More than a dozen mayors across the western U.S. signed a letter Dec. 2 urging Congress to approve additional COVID-19 relief aid. Signees included the mayors of Seattle, Boise, Portland and Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis.
Congress has yet to approve additional funds since April, and with the end of session fast approaching, the wait for action has become frustrating for many in the country including local governments. Vinis said federal funding is critical now more than ever since funds given out earlier during the pandemic are starting to dry up.
She expressed concern that the economic toll the pandemic has put on small businesses may reverse some of Eugene's efforts to revitalize downtown pre-pandemic. Due to statewide COVID-19 protocals, including the recent 'freeze,' many small businesses have sturggled stay afloat.
“Congress’s failure to step up with more relief funding is— we experience that on the ground in our cities, we’re the ones that hold responsibility for helping our community be strong, maintaining the possibility for people to maintain their lives," Vinis said. "This is a crisis and we want to support our constituents and the scope of the need is much greater than what cities can do on their own.”
The letter highlights three key areas of funding needs including assistance for individuals and families, small businesses, and local governments.
Specifically, the letter calls for emergency renter and mortgage assisstance to prevent a "tidal wave" of COVID-19-related evictions and forclosures, and expanded funding for USDA Supplemental Food and Nutritious Service programs.
Additional funds for the Paid Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses were called for as well, and support for bussiness that may be unable to use PPP.
The letter also acknowledged marginalized people including Black and Indigenous people of color, people with disabilites, and people experiencing homelessness have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
"This is a global pandemic, it's certainly a national crisis, we have a crisis of leadership that's making it much harder for us, and my belief is leadership at a local level can make a big difference that we can not only impact people's lives directly, but we can advocate for those larger policy changes at a national level," Vinis said.
She adds the city will continue to address as many issues as they can, but they won't have all the answers since some of the problems are much bigger than Eugene.
The following mayors signed the letter:
- Mayor Ted Wheeler, City of Portland
- Mayor Jenny Durkan, City of Seattle
- Mayor London Breed, City of San Francisco
- Mayor Libby Schaaf, City of Oakland
- Mayor Sam Liccardo, City of San Jose
- Mayor Lauren McLean, City of Boise
- Mayor Lee Brand, City of Fresno
- Mayor Darrell Steinberg, City of Sacramento
- Mayor Lucy Vinis, City of Eugene
- Mayor Jesse Arreguin, City of Berkeley
- Mayor Cassie Franklin, City of Everett Mayor Lindsey Horvath, City of West Hollywood
- Mayor-elect Todd Gloria, City of San Diego
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