Coronavirus pain is here, in Modesto and Stanislaus County, and it’s real
When the dust settles from the failure of his company, Modesto business owner Vik Bajwa expects the coronavirus will have cost him a half-million dollars.
“We pray for normalcy, for peace,” Bajwa said, although he expects neither.
What he expects is to lose the property under his recently doomed business, Downtown Banquet Hall, to foreclosure. The trustee sale is scheduled for Monday, although a bankruptcy petition may stall things for a few days.
The special events center at Ninth and J streets, the former location of Skewers restaurant, has hosted dozens of parties and quinceañeras since opening in January 2019. I and other Modesto Bee employees would hear laughter and lively music from the banquet hall after work shifts as we walked to our cars in a parking garage across the alley.
The banquet hall was meant as a source of bridge income until the high-traffic spot could transform into a Starbucks, providing downtowners with another caffeine source and Bajwa with reliable lease income. Bajwa and his developer partner back in August submitted a building application with Modesto City Hall.
The glacial pace of government turned his frustration into exasperation, he said, when coronavirus stay-home rules grounded city staff and further gummed up the permitting process, providing him with no target date by which they might expect a “yes” or a “no.”
Simultaneously, the statewide COVID-19 directive shutting down nonessential businesses drove a nail in the banquet hall’s coffin. Bajwa refunded fees for parties reserved in March and April. His income evaporated, his lender lost patience and he is left with nothing.
Nothing, that is, but the sympathy of friends and Modesto Bee readers, many of whom are suffering themselves — some from sickness, some from similar financial woes, many from anxiety and depression, and countless others from boredom.
By speaking with me, and agreeing to appear in a photo, Bajwa helps The Bee put a face on local impacts of the pandemic. Seeing him, his loss and his sorrow helps to confirm what we expected about local business pain, helps us acknowledge that the calamity we’ve seen coming has indeed arrived.
We can only guess how widespread the economic ruin will be. We know for certain that Bajwa has company.
In the course of the Great Recession a few years ago, 8.7 million people lost jobs. In the past three weeks, nearly 17 million people lost theirs. That’s about 1 in 10 U.S. workers.
More than 200 local companies have either suspended operations or closed their businesses altogether, and as many as 99,000 local jobs are at risk, Stanislaus County leaders say. Some experts believe that 80% of small businesses had cash reserves to stay afloat without income for three weeks. That period has come and gone.
To note that you and I know someone hurting financially from the impacts of coronavirus is to state the obvious. Everyone knows lots of people hurting, if not ruined. Employers and employees alike. And everyone knows it will get lots worse before it gets better.
“It’s heart-wrenching to watch these clients,” Terry Withrow, a Modesto CPA better known for his role as a Stanislaus County supervisor, told me. “You hear the panic in their voices: `Help me. What do I do?’”
Smart business owners have sought help from their accountants and bankers, who can help navigate applications for stimulus relief. Other help is available at these online sources: cabizrelief.org, supportstanislaus.com, and workforceresource.net. Or call 211.
I appreciate what leaders are trying to do when they invoke cliches, reminding us that this too shall pass, or saying we’ll get through this together, or that things could be worse; they’re trying to put on a brave face, trying to be optimistic, trying to reassure us that not all is lost.
But try telling that to Bajwa, and countless others whose lives are turned upside down.
Yes, we must keep going. But it’s OK sometimes to pause and feel compassion for our sisters and brothers, to be sad with them, and to shed a tear.
This story was originally published April 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
