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8.A. - Page 30 of 42 Redwood California City KW ECONOMIC UPDATE Preface ATTACHMENT B March 2020 was the beginning of an extraordinary time in our nation. Our country, and the rest of the world, was confronted with a highly contagious coronavirus that causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID- 19). The pandemic triggered a collapse of the global economy along with a public health care system crisis from which no state in our nation has been immune. On March 17, counties throughout the Bay Area issued the first in a series of shelter -in-place orders that quarantined residents and closed businesses to in-person commerce and activity, including the City Hall of Redwood City. In the intervening eleven months, aspects of the economy have recovered, but unemployment remains high and businesses that do not require employees to be onsite have maintained work -from -home orders. The economic consequences of the pandemic have correlated to a decrease in City revenue sources while community needs for essential services and new assistance have increased. For example, transient occupancy tax revenue plummeted, while the City stood up new programs to provide rental assistance, food distribution, COVID-19 testing and vaccination distribution. Subsequent challenges in 2020 included social unrest following the deaths of African Americans Breonna Taylor on March 13 in Louisville, and George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis, at the hands of their respective police departments. Resulting nationwide protests elevated the Black Lives Matter movement to a national reckoning with racial injustice across America. Redwood City, like many local governments across America, began examining policing practices and the importance of equity in policies and services. Concurrently, unprecedented partisanship fomented months -long anxiety surrounding a Presidential election with historic voter turnout despite the logistical challenges of the pandemic. At the same time, Redwood City held its first district -based election and welcomed three new councilmembers. Heated controversy over the Presidential election results ultimately culminated in an historic riot of insurrectionists at the nation's Capitol in the first week of 2021. In addition, the environmental impacts of climate change brought an unprecedented number of wildfires in the summer and autumn of 2020 throughout the western United States, including California, more than doubling the millions of U.S. acres burned compared to the previous year. Redwood City's firefighters were deployed to multiple strike teams in San Mateo County and throughout the Bay Area, which was blanketed with air quality rated the worst in the world. The sun was blotted out by smoke for days at a time and emergency power shut -offs repeatedly restricted residential and commercial activity. The nation and, more specifically, Redwood City continue to navigate the lasting consequences of the pandemic and multiple concurrent crises of 2020; as a result, there remain financial, social, and environmental uncertainties that make an economic recovery difficult to predict. 561