The city of San Mateo has received $100,000 in county grant funding to help local restaurants hurt during the pandemic, with qualified businesses potentially receiving up to $5,000 in assistance.
Amourence Lee
The $100,000 will go to the city’s COVID-19 Small Business Grant Program and is a partnership with San Mateo County to allow food-serving businesses to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility requirements, customer service and business resiliency.
“It’s a very strong, precision-based approach that will have a high impact for our restaurant businesses that have been limping along during COVID and then on top of that being subjected to predatory lawsuits,” Mayor Amourence Lee said at a June 20 council meeting.
To apply for the grants, businesses must be independently owned and operated, be a food-serving business with fewer than 15 employees, have $3 million or less in gross revenue, have a city business tax certificate, suffered hardship during the pandemic and must maintain a physical business address in the city. Applicants must also attend three technical assistance classes on complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements on space design and physical improvements. Qualified businesses can purchase accessible furniture, outdoor dining furnishings and fund parklet design costs. The city selected food-serving businesses to address outdoor dining lawsuits related to ADA accessibility. Many downtown San Mateo shops in 2022 saw a rise in lawsuits alleging parts of their business access or seating currently violate the ADA, putting owners in a bind as they decide to either settle for thousands in fees or contest in court. Many restaurants throughout the county struggled or closed during the pandemic as well.
The county is allocating around $364,000 in federal funding for its business grant program, with the cities of South San Francisco, San Bruno and San Mateo getting $100,000 each for small businesses. The city of San Mateo plans to partner with an organization to help administer the grant program, with a portion going toward grant administration.
The council unanimously approved accepting the funding from the county at its June 20 meeting.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
Reporter
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
“A dazzling delight for all ages” Read moreRodger's & Hammerstein's Cinderella
Join us for Bay Area Youth Ballet's magical holiday tradition as The Nutcracker comes to lif… Read moreThe Nutcracker Presented By Bay Area Youth Ballet
Mike Harris said:
Mike Harris said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.