July 6, 2020

Phase 2:

Updates from Adams Morgan

Click Here to see previous updates in our newsletter archive

July Board Meeting

The next Adams Morgan Partnership BID (AMPBID) Board of Directors' meeting will be Tuesday, July 14 from 5-7:00 PM. In addition to the regular board agenda, there will be a vote on the budget for FY2021, which begins October 1, 2020.

The meeting will take place online via Zoom. If you would like to attend the online meeting, you must register. When you register, you will receive the login information.

Click here to register .

As always, the public is invited to participate in the meeting, but non-board members will be muted while board business is being discussed. There will be opportunity for questions and other input.

Apply for a Parklet on 18th Street

At this point, we don't know if 18th Street will be closed to vehicle traffic this coming weekend, however, the barriers are still in place and businesses are encouraged to apply for parklet space. A successful parklet application will allow the business to immediately begin to utilize the curbside space 7 days a week.

If you are not one of the 13 businesses that successfully applied and participated this past weekend, you must fill out this form to participate going forward. There is a complete list of the required information on the form.

 As long as the jersey barriers remain during the Mayor's public health emergency, businesses can apply to utilize that space as a parklet by filling out the form and being approved by DDOT. This will also serve as registration to use that same space when/if the weekend street closure resumes. We are hopeful that will happen soon.

There is no cost to participate . All businesses in the affected area of 18th Street (from Kalorama Road to Columbia Road) that would like to participate in expanding their sidewalk cafes and retail sales and utilize the roadway in front of their businesses must fill out this form .

New Insurance Requirements for Restaurants with Sidewalk Cafes

How have the changes to 18th Street affected your business?

We want to know what impact the full street closure had (on June 26-28) versus the curbside only patio spaces (parklet space) on July 3-5. Please fill out this very short (4 question) survey to help us better-understand the impact this had on your business. Hopefully a very positive impact! (The parklet space is now available every day with DDOT approval per the above).

Click Here to give us your feedback .

Update from RAMW

It is critical for us to hear from you how reopening is going as we have conversations about economic relief with regional leaders weekly if not daily. Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey .

In national news, a quick PPP update: The House voted by unanimous consent last week to pass the Senate bill extending the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) through August 8. The bill will now go to the President for his signature.

This bill does not change the PPP; it simply extends the window to apply for a PPP loan for another five weeks. The original program expired on June 30, with a balance of $130 billion dollars still available for loans. Once the President signs the bill, it’s expected the Small Business Administration will begin taking applications again.

In DC, the City’s final budget is still being reviewed and currently there are no tax increases on businesses or residents, however there is some pressure to increase taxes. In response to this pressure, the Federal City Council has formed the Recover Strong Alliance , a coalition of DC businesses, workers and community organizations. The alliance’s primary message is that there can be no secure social safety net and progressive policy agenda without a strong recovery that leads to a robust economy and that no additional tax burdens should be placed on residents and employers.

We urge you to take a few minutes to participate in the campaign because the DC Council needs to hear from you. Click here to tell the Council not to increase taxes on residents and employers.

Also, to share another bit of good news, it looks like the Council will introduce legislation to only subject restaurants to a 10% sales tax rate on alcoholic beverages for on-premise and off-premise consumption. Currently off-premise consumption of alcoholic beverages is subject to a rate of 10.25%. This fix is a direct result of our advocacy efforts. We will keep you posted as this moves forward.

We have shared this information before, but as you welcome more employees and guests in your restaurant, we want to remind you of DOH’s protocol for what to do if an employee tests positive:

• Contact DC DOH at food.safety@dc.gov, you should be prepared to close for 24-48 hours, and DC DOH will provide you with guidance on when you can reopen.
• Clean and sanitize entire facility
• Exclude employee who tested positive and until cleared to return by their healthcare provider and DC Health
• Exposed employees will need to quarantine for 14-days from the time of exposure. If the employee is tested, and it comes back negative, they should still be prepared to finish quarantine for the full 14-days.
• “Exposed” is defined as being within 6 ft of someone for more than 15 minutes.
• Quick note: Once you have deep cleaned and sanitized your facility, and DOH has given you guidance on when to reopen (likely within 24-48 hours), you are able to resume operations with employees who have not been exposed to the employee that tested positive, if capacity allows.

An operational note, live music is not permitted at ABC licensed establishments during Stage Two and while you are able to apply for a waiver, it seems as if the city is pausing on approving live music waivers for ABC licensees at this time. We will share more information on this once it is available. The DC government has also provided a helpful document that outlines required steps you must take to be in compliance with DOH, ABRA, DDOT and DCRA. Click here for the requirements document. Please note that while the document says live entertainment is permitted by DOH that does not pertain to ABC licensed establishments.

Emergency Legislation expected to be introduced Tuesday

DC Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie has introduced emergency legislation to DC Council that provides financial relief for restaurants, retailers, hotels, and entertainment venues.

Summary of CM McDuffie Business Recovery Grant Legislation:

• Total Funding Targeted at $100M
• 40% for restaurants, 30% hotels, 15% Sports and entertainment, 15% Retail
• Prioritizes businesses forced to close through phase 3 or 4
• Must demonstrate 50% or greater loss in gross receipts year on year for the months of March, April and May compared to 2019
• Calls for resident, minority owned small business set aside with a target of 12.5% set aside
• Authorizes the Mayor to issue funds to third-parties for the purposes of making subgrants
• Authorizes lessors of eligible businesses to be eligible for grants if the lessor can demonstrate abated rents for eligible businesses in the amount equal to twice the amount of the grant.

Talking Points for Calls and Emails to Councilmembers

1. This bill is overdue and sorely needed relief for businesses struggling to recover from COVID.
2. DC has received nearly $500M in COVID money from the federal government to date and this is an excellent use of $100M as a down payment on needed relief for our gathering businesses, and their employees that are suffering through no fault of their own . This is a qualified use of the federal COVID dollars that the city has now.
3. The businesses that will be helped employed 150,000 people pre-COVID, including more than 80,000 District residents, supporting many more dependents. We need these businesses to have hope to hang on and rehire. This bill will give them that hope.
4. These businesses provided more than 1/3 of the city's local revenue (non-federal), more than $3 billion in annual taxes, pre-COVID. This is an investment in bringing back that revenue to the city, without which DC can not afford the climbing costs of services, in part as a result of COVID layoffs and other impacts.
5. The bill is well-crafted to bring special relief to small businesses, minority and women-owned businesses, as well as businesses that will have to remain closed after phase 3. At the same time, it provides broad relief for any hotel, restaurant, retail or sports and entertainment venue that has lost 50% or more of its revenue during COVID.
6. The $100 billion is about one-third of what we think is urgently needed, however we hope that Congress will be sending the city at least $750M more COVID relief in 30 days' time. At that time, the language of this bill allows the Mayor to increase the grant pool.

 Click Here to register

LookThink Webinar:

How to Analyze and Improve Your Online Presence

LookThink in collaboration with BIDs and DSLBD has held three webinars aimed at small businesses to help them better leverage online tools. All the slides and webinar recordings are here . The last webinar -- How to Analyze and Improve Your Online Presence -- is on July 9th.

Description: We will focus on how to reinforce and evaluate the strategies you've started implementing from our prior webinars. We'll cover ways to enhance the online presence you've started to establish and considerations for next steps.

July 9th, 2020; 3-4 PM

Register Here



PPP/EIDL Use of Funds Webinar

Join the Greater Washington Black Chamber of Commerce for a conversation with a PPP and EIDL specialist to provide clarity about properly managing assistance funds in your business.

RODERICK JOHNSON

Roderick Johnson is a lifelong resident of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan area. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Financial Management.

Johnson began his career in banking by rising from a young commercial banking trainee working for three of the top five banks in the United States rising to the level of Senior Vice President, Commercial Banking. In 2008, he started his own business, RLJ Financial Consultants, LLC, which provides commercial loan and insurance brokerage services throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Friday, July 10, 2020 from 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM (EDT)

 Click Here to register

More Support Needed:

Ask Senators to Give DC its COVID Relief Money

DC needs your help! Make sure the Senate hears how important COVID-19 relief funding is to the District of Columbia.

 This debate is heating up in the Senate, and with heightened tensions between the local and federal government, the need to show diverse constituent support for local funding is more important now than ever. You can support these efforts in three ways:

1. For individuals: The FC2 has built a tool that will allow individuals to reach key members of Congress by sending letters. The letters urge quick action on the next state and local funding package, as well as equal treatment for the District. Send your letter using this link. If you’re willing, share this link broadly with friends, family, colleagues and employees who would also like to support these efforts.
2. For businesses: Last month, the FC2 sent a letter on behalf of more than 425 regional businesses in support of funding for the District. FC2 would like to publicly show this support on a website that has been launched to support this work. If you signed onto the letter (or even if you haven’t), and are willing to lend your name to the site, please fill out this 1 minute form .
3. SHARE this with your family, friends and colleagues and encourage them to add their support.

Looking for furniture/fixtures needed to reopen?

If you're looking for new fixtures for your indoor or outdoor seating, Ampa Events has a wide selection of seating, tables, and clear shields both for sale or rent.

Their blog also has a list of Covid-specific solutions available to businesses.

#AdamsMorganStrong video launched to highlight Adams Morgan businesses, raise money for Adams Morgan Day

We've put together a short music video highlighting dozens of our 240+ small businesses that need your help during these difficult times so that we can have more laughs, more meals together, more fun, and more time TOGETHER. Consider making a donation at admodc.org/support to support Adams Morgan Day. We will send you a free #BuyRestaurantBonds poster with a $50 donation or all five of them with a $200 donation.

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Sponsor one of our community events! Partner with our community while reaching some of the city's most desirable demographics. For details, contact Kristen Barden at 202-997-0783.

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