07.23.07
Victor Valley Cities: Save Yourselves
I am currently working out of state, over 2700 miles from home. On my daily phone call home, the kid says that he wants his best friend to go to an out-of-area college.
“Why?”, I asked.
“Because I don’t want him to get stuck here.”
That is a telling indictment of our local economy. This year’s high school graduates are making each other promise to leave the area and never return. They see what our elected leaders (and most businesses with locations in the area) do not see. Until we find a way to offer a decent living to substantially all of our local residents, this remote area we call home is toxic waste.
I resolve the situation by working mostly out of the area–locations like Reno, NV; Albany, NY; Binghamton, NY; and the unforgettable Pasadena, CA–but it is getting old. I would certainly take a look at an opportunity that put me in one place (such as the Atlanta area) that gave me the ability to truly launch my business because I’m actually going to be around to run things.
The sad thing is, this is not a bad place. It has its positives and its negatives like any other. But our leaders have consistently used taxpayer funds to try to attract large, out-of-area businesses to relocate or expand into the area. These corporations are not full of fools. They realize that they can play one area against another and win tax breaks, payroll subsidies, financing help, and even free land (well, $1 land). Then, these companies often pay their employees so little that it does not really even help the local economic situation.
If our local governments would only support (and not just with their lips) SLOBs, a lot of this could be reversed.
Use Local Governmental Funding
Our local governments spend thousands of dollars per year on brochures, trade show materials, and the annual “High Desert Opportunity” show. The problem is, the targeted companies are getting the same pitches from other areas all around the nation. If it makes financial sense for a large company to come to the area, they will come without a lot of dollar-waving. If it does not make financial sense, they may come anyway, but your cities and residents will have to absorb the difference.
Instead, we need to devote most of that funding to training and establishing small, locally-owned businesses (SLOBs) that already have an incentive to remain in the area. This might entail providing both technical (that is, industry-specific) and business (that is, general to any business) training and advice. It could also involve providing space in an incubator program to get businesses started.
Another way to help is to provide grants and loan guarantees to SLOBs for the formation & establishment or expansion of their businesses.
Leadership
Follow-Through
The most important factor, after the funding mentioned above, is follow-through.
In the early 1990s, I used to work for Carl’s Jr Restaurants. The best (most effective) manager I ever had was there. He came in one night at 1AM, while we were cleaning up the restaurant, then bent down and cleaned out a floor drain. If you don’t know it, a floor drain collects fluids so that they do not pool on the floor. However, a floor drain also collects solids, which must be removed so they do not clog the drain and pipes, and so they do not decay and fill the kitchen with foul odors. Because the solids have been soaking in fluids all day, cleaning floor drains is an unpleasant experience, so most employees avoid it.
When Vince, the manager, cleaned the floor drains himself, none of us could make any excuse. By cleaning the floor drain that one night, he assured that we would keep them clean afterward. A fantastic lesson. I later worked for a competitor where the philosophy was “I’m not paying a manager $20 per hour to sweep the floor.” Not surprisingly, only a very few employees would put much effort into cleaning the place.
If our cities really want to reap the benefits of SLOBs, they need to follow-through. When purchasing, seek small, locally-owned vendors. Ensure that they are selling you locally-produced products and services whenever possible. It does not really help the local economy when you buy software from a local vendor who forwards most of the revenue to an out-of-area company. Neither does it benefit your community when you hire an out-of-area contractor to build your roads if someone in your community can do the work at an acceptable level of quality and within an acceptable time frame.
Relentless Commitment To SLOBs
Just as selling your community to out-of-area businesses takes complete commitment (you just wait until a new sewer bond is about to be passed that will affect them!), so you have to be completely committed to supporting smaller, locally-owned businesses.
One fast food chain, for example, used to put large banners on the side of their buildings to promote the monthly special. The local inspector would come and issue a take-down order and sometimes a fine. One of the largest supermarkets continually had large banners on their building. (In either case, it was a local branch of an out-of-area corporation, so it is difficult to feel sorry for them.) However, it does show a curious problem: big corporations seem to buy laws to suit their desires, which somehow seem to have the most impact on smaller businesses.
If you want to heal our local economy, you’re going to have to stop spreading the city’s butt-cheeks to large corporate interests. If a SLOB cannot have a banner (or paint advertising on their windows), then neither should a big, out-of-area corporation be allowed to have a banner or paint advertising on their windows.
Meeting and talking with your local chambers of commerce is also important, as you are likely to find areas of concern. However, the very smallest and most financially vulnerable businesses are not likely to be members. You have to go out of your way to find them and to involve them in policy discussions both at the mayor-and-council level and at the city enforcement bureaucracy level. And that means modifying some policies that would otherwise appear to have general support, so that they are less harsh on SLOBs.
Summing Up
If we want the Victor Valley area to be attractive to the brightest and most ambitious individuals, we have to stop kowtowing to large out-of-area corporations and instead cater to the home-grown enterprises that will stick with the area through the hardships of life. We need to assist these locally-owned businesses with formation, with finances, and with regulation. We need to buy from these businesses and promote these businesses. We need to encourage these businesses to produce locally, with local labor and materials.
The crudeness was unavoidable. Sometimes it seems like our cities give corporations everything that they want while penalizing the smaller, locally-owned businesses that actually provide most jobs. If this makes you change your behavior, it was a good thing.
