Today I saw local heroes in action.
Several local business owners, notably Magan Kunin of Kunin
Wines and Sherry Villanueva of Acme Hospitality, spoke movingly at the Santa Barbara
City Council about their decisions to close their businesses in order to best
protect their employees and the public from the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
It was particularly powerful to watch Ms. Villanueva tear up while talking
about having to fire 350 employees and still provide them with health
insurance.
These business owners are in agony over their financial futures
and the well-being of employees whose lives are being upended by a pandemic
that is bigger than our ability to manage without a lot of economic pain.