GULF SHORES, Ala., — At Mondays City Council work session, Councilman Jason Dyken reported on the success of a trip he and Mayor Robert Craft took last week to Washington, D.C.

The purpose of the trip, according to Dyken, was to meet with Federal leaders to discuss some of the difficulties, and possible solutions, area businesses have had with banks as a result of the oil spill.

It was a fun-filled three days,” he said. “Filled with a lot of meetings.”

Dyken said they were able to meet with many of our area’s elected officials, including Alabama Sens. Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, and Reps. Jo Bonner, Richard Aderholt and Spencer Bachus among others.

“I don’t know if any of them know exactly what to do,” Dyken said. “They were glad to hear from some of us on the front lines.”

The trip resulted in Craft making an appearance Thursday in a Congressional hearing in front of the House Banking Committee.

“We seemed to get a little traction in telling people that no matter what you read, things are not going well down here,” Craft said.

Dyken said their mission was threefold. First, despite what may be on the air and written on a daily basis, he said BP is not paying enough on claims and is not paying them fast enough. Second, banking regulations are slowing down modifications to existing loans. Third, he said businesses do not need more debt, they need relief from debt.

“We believe this is a recipe for disaster,” Craft said. “They don’t want the banks to fail, but they won’t let the banks restructure the loans without new appraisals that will come in lower than the current loan amounts.”

Dyken and Craft said their trip came at a time when both houses of Congress were getting ready to leave for the summer.

“Legislatively, both the House and Senate won’t be in session again until September,” Dyken said. “But we think we did a good job of telling our story. I think our representatives appreciated the fact we were telling our stories from the front line.”

Craft said the time off for legislators couldn’t come at a worse time for area businesses. He said inaction on the part of legislators will only result in one thing – “the inevitable failure of doing nothing.”