about my most favorite mono-rant........
my position that a City has done either nothing to help
small business, or has done everything it can to eliminate
small business.......
While
Monocle magazine isn't an expert on cities...building & running them...
but they do know what it takes to make a World Class City livable...and how it got there, & from them comes
this article (available by subscription or in the back issue)
concerning a terrible failure of
city governments to
nurture and appreciate the role of small business in the beloved urban environment.Most cities get an F- for the ugly cavalier attitude it takes when
Gentrifying An Established Neighborhood ....
it is never done to improve the lives of those who are already living and doing business there.....THE HELM...may have an opinion on downtown...
Most small business people agree their City was absent and therefore negligent and quite sinister, in the lack of help for any small business to carry on...and this small business too...
Here, it was
the work crew, the women, specifically, that gave a shit during the worst of the rains, and the rains that created RIVERS OF MUD, (that flooded Broadway and invaded the basements of several businesses...It was them that nailed indoor/outdoor carpeting pads in front of our front doors to help cut down on filth and to lend a welcoming ...something to the brave and few customers that wanted to shop in downtown Tacoma....
The work crew have been wonderful.
But when I go, and I will go, because, as neat as my landlord has been, as soon as the papers are signed on the Elks remodel deal (if they are), my rent will skyrocket. The FREE entertainment, the FREE place for young musicians to play, the FREE art space, the cheap and swell Lifestyle Accessories emporium, known as Rampart will die.....The recent remodeling of Times Square was done with the positive and uplifting involvement of New York City government going out of their way to help the small and medium and large businesses weather the near-fatal upheaval of their business and their lives, in the case of small family businesses.
The Condo Builders, and the Russell-suckers are getting ALL the benefits of the renewal efforts. Down here, ALL the
small businesses can just go belly-up 0r tits-up and leave.
Then, the landlords and empty-lot slumlords can make BIG bucks by raising the rents, and building even more condos to stay empty.The condo builders make their money AS THEY BUILD...not by selling the condos...By the time the For Sale signs go up, the money has left town and Tacoma is left with very expensive abandoned deserted buildings, right in the urban core.
The condo-selling is almost the Afterthought...in this government scheme to
transfer taxpayer money to the wealthy instead of uplifting all classes, and specifically the working class and the middle class in Tacoma.
I give you the Luzon Bldg. as a prime example of corporate bullshit and sleight-of-hand.
In 5 to 10 years the north end of downtown may start to move up again...more folks moving downtown...and the businesses that move in to service the people will be
corporate chains.(Trader Joe's, McMenamin's, Whole Foods....then...Olive Garden, Outback, Chevy's...Applebees...)
Really, Russell gets taxpayer money to stay in Tacoma....I don't think Russell needs a flippin' dime of taxpayer money ...
But I do. And so do my neighbors. We're small, and we'd like to stay and grow.
But we are being held back.I've made my mind up to leave Tacoma and take my small business with me to a community that values Originality, Art & Heart....
unless a Miracle happens...and a Miracle did happen on the way to the Last Portland Dead show... (yes, we found a ticket to get into the Portland show !!)
so, I suppose ....lightning could strike again....and illuminate a Pot Of Gold...in the same way Tacoma made
Mr. & Mrs. Mason rich...I don't need millions...or a street named Tressie...
but I'd sure like it if Government would get out of my face.
