Hello Whittier Community,
Memorial Day weekend unofficially begins the start of summer. It's a time for graduations, celebrations and enjoying the outdoors. While we slowly begin to reopen our communities, we look forward to the time when we can do all this and more.
In the meantime, we adhere to the orders from our local officials and state government who want to insure we remain safe and healthy during the Coronavirus-19 pandemic. As California emerges with great caution, we tend to get the urge to move at a rapid pace to explore the outdoors with little caution to the wind. Although many individuals may be not be carriers of the Covid-19 virus, we have a percentage of the population who are seniors, individuals who have comprised immune systems; many are undergoing cancer treatments or have autoimmune diseases and cannot fully enjoy the outdoors like who are healthy.
As we watch the news and monitor cases, state and local officials have been working diligently to get our communities to reopen. By now, you may know that LA County extended outdoor activities, car parades and indoor malls to open for curbside service on a limited basis and with conditions. And with the announcement of retailers being able to open for business, they still have to comply with opening ordinances.
The
Protocols for Retail Establishments Opening for Curbside Pickup was updated on May 22nd and includes guidance for curbside pick-up from retailers.
View the updated order here . And on Memorial Day, Supervisor Janice Hahn shared that retailers can open for business and allow shoppers to shop inside their stores, obviously with some restrictions which include social distancing and face covers. LA County announced that guidelines will be updated today on at
https://covid19.lacounty.gov/. As of this late afternoon, those guidelines are still being developed at the state level and should be published by weeks end.
With the rise in temperatures, LA County opened a number of
Cooling Centers
for heat relief starting today. Centers will be open from 12 noon to 6pm. These emergency cooling centers are FREE and are located throughout the county. The nearest center to Whittier is at
Grace T. Black Auditorium, 3130 Tyler Avenue, El Monte.
Click here
to view map of all the locations. Cooling centers will be enforcing social distancing and face mask.
Preferential District Parking
in Whittier
became effective on May 22nd. Parking Permits are mandatory and are only available to residents of the
Preferential Parking
District.
They are free and available at the
City Hall Public Works
counter. Residents must show identification and vehicle registration as proof of residency. For questions call (562) 567-9500. We urge you to get your permits to avoid citations.
This year, Congresswoman Linda Sanchez will be holding the
"38th Congressional District High School Art Competition" virtually on Monday June 1, 2020 on Facebook live at
@RepLindaSanchez at 5:00pm - 5:30pm. This competition recognizes artistic talent nation wide and in each congressional districts. High school students submitted entries and winners are recognized both in their district and at an annual award ceremony in Washington DC. The winning artwork is displayed at the U.S. Capital for one year.
The
Business Economic Recovery Task Force (BERT)
has completed the
Recovery Readiness ToolKit handbook. Input for the handbook was given by members from the
Whittier Area Chamber,
If you or a member of your family who lives in Los Angeles County and is struggling with paying rents, the last day to submit application for assistance is this Sunday, May 31, 2020. The
Emergency Rental Assistance Program assist renters who have been impacted by Covid-19. Residents can receive assistance by contacting 211 by dialing 2-1-1 or online at
www.211la.org/covid-rental-help or visit
https://wwwa.lacda.org/programs/rent-relief for more information for both renters and property owners.
The Foster Group is now taking appointments to meet with businesses who need assistance with
Payroll Protection Program (PPP) Loan forgiveness. Chris Foster and his company focus and negotiate with the SBA and your bank to keep you PPP compliant to get your loan forgiven. See info below for details.
Last week, we mentioned the
HEROS Act, a bill designed to get additional aids to state and local governments. The bill will also make changes to the federal government's new Pay Check Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses, such as the elimination or change that requires that 75% of PPP monies or loan go towards payroll expenses. It is said that Phase 4 bill will be the last injection to the country for the remainder of the year. We are hoping this bill will be approved by the Senate at the end of May or beginning of June.
We continue to encourage you to shop local first. Call your local florist, restaurant or shop at your local retailer before you head out to nationwide retailers. By shopping local your money helps your neighbor, friend or family with keeping their business doors open. Visit
Whittier Uptown Association
business directory at
www.whittieruptown.org/directory/
or the
Whittier Chamber
directory for local resources and services.
The Whittier Uptown Association (the Association) goals is to share information not just to the businesses in our community but to residents and subscribers of our newsletter. Other great resources for the latest information and updates on COVID-19 are websites for the
City of Whittier
,
Los Angeles County and
California State agencies. The City of Whittier provides continual updates at
www.cityofwhittier.org.
In the meantime, if you have important information you would like for us to share to the community on social media (FB & IG) send it to me at
olivia@whittieruptown.org or text (310) 403-3688. You can also reach Frank Medina, President at (562) 328-6981 or
franktps7@gmail.com.
Stay safe and remain healthy. #WhittierStrong
Olivia E Rios
Operations Director
