Downtown Highland Park businesses forced to close for a week while law enforcement authorities investigated the Fourth of July parade shooting — where a gunman killed seven people and wounded dozens more — are just starting to calculate the economic and human impact of the event.
Shops, offices and restaurants located beyond the four-square-block police perimeter were impacted too as people dealt with the trauma of the massacre’s aftermath.
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“The tail on the effect of this tragedy will be a very long one,” U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, said after a news conference Monday, where federal and local officials talked about available business relief.
Schneider, Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering and officials from the U.S. Small Business Administration discussed relief available to businesses and other organizations impacted by the shooting Monday at the temporary SBA Business Recovery Center in downtown Highland Park.
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The SBA is offering loans of up to $2 million to help businesses and not for profit organizations recover from the impact of the shooting. Geri Sanchez Aglipay, the regional SBA administrator for the area, said impacted business in Lake, Cook, McHenry and Kenosha counties are eligible.
Rotering talked about the recently approved $500,000 grant program for businesses forced to close between July 4 and 10 because they were located within the investigation’s perimeter. Bearing the brunt of the damage inflicted by the gunman, those companies were singled out.
“Some of their employees were shot at. They’re dealing with the physical damage and the emotional trauma,” Rotering said. “The trauma was felt by thousands who were at the parade and need help. They need to be served.”
[ Highland Park parade shooting: What we know about the victims, suspect, community and aftermath ]
Highland Park grant applicants must apply by Aug. 19, according to a news release from the city. Awards will be determined on a first-come, first-served basis, and calculated on historical revenue records. Restaurants can apply for up to 75% of losses, and other businesses as much as 50%. They must agree to pay the wages of employees scheduled to work then.
Liliana Tschanet, a public affairs specialist with the SBA, said she is walking around downtown Highland Park meeting with businesses in the area to learn their needs and let them know about the agency’s loan programs.
The SBA Business Recovery Center is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays in the lobby of the First Bank of Highland Park at 1835 First St. Aglipay said representatives are there to help people with the application process and answer questions.
Though the resource center closes permanently on Aug. 11, Aglipay said the deadline to apply for a loan is April 25 of next year. One of the reasons for the nine-month window is that some of the costs may not be known for a while, as the “long tail” Schneider described grows.
“People are still dealing with when to come back to downtown Highland Park,” Schneider said. “Thousands of people were affected by this. People will have to come to terms with it, and the economic impact is unknown.”
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Businesses and not for profit organizations can apply for a loan for as much as $2 million with a term as long as 30 years, according SBA documentation. The interest rate is 2.935% for businesses, and 1.875% for not for profit operations.
Aglipay said if a business applies for a loan for a certain amount and later learns its losses were greater, they can seek more as long as SBA procedures are followed. The resources of some community service organizations, such as those who offer counseling, were severely taxed.
“They had an exponential increase in demand,” Aglipay said. “They had to bring in more people, and they are still doing it. This was a massive tragedy in Highland Park.”
