The Small Business Recovery Act of 2020 allocates $400 million in funds from the New Mexico State Severance Tax Fund to provide loans to New Mexico businesses and nonprofits that have experienced financial hardship due to the public health order resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is a cornerstone of our state’s response to the economic crisis unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Lu said. Businesses across our state have suffered as a direct result of the public health emergency customers are concerned about safety, employees are worried about their well-being and our economy has been battered. The state’s wealth can be put to no better purpose right now than the assistance of so many dedicated business-owners, whose lives and livelihoods have been upended, who have done everything they can to keep customers and workers and our communities safe. I will continue to deliver everything in my power to New Mexicans who continue to fight this virus and work to stay afloat.
The bipartisan legislation was sponsored by Sens. John Sapien, Jacob Candelaria and Sander Rue and Reps. Marian Matthews and Daymon Ely in June’s special legislative session.
When times are tough, we pull together and invest in ourselves to get through, said Sen. Candelaria. The Small Business Recovery Act loan program directs funds belonging to New Mexicans to help small business across our state weather this economic storm, and hopefully come out stronger on the other end.
It’s an honor to have been a sponsor of the $400 million investment in our hard-working New Mexico small businesses, said Rep. Matthews. With the help of the loans, our small business owners will create jobs and survive the most challenging business environment we’ve ever seen. Our job now is to help them help all of us by buying compra local!
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A proposal before Pittsburgh City Council would designate six greenways as city parks, adding more than 300 acres to the city’s park system.
The measure would move the city closer to its goal of increasing the number of residents who live within a half-mile or roughly a 10-minute walk from a CitiPark.
If approved, new park space would be created in neighborhoods including Allentown, Beechview, Brookline, Glen Hazel, Greenfield, Hazelwood, the Hill District, Mount Washington, Overbrook, Polish Hill and South Side Slopes.
The city would invest in redeveloping and maintaining the existing greenways or areas of permanent, passive open space as parks, said City Planning Director Andrew Dash.
Council President Theresa Kail-Smith said the idea of designating the greenways as public parks came with no public process. While she said she likes the idea of preserving the green spaces as parks, she said she felt there should have been a public hearing and better communication with council members who represent areas where the new parks would be formed.
Councilman Anthony Coghill, who represents a district that encompasses parts of three of the proposed parks, said he’s supportive of the concept but, It did kind of spring up on me.
He’s been working to clean the 110-acre Seldom Seen Greenway in Beechview and said he was hopeful that designating the space as a public park would bring more money to help in those efforts.
It likely will be ready for a final vote next week
If approved, five of the greenways would become independent parks. The sixth would be a major expansion of Moore Park, growing the Brookline park from 12 acres to 52 acres, Dash said.
Eligible businesses and nonprofits may borrow two times their average monthly expenses up to a maximum of $75,000 The measure sets the interest rate at one-half the prime rate on the day the loan is made
Coghill said he’d like to see Beechview’s Seldom Seen Greenway, the extra space adjacent to Moore Park and a greenway in Overbrook dedicated to natural green space. He said he’d like to focus on revamping nature trails and cleaning the payday loans cash advance for bad credit Myrtle Beach SC park space, rather than adding playground equipment or ball fields.