Digging Out: Every major U.S. city helping small businesses except Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — In Digging Out, our ongoing look at the pandemic recovery, FOX 17 News discovers nearly every other major city in America is helping its small business community survive the pandemic except Nashville.

Plus, the very industry suffering the most is the one our identity is built on. For Geoffrey Reid, owner of The Local, the numbers are staggering.

“We've suffered loses over $100,000 to $150,000," Reid said. "It's week to week."

Reid opened The Local in Midtown to promote up-and-coming singer songwriters. Someone's started a Go Fund Me for him after his PPP loan ran out.

He says he’s gotten nothing from Nashville, not even a returned message.

“I've sent multiple messages to the mayor via his site," Reid said. "I've not had anybody reach out to me in this city, not anything. It's ridiculous.”

Kennedy Smith is with the Institute for Local Self Reliance, a nationwide cheerleader for America's small business community.

“That certainly is not what I'm seeing in virtually every other community in the country,” Smith said.

I asked, “Were you surprised when we told you there's not a lot happening with Nashville (as it relates to programs and help for small businesses?”

“I was stunned. I was stunned," she replied.

Smith just released this report - 26 Things Local Leaders Can Do to Help Small Businesses Weather the Pandemic -- prioritized into three categories.

The very first step is to provide quick relief to keep businesses afloat.

One of the fastest ways Smith says that doesn't cost the government anything is to create a level playing field.

"If you had a downtown small shoe store or toy store, you had to close but you could go to Walmart and buy your toys and shoes," Smith said. "So, there are lots of communities that have passed ordinances saying, while a state of emergency is in effect, those departments at big box stores have to be closed off.”

Cities like Springfield, Missouri, Montgomery County, Maryland and Howard County, Indiana have taken these steps, but not Nashville.

For Reid, the uneven playing field looks like this, “You can go to a gym. You can go to a big box chain. You can even go to a strip club in Nashville right now, but you can't come here and see a songwriter perform and have a meal, have a drink and go home."

Other ways Smith recommends stabilizing the small business community do cost money, but she says Nashville is fully capable.

“Nashville could be leveraging private sector resources to do this," Smith added. "There are plenty of communities where the city has put up $5 million if the local foundation put up $5 million and a couple of corporations put up $5 million, the city could be using its influence and bully pulpit to raise money for small business assistance.”

"Let's take Colleyville, Texas, Middleburg Virginia and Wilsonville, Oregon, for example. These are not big tourist cities like Nashville, yet they've used CARES Act money or leveraged corporate relationships to buy thousands of dollars worth of gift cards to local businesses and sent them to taxpayers to go spend.”

I asked Mayor Cooper about our remaining CARES Act money and whether it will be used to help small businesses stay afloat.

“I hope so," he responded. "We, the council and we together have a very fine committee to make recommendations that I think is actively working hard. What could conceivably be available from Nashville through our little sliver of CARES Act money would be measured in the single or tens of millions of dollars. That’s really a drop in the bucket of what’s available from the state and federal path.”

Reid says, at this point, anything would help.

“So, if you're going to shut that industry down, some of that Cares Act money needs to be spent on that industry," he added.

The other two things local leaders can do is help small businesses pivot, learning new ways to do business and address systemic issues like access to capital and loans.