Supporting One Another – A Word from Our President

By J. Daniel Geddis, President, Mission Hills Business Improvement District and REALTOR, Team D&B at One Mission Realty

My gratitude goes out to our neighborhood of hardworking health care professionals, medical personnel, first responders, and essential services providers who are unselfishly continuing to put themselves at risk taking care of the sick and providing for the healthy. At the time of this writing, I am sitting at home, practicing social distancing, and adhering to the Governor’s Stay-at-Home order. 

These are unusual and worrying times, for individuals and for businesses. I am heartened by the offers the BID has received and helped implement including meal delivery by John Ealy, owner of Harley Gray, to Scripps Mercy hospital’s emergency room nurses and support staff.

During these times it is important for our community to come together and support one another. I have found reaching out to family, friends, and neighbors to ask how they are doing has helped them and me. Reaching out by phone, text, email, or social media are convenient and smart modalities. There are many online tools that facilitate virtual group meetings and connections, even while being physically separated. This week, my office held our regularly scheduled bi-weekly meeting virtually online. It was great to see colleagues’ smiling faces!

Now is also a time to exemplify what “shopping local” means by supporting our neighborhood’s essential services providers, including restaurants, grocery stores, pet supply stores, gas stations, banks, private mail station, and pharmacy. Even with important “stay at home” edicts, many have been classified as essential services and are allowed to remain open for take-out, delivery and pick-up. Please join me in supporting our businesses in Mission Hills offering take-out and curbside pick-up services.  

We at the Mission Hills BID, in our role as a pro small business non-profit, are hard at work responding to inquiries about the interpretation of government mandates and financial support and creating digital content to support and inform our businesses and their patrons. We have also joined with the Uptown Community Parking District to communicate with businesses offering “Curbside Pick-Up” and we have delivered and installed meter signage to promote this opportunity.  Working with Parking District staff the BID arranged an interview with Chef Luciano Cibelli at The Red Door in which he shared with Channel 8 News why he “is keeping the lights on.”  To view the segment, please go here. If your business can use a curbside pick-up sign, please DM the Mission Hills BID on Instagram @missionhillssd.

The BID is also endeavoring to offer current information on local businesses open to serve with more personalized offers, by re-posting content from their original posts.  Our Instagram and Facebook stories share how Mission Hills businesses have pivoted to respond to personal shopping, home delivery, mail orders and curbside pick-up requests.  Others are offering online product sales, value-added gift cards for future services and online exercise and art class tutorials.  All are growing more entrepreneurial as limited face-to-face access between business owners and patrons continues.  Believing these times will pass, you may wish to help your favorite Mission Hills businesses survive by  purchasing a few gift certificates for future use.

The Alcohol Beverage Control board of California is allowing restaurants to sell closed containers of alcoholic beverages as take-out items, with a food order. The styrofoam ban has been temporarily suspended for take-out food. Pet supply stores have been deemed essential and are open to provide our four-legged friends with nutrition and grooming, though self-serve washing is currently not allowed.

For the many of us staying safe by working from home, please remember most Mission Hills restaurants have adjusted their menus and are offering take-out meals.  Though going out to shop, wine, dine, exercise, and spa is limited to impossible during these times, we are all trying to bring a virtual Mission Hills to you.The BID website is a good source for nearly all our neighborhood has to offer as well as a compilation of the latest federal, state, and local mandates and resources and links to access these resources.

The scale of this fight continues to evolve.  Things are changing quickly relative to mandated closures, group gatherings, and essential services, so check MissionHillsBID.com and our social media accounts for current information. 

Let’s continue to innovate and connect virtually, in true twenty first century style, and remember how important it is to support one another as we remain hopeful this time will pass and our vibrant neighborhood of businesses will return. Until then, please keep in touch and maybe we’ll see each other at a virtual happy hour!