As a result of this from earlier about music venues, I sat down and used Resistbot to send the following letter to Rep. Earl Blumenaur, Sen. Merkley, and Sen. Wyden, as well as to The Oregonian.
The recent rise of the Independent Venue Coalition of Oregon, a group of small and independent music venues in the state whose existence is under threat due to the pandemic economy, is a trenchant reminder that “small business” must be considered, collectively, as a kind of quasi-industry which should be considered as “too big to fail” as we rush to consider, for example, the airline, automotive, or banking industries. It’s not enough to bail out large corporations, or, worse, allow large corporations to partake of relief and emergency funds intended for small businesses. We must rescue and protect our independent businesses, the ones which do so much of the work to make our neighborhoods, our towns, our cities — our lives — all the more worth it.