Dear Friend — we need your help NOW. Senate Bill 189, which would gut more than $50 million from our city's CARES Act allotment, has passed our state legislature and is sitting on our governor's desk.
The recovery of New Orleans is at a serious crossroads right now. Congress passed the CARES Act because they knew local governments needed the resources to fully-fund basic essential services like fire and police protection and trash pickup. Without these services, businesses can't function at their full potential, which will lead to less visitors coming to New Orleans at a time when we must rely on tourism to get our economy back on track.
Sen. Bodi White, the bill's author, and the legislative leadership want to take the money promised to local government and give it to big businesses instead — even though Louisiana businesses have already qualified for $7.2 billion from the Paycheck Protection Program and $167 million in Small Business Administration loans.
New Orleans can't afford to let our governor sign SB 189 into law — because strengthening the building blocks of our city's economy is what we need most as we begin to recover from the devastating impact of COVID-19. It's what we need for protecting our community, for getting our families back to work, and for our economy to survive.
This is not about business vs. local government. Businesses don't operate on an island — they need local community services to thrive again. We have to work together to get our economy back to work and built to last.
