Good deeds in face of coronavirus disaster ease burdens

In 2006, a kitchen fire gutted the Gathering Bar and Grill, a popular Mission Hills eatery. Its owner, Dan Thomas, did something unexpected and very generous. He paid the salaries of his kitchen and service staff while repairs were made. Restoration took more than a year.

Once again, Thomas is reaching out to help during a crisis, even though he sold his business in 2014. John Ealy and his sister, Jill, bought the business, leased the property and re-named the eatery Harley Gray.

When San Diego restaurant dining was banned on Tuesday due to coronavirus concerns, Thomas reached out to the Ealys and offered them free rent for the month of April.

"I hope this spurs others to do as much as they can to help businesses survive these tough times," Thomas says. "Having been (almost literally) in John's shoes, I decided that not worrying about April rent would help."

"It was amazing, really considerate of him," says John. He and his family own three restaurants in the Santa Cruz area and one in Hawaii. He operated the Boathouse on Shelter Island until it closed last June.

In recent years, Thomas has remained a loyal Harley Gray customer, stopping in about twice a month.

On Tuesday morning, Ealy met with his cooks and managers, and they decided to offer a limited takeout menu from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday through Sunday. This will keep most of his salaried employees working part time while other service and support staff can seek unemployment benefits until the COVID-19-related measures are lifted.

The neighborhood gathering place, never has had much call for food to go. "We're playing it by ear," says Ealy. "Hopefully this takeout service will be successful." If so, he will expand to more days.

Thomas says if the dining out ban lasts more than a month it could become unbearable for small businesses. "Only a few restaurants would be able to hang in there." He agreed to talk about his free rent gesture in the hope "that someone else might find a way to help their tenants."

Someone else has: Fred Schnaubelt, a San Diego city councilman from 1977-'81 and ex-radio talk host, owns a small rental complex with six units in North Park. He is notifying all his tenants that their April rent will be cut in half. No strings are attached to the two weeks of free rent beyond a request for on-time payment.

What's more, he is circulating the idea to about 1,000 other landlords and real estate investors on his email list as well as posting it on Facebook.

"Most landlords aren't in a position to do this," admits Schnaubelt, a retired commercial real estate broker. He and his son, Chris, own their apartment building outright whereas most landlords operate on a very small profit margin, often only 3 to 5 percent, Schnaubelt estimates, after they pay lenders, taxes, utilities, maintenance and other operational costs.

"We are facing an unprecedented crisis in the country and each of us may be required to share the pain," he reasons. "Each person has to try to set an example and not expect to be thanked. You just do what you can do."

Singing the blues: The cancellation of public meetings is a mixed blessing for San Diego Councilman Chris Cate. He'll be able to spend much more time at home with his wife, Maria, and their newborn son, Mason James (MJ). He came into this coronavirus-obsessed world on March 11.

Cate reports that Mom is recovering well, and MadiRose is very excited to have a little brother.

Where is he now? I wondered where the coronavirus outbreak caught Robert DeLaurentis, a pilot on a South Pole-to-North Pole excursion with numerous educational stops in his modified high-performance airplane.

Last Saturday he posted online from the Barcelona region of Spain: "Safe and sound living with the monks and continuing the search for inner peace in the Spanish mountains for the foreseeable future as I self-contain and wait out the virus."

But three hours later came a follow-up bulletin: "I got kicked out today along with the other residents due to the virus... but I've ended up at a nice place on the ocean."

Social distancing: Or is it anti-social distancing? The line at the Costco on Morena Boulevard late Tuesday morning snaked from the entrance around the corner of the building to the tire center.

A Costco worker held up a sign asking shoppers to stay six feet away from one another while another employee enforced the request reminding shoppers in line to keep their distance.

Despite appearances, the queue was orderly and moved much faster that it would seem because a large group of shoppers was admitted periodically. My outdoor wait was only 17 minutes.

By the door was a helpful list of popular items that were in stock: Bounty paper towels, facial tissues, etc. and another list of items that were not: toilet paper, hand sanitizer, dog food, and much more.

A cashier told me that toilet paper and facial tissues were limited to one bundle per customer, and the check-out scanners were programmed to reject multiple purchases of in-demand items so more customers could be served.

The good news in this turbulent time? Regular gas at Costco was selling for only $2.859 on Wednesday, and premium had dropped to $3.059 per gallon. That's worth the wait. Now, if there were only some place to go....

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