Mayor Garcetti, Metro Board To Deliver First $65K To Businesses Impacted By Rail Expansion
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Small businesses impacted by the expanding Metro Rail system will receive more than $65,000 Monday as part of a pilot program to provide financial relief for losses incurred during construction.
Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chair Eric Garcetti will be joined by Metro Board members Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker to deliver the first checks from the Business Interruption Fund at the Metro Construction Area, located in the 6000 block of Wilshire Boulevard, at 10 a.m.
The program was created by the Metro Board last year to provide financial assistance to "mom and pop" businesses located along the Crenshaw/LAX line, the Little Tokyo area of the Regional Connector and segment one of the Purple Line subway extension.
The Metro Board has designated up to $10 million annually for the fund.
MTA spokespersons Jose Ubaldo and Marc Littman called it an "unprecedented program for public construction projects in the United States" in a press release.
According to Metro, qualifying businesses, which include "those with at least two years of continuous operating history, 25 or fewer total employees" in good standing with taxing and licensing authorities and "those able to produce relevant financial records demonstrating a loss of business revenue directly related to the period of construction disruption," can be awarded up to $50,000 annually.
Additional information is available online via Metro and Pacific Coast Regional Small Business Development Corporation, which the agency states is administering the funds.
