Sausalito has long faced a delicate balancing act, seeking to meet the needs of both its residents and the businesses that generate the revenue on which the city depends.

Residents often gripe about tourists flocking to their world-famous bayfront town, while some merchants have often complained about the hardships — red tape and rules — they face in doing business in Sausalito.

The City Council is trying to bridge that gap, taking steps to help the local business climate.

In particular, they are trying to cut red tape and streamline City Hall’s permit process. Their initiative appears to be working.

At a recent council meeting, one downtown business owner praised the city for its recent transition from a “kludgy” process for getting needed permits to one that’s more fluid.

The change is an initiative started with the city’s creation of its Economic Development Advisory Committee, a panel of Sausalito residents, including some local business-savvy members, that the city formed in response to businesses and tax revenue lost during the pandemic.

The committee and the creation of an economic development division in the city’s planning department has made steady progress courting and assisting new businesses to local opportunities.

What they’ve shown entrepreneurs has been more of a fresh red carpet than a mountain of red tape.

In recent months, more than a dozen new stores and restaurants have opened their doors in town, turning vacant storefronts into new business opportunities.

It is a promising start and a terrific response in the wake of the pandemic which pushed many businesses over the financial brink. It was especially challenging for Sausalito, where the pandemic and social-distancing practices severely limited the tourist traffic that means so much to local merchants’ livelihoods.

The committee hosted roundtable meetings beginning with landlords, tenants, retailers, restaurateurs and artists together — as well as conducting a survey of local residents — to come up with strategies for a rebound.

The goal was to lower the bureaucratic hurdles. They came up with 200 suggestions on ways to cut red tape.

Vacancies don’t help anyone — residents, neighboring businesses or the city’s revenue.

Downtown business owners have taken steps, as well, forming a business improvement district that has brought hanging flower pots and better lighting for the walkway near the ferry.

The district even has representation from the city, a step that should help improve communication between the business community and City Hall.

Striking a balance is not easy. But the pandemic and the vacancies it created helped foster greater community awareness about the need to support a strong and resilient local economy.

City Hall has taken action in a constructive start to make it less arduous and costly in terms of time and money to get improvements through the city’s permitting process.

Success will be reflected in helping local stores and restaurants thrive and in improving business owners’ attitudes about city processes.

“Kludgy” is a term that should be good reason for council members to look for ways to improve the way the city is doing the public business, both for residents and businesses.

In Sausalito, a constructive response is making headway.