Hospitality Minnesota making urgent plea

Hospitality Minnesota says the governor's office and lawmakers have used the letter as a template for the relief package and negotiations have been progressing.

The week of christmas.

New for you on daybreak.

Business owners across minnesota are asking governor tim walz and legislators to come to an agreement and pass state financial aid for the hospitality industry.

Madelyne, you're learning they sent him a letter in november about this?/// brooke.

The organization, "hospitality minnesota" sent this three page letter to lawmakers last month making a plea for some financial help during the pandemic.

And along with the letter... dozens of owners also sent in a video.

Here's what a couple of them had to say.

"survived the polio epidemic, survived world war ii, survived 9/11, survived just about everything.

Not sure we're going to survive this one."

"i'm standing in front of my cooler to show you what my cooler looks like and what it's looked like the last six weeks.

With that, our restaurant is dead."

Many of these owners feel having to shut down two different times in one year isn't sustainable.

And studies are proving that to be true... "yelp" reports about 800 small businesses are closing every single day.

For the ones barely hanging on... many of them have seen more than a 90 percent decrease in sales and have let go a majority of their employees.

One owner "it is therapeutic and to be deprived of that does us harm.

It robs us of our worth.

It robs us of our place in our communities.

It opens us up to darkness.

The negative impact of the recent shutdowns in the mental health of my minnesota hospitality family members is spreading faster than the coronavirus that caused it.

"hospitality minnesota" offered some ideas for a possible plan in its letter to the governor.

Things like establishing a 200 million dollar emergency grant fund, sales tax forgiveness and freezing commercial evictions.

Small business owners are asking for a plan thank you madelyne.

"hospitality minnesota" says the governor's office and lawmakers have used this letter as a template for the relief package and negotiations