To the Office of Mayor Holt:

In light of recent events, we are asking you to fast track rules to open up the GO Bond Economic Development Funds to small businesses in Oklahoma City. This could free up more than 5.5 million to help local businesses. 

We can absolutely appreciate the need for precautionary measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community. We recognize that without these measures, the economic fallout for our city could be far worse than without them. However, with the recent closure or partial closure of retail and service industry businesses, we believe there is no better way to help small local businesses that are already short on cash or heavily leveraged in debt due to recently opening. Some of these new and established small businesses may not be in the best position to collateralize something for another loan. They may also not be able to wait 6 to 8 weeks for a federal loan to come through. With the global pandemic, we aren’t sure how long it will take for the SBA to get loans out nationwide. Our state is behind the curve on opening it up to small businesses. As of this writing (03/20/2020) Oklahoma County is still not on the list of approved disaster counties on the SBA website.

We are urging you to change the GO Bond Economic Development Fund policies to allow small local businesses to remain viable during this tough time. It is not hyperbole to say many businesses may not be able to sustain 2 weeks let alone 2 months without help from any form of government that can afford to help. The employees and small businesses at the heart of this community are relying on your support and advocacy.

We appreciate a timely response,