San Diego County

Local Leaders Want Reduced Requirements for Next Phase of Business Reopenings

County Supervisor Jim Desmond is not the only local leader looking for fewer restrictions for businesses

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San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond says the Governor's “no deaths for 14 days” requirement for the next phase of reopening is impossible for San Diego County.

“He’s put such a roadblock in place,” says Desmond.

Because of that, he believes the county should take matters into its own hands like in Riverside County. There, the Sheriff refuses to enforce Governor Gavin Newson's order.

“Since the Governor has made it unattainable to get to the next step, I’m in favor of starting to open some of those businesses now I guess defying the Governor’s order," he told NBC 7 San Diego on Sunday.

County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar also said the epidemiological standards are unattainable in a county the size of San Diego.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, in a letter also signed by County Supervisor Greg Cox, asked Newsom to ease some of the requirements counties have to meet before businesses like salons, nail shops and offices can reopen with precautions.

All this while an Oceanside city councilman has called on businesses labeled nonessential to reopen in defiance of the public health orders which he claimed trampled upon their constitutional rights.

Councilman Christopher Rodriguez penned a letter calling on businesses labeled nonessential to reopen against the health order.

Christopher Rodriguez, representing Oceanside City Council's District 2, posted a letter claiming the state of California and San Diego County "have been without a plan from the beginning."

"At the expense of millions of jobs and hundreds of thousands of businesses that will never recover, Governor Newsom has chosen a political pathway lacking of science, common sense and constitutional precedent," he wrote.

Rodriguez said he was convinced the constitutional rights of Oceanside residents and businesses have been infringed upon by the current public health orders that allow only certain businesses to remain open with precautions.

"If your business has been labeled 'non-essential' and you share in my convictions, then I encourage you to open immediately," he wrote. "I further call on like-minded Oceanside residents to safely patronize and support these businesses."

Oceanside Mayor Peter Weiss wrote a letter in response separating Rodriguez's personal views from the city's official position.

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