no way Jose......
we've lost about 17 businesses on the block, Antique Row, since last summer. Some due to the toxic Bush/cheney regime, and some due to construction.
I've been on this block,off and on for about 14 years...I think the construction had the most destructive force against small business.
And I think this is really what pleases the city......move out the small potatoes...so the corporate stores and shops can move in...
ColdStone Creamery, TGIFridays, Cheesecake Factory, and every other bland sanitized corporated yekkk you can name ...in Lakewood.
Why? bigger payrolls of minimum wage workers, and tourist-purchases and therefore more taxes for Tacoma....
To do what with? Fix potholes?
That wouldn't be there but for increased traffic from the subsidized wealthy who bought condos and drive their SUV's and Explorers from downtown to Target and Costco.
But what makes a community isn't the bigger business, faceless corporate Xanax'd to death and meaningless.........
It the small business, the micro business....do I need to remind you again, that small businesses make about 80+% of all American Jobs.
Off Shore This Wal-Mart !!
So there are what, 5 "antique" stores left on Antique Row...........
I just heard this comment "Where's Antique Row?" (she was standing in my store just 10 minutes ago)
"We saw more stores in Puyallup".........
"When are they going to be done?"
My answer is "Never".
The object isn't to make a pretty streetscape, tho that is a benefit...
the object isn't to replace aging services, tho that is a benefit...
everything done on this BroadwayLID could have been done over a 3 -5 year timetable with a minimum of disruption....that would have allowed all the small and micro businesses to stay and weather the storm of construction.
(and let me take this moment to tell you that the crews, the mens, the womens, have been Fabulous!!)
But the cost to us has been several hours every week, just cleaning up the muck and dirt.
We'll be cleaning for months to come.
Nobody gives me a deal on cleaning staff! Hey city! Give me a case of paper towels, and some CitraCleaner!
Nobody pays me to vacuum and wash my car once a week, instead of once a month (maybe).
The filth is tracked everywhere.
I have to drive in with merchandise ..I can't bring in 25 jackets and cute dresses, on the bus/hobo train.
I don't work in a cubicle.
What ...the city upped the parking time to 2 hours instead of 1???
bfd.
the city was just doing their job, so why am I supposed to jump up and down like a mindless cheerleader for that?
The most often heard comment is "Those big machines are scary...I'm afraid of them"...
So City...
Where was the special advertising dollars to get folks down here?
Where was the occasional midweek day of rest from the destruction so maybe we could have a weekday without the trauma?
The object of the BroadwayLID was to kill community and rebuild something like Westworld.
And they just about succeeded.
Enjoy the robot serving you a Jack in the Box burger when they locate in my building next fall.
(yes that is a CityArtsMagazine picture...)
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