San Diego salon owners and stylists hold 'Stand up for Funding' rally

SAN DIEGO — More than 100 hair stylists and salon owners hit the streets of Little Italy Monday to send a message to local and state government: "We need help."

"Our industry is being slowly destroyed. We need funding," said Rebecca Hyde Edwards, owner of the Hyde Edwards Salon in Little Italy.

She said trying to keep her business alive during the pandemic has been a struggle.  Her rent is about $16,000 a month.

"The fact that you shut us down again, fine, that's okay but you have to support us and you have to offer us some sort of funding for us to survive," she said.

Her staff tried to help her.

"My team has done a GoFundMe for me," she said. "That's a really humbling thing, really humbling. It shouldn't be coming from them. It should be coming from the governor or the mayor."

Wearing white in solidarity, they marched in the heat, down Kettner Blvd. to the County Administration Building. They held signs and called on city and state leaders to help them out.

Last week, hundreds rallied on the steps of the state capitol in Sacramento.

"I think our industry is more than a simple haircut. I think [in] our industry we touch souls," said Henry Monreal. 

He and his wife own Salon Ink in Hillcrest. He said though the state has allowed them to move operations outdoors, they've chosen not to.

"Clients expect an experience when they come to our salons," he said. "It's not a haircut on a sidewalk next to a dumpster."

"If the governor isn't going to fund us or open us, he's kind of tying our hands. Where do we stand? Are just supposed to disintegrate?" he said.

News 8 reached out to Governor Newsom's office and Mayor Faulconer's office for comment. As of Monday evening, News 8 has not received a response back from the governor's office. 

The mayor's press secretary, Rebecca Rybczyk, sent this response:

Through the Small Business Relief Fund and an additional $700,000 directed for businesses in underserved communities, Mayor Faulconer acted swiftly to make resources available for these businesses. To date, more than 1,000 businesses have received aid. Mayor Faulconer continues to advocate for state and federal funding to continue the local relief efforts.

Just as important as relief funding is fighting for safe ways that San Diegans can get back to work, which is why Mayor Faulconer has lead the charge with creative and innovative solutions to help businesses stay a float by operating outdoors where public health officials have recommended it is safer with greater space for physical distancing.

The Mayor sent a letter to the Governor on Friday asking for clarity and a process to provide the region and its businesses with guidance as to what the next steps are after we successfully fall off the state’s watch list. The lack of a clear process based on logical, data-driven rules only serves to exacerbate an increasingly difficult economic situation.

Meanwhile, Hyde Edwards said she knows of at least 31 salons that have shut down permanently, and she fears the same could happen to hers.

"Incredibly worried, incredibly worried," she said. "I've been here for 14 years."