Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday, April 14 that 56,000 people signed up on the first day to receive a prepaid debit card aimed at tiding them over financial hardships spurred by the coronavirus outbreak.
Soon after the three-day sign-up opened at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the city’s applications web-page crashed. Garcetti said the phone servers had to be stopped for about an hour to add on more lines, including a private phone bank line on top of the city’s 3-1-1 system.
The no-fee debit cards, known as the Angeleno card, contain the amounts of $700, $1,100 or $1,500 for certain residents who qualify.
“Don’t worry if you’ve not gotten through because there are two more days still,” Garcetti said during his daily briefing Tuesday.
The sign-ups will continue on Wednesday and Thursday, from the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. People can sign-up at the website hcidla.lacity.org or call (213) 252-3040.
Garcetti said he had always expected more people to sign-up than there were cards available. They will be given out at random, so it does not matter when someone signs up, he said.
There are also continued efforts to raise money for the campaign, which had set a goal of bringing in $10 million, he said, and the overwhelming response should spur “pillars of the community” to give to the Mayor’s Fund, an independent private fund that will be paying for the cards.
“For folks that are listening out there, continue to give, because when you see and feel that sort of response, just how much people are suffering, but how much we can help,” he said.
Garcetti said he and his wife donated, and he has tapped his parents and friends as well.
Tens of thousands of applications also poured from more than 100 locations outside of the city Los Angeles. Those applications did not qualify, because the card is for L.A residents. The mayor speculated that the reason may be that the campaign got national attention. Nevertheless he said he would be open to the campaign serving as a model for other counties and cities.
The Angeleno card is reserved for people whose incomes fall below the federal poverty line before to the Safer at Home orders went into place, or if they’ve fallen into “deeper hardship” from reduced work hours or income being cut by at least 50%.
City Attorney Mike Feuer also provided a report at the briefing Tuesday, saying the he is pursuing more cases against non-essential businesses that have stayed open, in violation of Safer at Home restrictions.
Feuer’s office filed four cases last week, and on Tuesday he said he has since begun prosecuting 10 more such non-compliant businesses, and they include a print shop, a massage spa, a beauty supply store and a smoke shop.
“There can be no exceptions,” he said. “The quicker that compliance is complete the sooner all Angelenos get back to work and observe our day to day routine.”
As of Tuesday, 79 cases accusing non-essential businesses of violating orders to close during the novel coronavirus emergency were referred to the City Attorney’s Office, the mayor said.
Enforcement is also taking place at construction sites, where rules were put in place to ensure physical distancing and other safety measures were taken to prevent the spread of the virus.
Garcetti said that 61 sites were found to be out of compliance and were issued “corrections” letters, after city officials visted 12,000 sites. None of the sites have been ordered to shut down, he said.
City News Service contributed to this report
