A former San Jose city councilman currently running for Santa Clara County supervisor has created a petition this week lobbying California Gov. Gavin Newsom to reopen businesses permanently in the state.
Dan Phan (pictured at right), co-owner of three bar businesses in the city (including MINIBOSS arcade bar), is fully on board. He told the San Jose Spotlight that he spent about $4,000 on a contactless POS system and took other Covid-friendly measures back in October when the county allowed 25% capacity indoor dining.
However, they were shut down again. “You spend a lot of money, but you’re not allowed to make any,” he said. “We’ve been through this crazy rollercoaster for 12 months, up and down. It’s really tough.”
The former councilman, Johnny Khamis, said, “If you look across the United States … states that took less draconian measures and kept their businesses open didn’t suffer any more than we did per capita as far as the rates of infection and decline. Shutdowns didn’t work for business or to keep Covid rates down. I understand the county and state want to do what’s best for the community, but now that we have the experience and statistics, we should do things differently.”