The Bellingham Herald- Sen. Murray Hears First-Hand About Loan and Credit Problems Faced by Bellingham Businesses

News Article

By Zoe Fraley

Several Bellingham small-business owners met with U.S. Sen. Patty Murray on Friday, Oct. 22, to talk about the trouble they're having with loans and lines of credit.

After spending the previous day campaigning with President Barack Obama in Seattle, Murray met with the owners of such businesses as Brenthaven, Daylight Properties, and Moka Joe at Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro.

The meeting was small and informal, with business owners talking about how they've been surviving the recession and Murray talking about legislation that could help them.

Business owners asked about expanding tax credits available to cover employees' health insurance, and many said they had been affected by the closure of small local banks they had been doing business with.

"I was really surprised this was being set up," said Shelly Martin, owner of Zazen Salon Spa, who was contacted by Ken Oplinger of the Bellingham-Whatcom Chamber of Commerce & Industry to get involved.

"It's one thing to read blurbs in the paper and it's another to get to hear the person talk," she said. "It's just like any relationship - it's easier to get your point across when you're talking in person."

For many of the business owners, what has been hardest is getting and keeping stable lines of credit and loans from banks, especially as banks close and change ownership.

"The last two years have been unpredictable," said Village Books co-owner Chuck Robinson.

Murray said she hoped that a recently passed small-business lending bill would make it easier for businesses to get loans they need to maintain or expand their business. She also talked about Wall Street reform legislation to help prevent the kind of collapse that impacted so many businesses in the first place.

"This re-affirms that we are doing the right thing," Murray said of hearing the business owners' stories, "and we've got to keep going."

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