We find ourselves trying to navigate challenging times. Size and scope are hard to fathom. Our restaurants and bars provide half of the District’s sales tax revenue and have taken a Tonya Harding like blow, and many will close and not reopen.
The Council faces shrinking revenues and diminishing rainy-day funds, with the budget headed for an inevitable crisis with the hard choices still to come.
And it’s worth saying the obvious: There is no recovery without small business recovery. It’s essential for the District, but that’s not everything we are facing — the death of George Floyd has once again shown racial injustice.