents, higher insurance prices and limited access to financial capital, said Councilmember Cindy Allen.
Between rises in utilities, health department fees, inflation and labor costs “this is the most trying time financially” for restaurant owners, said Ciaran Gough, president of the Long Beach Restaurant Association.
Councilmember Kristina Duggan also called on the city to provide “predictable timelines” for inspections, approvals and receiving a business license in Long Beach.
Through that, businesses can save “tens of thousands of dollars” in startup costs, which are often the difference between a business surviving or failing, Duggan said.
“Let’s cut the time it takes for small business owners to open,” she said.
Councilmembers Suely Saro and Tunua Thrash-Ntuk also spoke in favor of the initiative and said they hoped it would help fill some vacant buildings in their districts.
The City Council took up the issue after Mayor Rex Richardson made the recommendation in his State of the City speech.
Part of the mayor’s plan included directing city staff to partner with Long Beach Police Chief Wally Hebeish and City Prosecutor Doug Haubert to create an Organized Retail Theft taskforce.
That task force’s goal, according to the recommendation, would be to identify and introduce new strategies and tools to “disrupt and prevent organized retail crime.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce voiced support for the initiative.
“We believe that by supporting our local small businesses in these ways we are creating a more vibrant and resilient Long Beach for everyone,” said Celeste Wilson, government affairs manager for the chamber of commerce.
The Long Beach Restaurant Association, Zaferia Business Association, Belmont Shore Business Association, Bixby Knolls Business Association and DTLB Alliance also backed the effort.
Gough said he applauds any effort by the city council to give restaurants “any leg up.”
Richardson said that small businesses account for 52% of jobs within Long Beach.
That number, using 2021 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistics of U.S. Businesses, defines a small business as having fewer than 500 employees.
“The city’s diverse tapestry of small businesses does not merely contribute to the city’s local economy, they are its backbone,” the mayor wrote in his recommendation.
The 52% figure included businesses in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Anaheim combined.