The lessee of a local restaurant on Erie Street hopes the potential small buisness relief from Windsor city council will help out.
Rayan Mykal, of Bacchus Ristorante says the potential relief could be beneficial.
"I think it would help out a little bit more than what the government is doing currently," says Mykal. "At least they can defer payments for a little while, as a dine-in restaurant we're not huge on the take-out scene, so at least it will give restaurants a little leeway and give more opportunity to help the restaurant scene make a little more money."
As AM800 news reported over the weekend, city council is considering a number of ways to help small businesses' impacted by the latest COVID-19 restrictions and closures including waiving fees for outdoor patios, increasing parking limits and deferring the collection of business licence fees and property taxes.
Mykal says restaurants will continue to struggle as long as they are closed.
He adds increased parking limits won't help too much.
"What would be enough is actually opening because what's the point of having parking if nobody can come in the restaurant," he says. "If they're going to be offering take-out that's great but no one is staying for long, when people do take-out their in and out within 5 minutes."
Mykal says relief from the province is not enough for the business.
"My expenses alone are more than $10,000 a month easily," says Mykal. "You have your electricity bill, your food bill, I still need to get paid, people that work for us have to get paid, and everything's has to be paid, so $10,000 a month really isn't enough for a restaurant like ours."
Council will discuss potential relief for businesses at their regular meeting Monday at 1pm.