City Council Discusses Retail-Needs Study
The Port Angeles City Council might conduct a retail analysis of Port Angeles and a 15-mile radius outside the city. The study would hopefully find out:
Why more residents don't shop locally;
How current businesses can expand; and
What types of businesses are most likely to succeed in Port Angeles.
Why more residents don't shop locally;
How current businesses can expand; and
What types of businesses are most likely to succeed in Port Angeles.
posted by Tom Harper at 6:09 PM
13 Comments:
Why don’t more shoppers buy locally?
Why do they think many don't? There is only so much money to go around here you know, I think that most of us do shop locally, it's just that there isn't a lot of money here to go around.
I do shop in Sequim some but that's within a 15 mile radius. But I have to save enough money to justify driving there or it isn't worth it.
Do all these leaders spend all their money here? I'll bet you that they don't, and they don't vacation here either.
What types of businesses are most likely to succeed in Port Angeles.
A casino and a whorehouse, there's plenty of places to eat but the women here are damn hard to get along with and a man needs some fun and frolic.
What BBC said. I spend money here, but I don't have a whole lot to spend.
Also, there's not a whole lot I want to buy here. Crap for tourists is great for tourists, but there's a lot of stuff this town doesn't have. Men's clothes for example. Swain's has work clothes, but not much business or casual. BBC pointed out hookers. Does Necessities and Temptations stock those? Do the pawn shops? No and hopefully not. You have to travel to Seattle to find a good hooker, or order one off Amazon.com.
Billy sez:
"There is only so much money to go around here you know,"
This is true.
I'll ask a different question, concerning this.
Was it only a year or so ago that the city and the Port gave the **PUBLIC Development Authority** known as "HarborWorks" over a million dollars to do "due diligence" studies. Don't we remember the Mayor (Yes, that same Dan Di we were commenting upon in another thread here) being quoted in the PDN, saying how he thought the millions spent on HarborWorks was all great, because we would have the valuable results of those studies for future use?? Studies that were specifically about the economic potential of Port Angeles?
So, now we are to believe more money is needed to be spent on more outside consultants??
To tell us what we already know?
To rewrite what we've already paid for?
And, where did this proposal come from? "staff".
Again, Dan Di provides us the REAL kind of leadership Port Angfeles needs in these difficult economic times.
What we actually need from our Civic Leaders on this subject is NO ACTION AT ALL… Everything these well-meaning boobs have ever touched has turned into 24 karat poo in nothing flat. The city should be worrying about sidewalks, sewers, schools, cops, fire trucks, etc. You know, INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUES, and leave local retail concerns to local retailers. NOT ONE MORE DIME FOR DOWNTOWN, NOT ONE MORE PENNY FOR RETAIL!!! Let their cheesy shop close, who is going to miss ‘em? Let the economic evolution of the place advance, unimpeded. We might just be able to live with the result.
You have to travel to Seattle to find a good hooker,
Victoria is swarming with them and it's a pretty town just a pleasant ferry ride away. Just look up Escort Services in the yellow pages or stroll the streets in the evening.
Never met a hooker I didn't like, but I haven't met all of them. And no foolish games with them, this is the worst area I've ever lived in to find a mate, but they just don't get it.
I know lots of good men that don't bother with the available women here and just enjoy their own interesting lives and interests.
"Where are the good men?"
"Avoiding you."
On a side note, I've heard that there's a few hookers that ply the downtown bars, but I can't confirm that cuz I don't do the bars downtown.
I've said it before, I'll say it again: mixed economy. A future built on retail, which mostly provides a very few part-time, minimum wage jobs, is not the whole answer. Putting all our eggs in the logging industry didn't work out for us during the '90s.
A mixed economy will create a variety of payscales and give us flexibility in weathering market changes.
I do agree with WTF though: there's really only so much our local government can do... or should do. They can provide a good atmosphere for businesses and citizens: infrastructure, affordable utilities, schools, parks are visible results (fixing the potholes would be more attractive to incoming and local businesses than endless volumes of studies, and no one wants to move to an area were the workforce can't wait to leave after high school). They can also cut red tape and fees for businesses and remove these seemingly competing branches (EDC and Incubator come to mind). Right now it seems like all they're doing is pouring out money on study after study with no results. That's a waste and a sign of weakness.
PA has a chicken or the egg problem here. It can't really convince businesses to get here without fixing the town, and it can't fix the town without a drastic change in attitude and a steady tax base.
Like it or not, Penply and the other mill jobs are a good thing. It gets money flowing back into Port Angeles. Whether we put that money to work creating a sustainable future based on mixed economy or not is... well, that's a good question isn't it?
This proposed study is an absolute waste of time and money - much like every study the city council and other "think tank" groups have done before.
Who is behind this proposed study and who on the city council is voting for it? This is an election year and some people on the city council need to be held accountable for their actions come November!
This is an election year and some people on the city council need to be held accountable for their actions come November!
You can change the leaders but I wouldn't expect that to produce any change or improvements. There is a mental illness in the political community going right up to the top levels of our government.
But they dress nice. :-)
Affordable recreation and entertainment, if there is any such thing anymore.
About all I can afford is camping and a little boating, good thing I love doing those things.
Walmart will have two super stores on this peninsula. Do they really need consultants to realize that shoppers are pretty much limited to what Walmart says we should have to buy. To have selection, people have to leave the area.
At one time, there were several retail businesses that wanted to open here - until Walmart took over the area. Also - how many small retailers are willing to take the risk of competing with Walmart.
Remember when NOAA was considering PA? Wow - we have all these shopping opportunities for your employees - Walmart and Walmart.
The PA City Council really should have been able to figure this out for themselves. In fact they should forseen this years ago.
As was predicted, the price of gasoline keeps rising. At $4 a gallon, and it is the first week of April.
Who wants to bet against it hitting $5 by summer?
I'm sure it won't have ANY impacts on Port Angeles. We need to support the business community leadership as it focuses on tourism. Yes, now is the time to spend tax money on advertising, promoting Port Angeles.
Yes, hire an out of town consultant. No better time.
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