Business owners, activists call for financial relief from Atlanta leaders amid water crisis

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – A group of small business owners and community activists are demanding financial relief from city leaders amid a water crisis in Atlanta.

The group presented their plan to establish the Atlanta Small Business Water Crisis Relief Fund in front of the Atlanta City Council on Monday.

Devin Barrington-Ward, with the Black Futurists Group, said the proposed emergency ordinance would consist of an initial budget of $5 million to help businesses with little or no water after recent water main breaks disrupted service for thousands of people.

“Every time you speak to them, they’re saying the same thing, I lost tens of thousands of dollars in revenue,” Barrington-Ward said about those impacted business owners. “That’s unacceptable because that’s going to impact people’s bottom line, their ability to make payroll, rent and the other overhead costs associated with operating a business in the City of Atlanta, due to no fault of their own.”

The relief fund would provide up to $10,000 per small business and up to $25,000 per medium-sized business, according to Barrington-Ward.

Trinket Lewis is the co-founder of the MoreLyfe Juice Co. in southwest Atlanta. She said her smoothie bar’s water pressure was impacted and affected operations.

”Over the last three days, our sales have decreased between 58-63%,” Lewis said. “Which means I’ve had to call everyone off and go out to the store looking for ice because obviously, we can’t make smoothies with no ice.”

In a Monday press conference, the group said ideally, this money would come from city budget allocations, state and federal emergency relief funds and private donations and grants.

Copyright 2024 WANF. All rights reserved.