LOS ANGELES, CA — A new video featuring restaurant and small business owners from Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley is taking direct aim at Governor Gavin Newsom, demanding he take action to help struggling businesses. Angela Marsden, the owner of Pineapple Hill Saloon & Grill who went viral last year in a tearful video highlighting the discrepancy between her own restaurant and film productions, circulated the open letter to Newsom on Friday.
In the video, small business owners detail the sacrifices they’ve made to open their business, and the lingering effects of multiple closures. Additionally, they accuse the governor of being “disconnected,” citing his highly-publicized dinner at the French Laundry against health orders.
“Do something,” said Guido Murga, owner of One Headlight Restaurant Supply. “You’re killing our city. Our state, our communities. You’re literally killing me.”
While demanding immediate solutions from the governor, Pineapple Hill Saloon & Grill also boosted the petition to recall Gavin Newsom, which continues to inch toward the necessary number needed to hold a special election. The petition must reach a total of 1,495,709 signatures — 12% of the votes cast in the last election — by March 17.
Nearly 1.1 million signatures had been submitted as of February 5, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office. RecallGavin2020, organizers of the petition, said on February 17 that 1,689,000 signatures had been submitted, nearing its own goal of reaching 2 million signatures by March 10.
“It’s not fair for them to arbitrarily close us and keep us closed this long, without any evidence,” Camila Perry, owner of The Oaks Tavern, said.
Newsom cited the dire lack of ICU beds as a reason for reinstating regional stay-at-home orders in December, when ICU capacity dropped to zero percent.
Last year, a judge shot down Los Angeles County’s mandated dining closures by calling them “arbitrary.” However, a California appeals justice in February said he didn’t believe the county was required to show data linking coronavirus transmission to restaurant dining.
“It doesn’t strike me as requiring some leap of logic to conclude that this raises a significant risk of transmitting this fatal disease … and I don’t see this as a case where the county was indifferent to the consequences, which … are severe,” Justice Nora Manella said during a hearing according to the Los Angeles Times.
Since 1913, only one out of 53 attempts to recall a California Governor have succeeded according to CalMatters. That time, governor Gray Davis was recalled and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Read More: ‘You’re Killing Our City’: L.A. Restaurant Owners Slam Newsom