Columbia businesses are paying the price for the city’s poor leadership on COVID-19
True leadership is inspiring, builds consensus and motivates people to follow a path that leads to desired results.
We are not getting that leadership from Columbia’s elected officials today.
Instead we’re getting arbitrary curfews, mandatory mask rules and a fear-based approach that creates a divisive and negative environment for families and businesses.
Should we expect better? Absolutely.
Define priorities
First, we need to define the realistic results we want. Since COVID-19 is not going away, our real aim should be to reduce or eliminate death from the virus while doing as little economic damage along the way as possible.
The immediate priority is to isolate those most at risk; the city has yet to identify those people or even articulate a plan to protect them. This group, which is predominately elderly, needs to be educated that masks are not enough protection whether they are mandatory or not — and as much as everyone likes company they have to protect themselves from the ones they love.
After protecting those most at risk we should have an honest discussion about how to coexist with COVID-19 and even letting it run its course. Surges in positive tests among the young may just be the next phase as long as we are not seeing a corresponding rise in deaths.
Driven by fear
Second, our mayor and City Council must change from an exclusively fear-based approach to a positive one that at the least protects our small businesses and restaurants. When the mandatory mask position was announced it was sold on fear — if you don’t wear a mask you will receive a fine — not that it would make Columbia the safest place to work, shop and eat in South Carolina.
How many more hits can our downtown businesses take? First came the mandatory shut down of Columbia businesses, then riots and now this fear-based mask requirement might just be the third strike. Columbia is quickly making itself nonessential.
Reeks of politics
Third, City Council’s recent actions reek of politics and in some cases, selfishness.
It’s tough to claim something is an urgent health issue when you make an emergency rule on a Tuesday that’s not effective until a Friday. And it’s even tougher to say it’s not political when churches are exempted from the order.
Good leadership builds consensus around solutions, yet the ordinance was passed before a response could be received from the one local government that was contacted.
Mayor Steve Benjamin blames projections of lost city revenue on changing business patterns outside his control, but he fails to see that City Council’s actions have forced changes in where money is being spent.
It’s a fact that substantial revenue Columbia used to enjoy in nightlife and on weekends is being pushed to Forest Acres, Irmo, West Columbia and Cayce — and even worse, to the internet — by curfews and mandatory ordinances.
Leadership needed
Once these new spending patterns are established, changing back is difficult and slow. Columbia’s population already has dropped three years in a row and suburban growth is surging. Will these actions continue to drive people out of the city?
While the experts cannot seem to agree on what the best course of action is to stop the virus, the one thing they all do agree on is that small businesses and minorities are being hurt the most.
We need positive leadership from City Council and the mayor, not negativity and fear. We need the mayor to lead us out of the basement, not back into it.
Joe Taylor is a Columbia native who served as South Carolina’s commerce secretary from 2005 to 2011.
Peter Brown is a Columbia native who served as chairman of the SC Jobs-Economic Development Authority from 2005 to 2013. He is currently the president of Colite, a global full-service sign manufacturer based in Columbia.
This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 10:36 AM.