Not many people can say they took on a powerful city mayor and won—but Larry can. Larry owned a successful vending business outside Atlanta’s Turner Field for years, creating jobs, selling inexpensive food and souvenirs to Braves fans and keeping an eye out for people who needed help. But in 2009, Atlanta forced Larry and other vendors out of business when it decided to hand over all public-property vending to a single company. Larry could have stayed—if he had been willing to pay almost $20,000 a year to rent the same space he had been vending from for years. Instead of packing up, Larry took his fight to court with IJ’s help. He never lost his spirit during the years-long legal battle against an increasingly hostile mayor—not even when the mayor threw him and all vendors out of work. Larry ultimately prevailed when Atlanta allowed him and his fellow Turner Field vendors to come back to work. To this day, you can find Larry outside Turner Field, interacting with Braves’ fans as they head into the stadium.
