East Valley Business - 10.11.20

east valley

Volume 3 Issue 13 Mesa, AZ

October 11, 2020

New vegan bakery coming to Mesa

BY KENZEL WILLIAMS Tribune Contributor

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IN THE BIZ

onny and Jocelyn DeCarlo spent a lot of time searching for the best vegan doughnuts in the Valley before they eventually decided to take matters into their own hands.

They’re making them themselves.

They hope to open SoJo’s Donuts on the southwest corner of Alma School and Guadalupe roads in Mesa later this month.

Using the first two letters of their first names for the bakery’s name, the couple will sell vegan specialty doughnuts and pastries as well as cakes and a breakfast sandwich with veggie bacon or veggie ham that can be topped onto a donut for an extra buck.

Setting up shop in Mesa was a no brainer. Sonny has long felt a need for more vegan options in Mesa. He found this out while working at Green, a vegan restaurant in Tempe.

“Anytime people would walk in, they would say ‘We need something like this in Mesa,’” said Sonny. “That’s all you would hear.”

Before the two met, Jocelyn trained at the French Pastry School in Chicago, Illinois. When she finished, she moved back to the Valley to be closer to her family and got a job as a bartender at the Palo Verde Lounge.

There, she met Sonny, who became a regular.

Five years after their first encounPublic Notices ............... page 3 © Copyright, 2020 East Valley Tribune

ter, they’re getting ready to open SoJo’s Donuts in what was once the home of other bakeries in a strip mall anchored by a Safeway supermarket.

“We couldn’t pass up the opportunity,” said Jocelyn DeCarlo. “The place was fully built out.”

SoJo’s Donuts will have the classic doughnuts one would expect at a regular bakery, but they’ll also be experimenting with new recipes.

Jocelyn suggests that customers try their maple bacon, which includes rice paper bacon that will be made in-house.

They will also have a prickly-pear doughnut shaped like a cactus and a flaming hot “Peetos” doughnut – a vegan version of Cheetos.

“It’s fun to try different things, especially now that we have the shop,” said Sonny. “We can just do what we want.”

The couple will also provide sugar-free and gluten-free options on their menu.

While the main goal of this business is to sell doughnuts, the DeCarlos are also looking to showcase local art around their space.

“We have so many friends that do great art,” said Sonny DeCarlo. “It would be nice to bring that in such an open environment.”

They hope to do an art exchange when they open. Customers will be able to take (USPS 004-616) is published weekly

Mailing Address: 1620 W. Fountainhead Pkwy., Suite 219, Tempe, AZ 85282

(480) 898-6500 Steven Strickbine, publisher Paul Maryniak, executive editor

art pieces from the wall, but in return, they will have to put one of their own pieces.

They are not when they will start doing this because they’re cautious about the COVID pandemic. They’re also skipping a grand opening to avoid spreading the virus.

“Once things get kind of back to normal, we’ll do a second grand opening,” said Jocelyn DeCarlo.

SoJo’s will brew coffee from Alchemy Roasters, which is also based in Mesa.

The DeCarlos hope to keep their resources as local as they can.

With the bakery, Sonny and Jocelyn hope to spread happiness – and doughnuts – to as many people as possible throughout Mesa and the Valley.

“Spread vegan everywhere,” said Sonny DeCarlo. “We don’t need to just keep it in Tempe and Phoenix.”

Information: sojosdonuts.com Subscriptions are $26 for 2 years, $14 for one year.

Periodicals postage paid at Phoenix, AZ 85026.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: East Valley Tribune, 1620 W. Fountainhead Pkwy., Suite 291, Tempe, AZ 85282

EV cities host conference on pandemic recovery

BY ALEXIS GARIBAY Tribune Contributor

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mall businesses in the East Valley are gaining more access to support and resources as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be an economic drain but local government needs to pay more attention to businesses in under-served communities.

That was the message in a two-day conference hosted by Mesa, Queen Creek and Gilbert, which received a grant from the National League of Cities’ First-Tier Suburbs Council to hold the virtual Small Business Economic Resiliency Conference.

The conference focused on identifying new strategies and practices for supporting small businesses, developing resiliency and promoting equity and inclusion in small-business recovery.

Theory Into Practice Strategies, an economic development consulting firm, said there was a reason the three East Valley communities was selected to host the event.

“They demonstrated a clear track record of collaboration as well as the topic they wanted to focus in on was small business and economic resiliency,” said Jeff Marcell, TIP Strategies senior partner.

TIP Strategies wanted to show smallbusiness owners the resources that are becoming available to ensure their success as they navigate the challenges created by the pandemic.

GoDaddy, a service that helps businesses build their online platform, explained its Venture Forward program, which monitor the impact of entrepreneurs and their ventures on the economy.

“We measure these ventures through two different lenses. The first one is how many of them are there per 100 people in a ZIP code, county or city region, and the second is how active are the ventures across a number of metrics,” said Jeremy Hartman, vice president of Venture Forward.

Empower is another GoDaddy program that provides entrepreneurs in underserved communi-

ties with as training, tools and networking.

“We are very intentional that we are serving a specific need in helping those whose needs aren’t being met by current resources,” said Stacy Cline, Empower’s director corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

In Arizona, roughly 550,000 small businesses with fewer than 500 employees each are responsible for providing 44.5 percent of all private sector jobs, according to the Arizona Commerce Authority.

“Something else we thought was very interesting was that 27 percent of the $21 billion that Arizona exports is from your small businesses,” said Jenn Todd-Goynes, a consultant for TIP Strategies.

These establishments provide the necessary building blocks to a stable economy, she said, and in the pandemic, they need help more than ever.

Black- and Latinx-owned businesses received less support, according to ToddGoynes.

“Currently we’ve been looking a lot at racial equity, entrepreneurship and at the number of Black- owned businesses that are closing right now because of a lack in access to capital,” said Jenn Steinfeld, director of entrepreneurship and economic development.

Assistance programs need to start “transitioning from focusing your economic program and your support, relief and recovery tools from being open to all busi-

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nesses to specifically targeting under-resourced business owners and population,” said Todd-Goynes.

The second day of the conference centered around businesses within Mesa, Queen Creek and Gilbert that have firsthand experience of the impact of COVID-19.

Adam Small, founder of Urbix Resources in Mesa, explained the changes that were made in his business in order to break through the barriers of the pandemic.

“Knowing that we’re going to hit a certain revenue goal 12 to 18 months from now, now that’s pushed back 6 to 12 months; that affects our ability to pay payroll,” said Small. His company manufacturers graphite, graphene and energy storage products.

Small said the City of Mesa helped Urbiz find a suitable location and that it has showed continuous support throughout the process.

“Having Mesa there to kind of hold our hand and not necessarily judge us or be skeptical of our ability to run a business, but understand that we are very good at what we do. We’re not good at this stuff, which is help us get our building up and running,” said Small.

The city is continuously scouting for innovative ideas that will further help the small business community when the pandemic subsides.

OCTOBER 11, 2020

High court denies eviction ban appeal HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services

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he state’s high court won’t overturn the order by Gov. Doug Ducey blocking residential evictions.

In a brief order last week, the justices spurned a request by the Arizona Multihousing Association to determine if the governor could legally stop landlords from ousting tenants who have not been paying their rent because of COVID-19.

The ruling does not resolve the legal claims by the landlord group about the scope of the governor’s emergency powers.

That would take a full-blown trial, something that could take weeks, if not months. In fact, that’s exactly what the order signed by Chief Justice Robert Brutinel suggested.

But it does mean that Ducey’s order, originally issued in March, will remain undisturbed through at least the end of October when it is scheduled to expire – assuming the governor does not extend it as he did in July.

Courtney Gilstrap LeVinus, president of the landlord group, pronounced herself “shocked and disappointed’’ that the high court won’t hear the case.

She said the ruling will have consequences not only for those who own rental properties but for the whole economy.

“We can fully expect to see a rental home foreclosure avalanche in the months to come, or certainly in the beginning of 2021,” LeVinus said.

The only relief, she said, could come from $100 million that is supposed to be used for

Public Notice City of Mesa Public Notice Public Online Auction The City of Mesa is conducting a Public On-line Auction to identify the highest bidder for City-owned parcels located at the Northwest corner of Adobe and Recker Roads in Maricopa County, Arizona.

Auction Date: October 20, 2020 Auction Registration: October 5, 2020 to October 19, 2020 Bidding Start Time: 11:00 a.m.

Auction Location: Online at: https://mesa.easibuy.com/ advertisements/1056

eviction relief. But LeVinus said only about $18 million has actually been distributed since the pandemic began.

There was no immediate comment from the governor on either the order or whether he intends to let it expire as scheduled at the end of the month.

But even if the justices had taken up the case and overruled the governor, it would have had no immediate effect. Last month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its own anti-eviction order which runs through the end of the year.

The landlords claim the governor lacks the constitutional authority to tell constables around the state not to process eviction orders, even those issued legally by judges.

They also contend that the gubernatorial directive is violating both the property rights of landowners as well as their right to enter into contracts.

In seeking review, the landlords acknowledged that the governor can exercise certain powers in a public health emergency but said unilaterally barring landlords from enforcing the terms of lawful lease agreements created “an indefinite economic welfare and redistribution program, rather than a public health measure to contain the COVID-19 contagion.’’

The way the landlords figure it, by the time the order expires – assuming it is not renewed – it will have been 221 days that tenants have not had to pay rent.

Economist Elliott Pollack, in a study done for the Arizona Multihousing Association, figures that if just 1 percent of the more than 919,000 Arizona households who rent did

Auctioneer: EasiBuy PROPERTY DESCRIPTION: MARICOPA COUNTY ASSESSOR PARCEL NUMBER: 141-78-820 containing approximately +/- 2.1 acres CURRENT ZONING: Residential RS-7 GENERAL PLAN: Neighborhood Buyer will be responsible for obtaining approval, through the City’s ordinary and customary processes, to obtain Minor General Plan Amendment (if necessary), rezoning and a site plan approval.

The minimum bid is $435,000.00. Appraisal reports

EAST VALLEY BUSINESS

not make payments over a seven-month period that means a loss of more than $67.7 million.

Take that rent-withholding figure to 15 percent, he said, and the foregone revenues top $1 billion.

Pollack said there also is a ripple effect as landlords cannot pay their employees, contractors and suppliers.

But the issue before the court dealt only with the legal questions.

Ducey said there is a direct link between his order and public health.

“The fight against evictions is key in slowing the spread of the virus,’’ wrote Brett Johnson, the private attorney retained by the governor to defend him in all the litigation over the COVID-19 restrictions he has imposed.

“The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that homeless shelters are often crowded, making social distancing difficult, and that homeless can exacerbate and amplify the spread of COVID-19.’’

In a hearing earlier this year on a separate challenge to the governor’s order, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury the evidence “demonstrates reality that Arizona leaders and the general population perceived COVID-19 to be an emergent problem and a virus to which swift and urgent attention was required.’’

The lawyers in that case are seeking review by the state Court of Appeals. But they also asked the Supreme Court to bypass that step and consider the case now, something the justices refused to do.

for the parcels are posted at www. mesaaz.gov/landauction. After the first bid, bidding increments shall be a minimum of $2,500 thereafter.

Bidding will be conducted online only. More information, including the public online auction notice, bidding requirements, terms of sale and the Purchase and Sale Agreement and Escrow Instructions are available online at www.mesaaz.gov/landauction All questions regarding this public auction shall be directed to Kim Fallbeck at kim.fallbeck@ mesaaz.gov .

All due diligence investigations must be completed by prospective

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bidders prior to the auction. The City of Mesa may cancel this auction in whole or in part at any time prior to the acceptance of a final bid. The City Council may accept the highest bidder for cash, re-serving the right to reject all bids. For additional information please go to www. mesaaz.gov/landauction.

Published: East Valley Tribune, Oct. 4, 11, 2020 / 33532

OCTOBER 11, 2020

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