That’s nice.
asserted
That → ’ → ?
It’s also far too late for those of us still suffering the nightmare that caused in our lives.
asserted
that → ’ → lives
I opened my cycling gym, Spin 360, in 1998, on Arrow Highway in Glendora.
asserted
I → open → Glendora
People came because they wanted something different, and they stayed because it became a community — faith, sweat, and the same faces week after week.
asserted
it → come → week
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asserted
Sign → sign → California
That community is what the state of California tore apart.
asserted
state → tear → California
When we were finally allowed back, it was not a reopening.
asserted
it → allow → ?
Customers who had been loyal for years were told to be afraid of one another.
asserted
who → tell → one
Many never came back.
asserted
Many → come → ?
I lost 87% of my members.
asserted
I → lose → members
Then came the loan.
asserted
loan → come → ?
It was supposed to be a lifeline.
asserted
It → suppose → ?
It has become a leash.
asserted
It → become → ?
The US Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan was calculated off my 2018 and 2019 tax returns — the years the business was healthy, before anyone had heard of a pandemic.
asserted
anyone → calculate → pandemic
The money arrived at the end of 2021 into 2022.
asserted
money → arrive → 2022
By then I was not running the 2019 business.
asserted
I → run → business
I was starting over — worse than starting over — because the customers who used to fill the room still carried the fear the state had spent a year and a half teaching them.
asserted
state → start → them
Payments came due on a schedule built for a gym that no longer existed.
asserted
that → come → gym
Six months of reduced payments, then you snap back to the original amount as if nothing happened.
asserted
nothing → reduce → amount
After that, the message is grim and simple: die, or close the doors and file bankruptcy.
asserted
message → die → bankruptcy
A year ago an SBA agent called me.
asserted
agent → call → me
She said she gets millions of letters and hate coming to work because they all say the same thing: The loan was sized to a business that the lockdowns destroyed, and the business never came all the way back.
asserted
business → say → that
Friends and family in my world lost restaurants.
asserted
Friends → lose → restaurants
Neighborhood gyms went dark.
asserted
gyms → go → ?
The storefronts did not reopen with a new owner and a fresh start.
asserted
storefronts → reopen → owner
They just went away.
asserted
They → go → ?
Starting over in 1998 was hard, but it was possible.
asserted
it → start → 1998
The room filled because people were curious and not afraid.
asserted
people → fill → ?
Starting over now means competing with that lingering COVID fear, with higher costs, with a payment calculated on peak years, and with a state that mandated the damage and then walked away from the repair.
asserted
that → start → repair
This is not the same as a business that simply failed.
asserted
that → fail → business
This is a business the government ordered closed, restricted, and frightened, then handed a loan based on the last good years and a repayment clock that assumes those years never ended.
asserted
years → order → years
It feels like 2008 all over again — credit extended against a reality that no longer existed, then surprise that people cannot pay.
asserted
people → feel → reality
California did this to small businesses.
asserted
California → do → businesses
Then a federal loan product that treated 2018 and 2019 as if they were still on the books.
asserted
they → treat → books
I still teach.
asserted
I → teach → ?
I still make good-faith payments I can actually afford.
asserted
I → make → payments
I have written thousands of letters because the alternative I was offered is to disappear.
asserted
I → write → letters
If the state can close you for 58 weeks, it should not get to pretend the bill is the same as if it never did.
asserted
it → close → weeks
Governor, I sure hope so.
asserted
I → hope → ?
The Aporia
