As a businessman I know firsthand the stress and hardships of owning your own business. Making a small business successful is hard work in itself, but being forced to deal with multitudes of red-tape from a local bureaucracy can make running a business nearly impossible.
Small businesses are the backbone of our local economy comprising 92% of businesses in the City of San Diego and supporting small businesses is critically important.
More importantly economic experts will tell you that economic recoveries start with the small business sector. They are the first to do the hiring; they are also the first to make the capital purchases and new investments.
This is why for the past 18 months my office has held a series of town hall forums on small business issues, meetings with business owners and trade organization and surveyed several small businesses to discover the challenges faced by small businesses in the City of San Diego.
By speaking with several small business owners and researching policies from other cities and counties several recommendations were developed to help improve the City’s small business atmosphere.
I am pleased to offer ideas to help San Diego’s small businesses succeed in this tough economy by releasing our "Open for Business Report" An Action Plan to make San Diego the Most Friendly City in America for Small Business.
The City of San Diego is behind the times in using the internet to interact with small businesses. The City’s website provides limited information to help business owners decide what city, state and federal regulation or permit they need for their business.
Several cities such as Sacramento and Los Angeles have comprehensive lists of downloadable permits needed online and provides links to important resources to help the small business owner. We should follow these cities lead and finally step into the 21st century.
Developing a website similar to the City of Sacramento will make it easier for small business owners to find the information they need as well as save time and paperwork by applying for permits online.
Small Business Grants are an important tool by creating funding and advocacy efforts for San Diego’s small businesses. Unfortunately grants have been spread too thin which has slowed its ability to have a meaningful impact to small businesses.
I have proposed in our report that the program should be restructured to ensure the efficient distribution of taxpayer dollars. We must also ensure that funded programs should be reoriented to provide funding for specific outcomes and determine specific categories of small business assistance and advocacy the city wishes to promote.
Small Businesses should also have the right to bid on city contracts just as some larger corporations do. Currently this is a difficult process for small business owners to accomplish.
The City of San Diego should require all contracts, regardless of dollar amount to be posted online in an easily searchable format. Currently contracts under $50,000 are not required to go online.
We should also look into streamlining the bidding process by reforming the vendor and application process. An online application process would reduce the need for businesses to provide duplicative information and ease the workload on small businesses and city staff.
Also many small businesses do not qualify to bid for city contracts because of excessive qualifying standards. The City should change requirements that are in excess of private industry standards to provide more inclusiveness for small businesses.
Lastly and most importantly The City of San Diego must not increase taxes and fees. Higher taxes and fees only increase the operating cost of small businesses making it harder to compete with businesses outside city boundaries.
Tax increases such as the half cent sales tax being proposed in City Hall will cause consumers to shop in other cities and discourage prospective small businesses from opening within city borders.
Other reforms in our report include strengthening and expanding business improvement districts (BID)s, restructure the City’s Office of Small Business to make it more efficient and helpful, streamline special event permitting and management to attract more special events and promotions and finally explore the idea of countywide business licenses to streamline the licensing process.
Making the City of San Diego the most small business friendly city in America is a noble goal to pursue. There are several reforms that can be implemented today to get us started towards this goal and some reforms may take a few years to be put in place, but the need has never been greater.
Many San Diegans are in need of jobs to support their families and I urge the Mayor and City Council to give these reforms their full consideration to help encourage small business and job creation.