Funk Factor

[rtgun...@yahoo.com]

The issues here in flagstaff are related to the national economic
trends as a whole.

People like what flagstaff has to offer: mountains, fresh air,
recreation, great local folks etc.

I try to send my business to locally owned businesses. Take the
downtown area. It has many locally owned and unique places to shop.
The downtown area has FLAVOR!

There is pressure from the likes of Wally-World, other national chain
store, big box, homogenized, made-in-china stores that come here
because they see Flag as an opportunity. These conglomerates move in
after the locals have made the place what it is and the rents start to
go up. Local businesses sometimes take up their shingle and close as
those costs rise.

Competition you say? The national chains don't contribute to the
great funkiness of a place; they swoop in after the locals have helped
make a place great and then offer the same experience you can get in
any other overbuilt, smog laden, traffic ridden, strip mall congested,
metro area.

The trends are clear: big business cares nothing about your or my
"experience" living in a place as great a Flag.

Wages? Corporations would have us work for free if we would stand for
it. Fight for higher minimum wage laws. AZ is "right to work" state.
Lets change that. California has more equitable labor laws, but do you
see businesses leaving that state (with an economy that ranks in the
top 10 of all nations on the planet).

What the people of flagstaff should keep in mind is that we all have a
say in what happens to flagstaff.
As hard as it is to fight corporations' billions of dollars to
influence what happens here, citizens can vote, and keep fire to the
feet of our elected "leaders" to do OUR bidding.

Vote with your dollar. Support locals.

"Illegitimus non carborundum!"

RT

[RoadWarri...@gmail.com]

We LOVE Flagstaff's funky downtown...the shops, the restaurants, the
movies! We even love the old hotels on Route 66 (although some of
them could facelift a bit) - at least we don't look like Anytown,
USA! Driving in to Prescott from I-17 is depressing, Young's Farm is
gone, and you have to wade through the strip mall world of Prescott
Valley to reach Prescott's charming downtown. I'm so glad that we have
kept Flagstaff from becoming this!

My family supports local businesses, and find that many are both
apprecaitive and responsive to special requests. But there is also
room for some small, non-local corporations (New Frontiers is
headquartered in California, Hastings is a publicly traded company
with 153 stores nationally, Bookman's and Oreganos are statewide) and
a few...mind you, A FEW, large corporations. While we can easily live
without another Wal-Mart, I appreciate the national prescription
convenience of Walgreens, having a choice between hardware stores, and
would LOVE to have a Trader Joe's here. The key is balance between
"big city" conveniences and local/regional businesses. Flagstaff does
a better job at this balance than many places. But a balanced economy
requires competition - if a company has no competition for their
products, they can set their own prices - just look at airfares to fly
from Flagstaff on our lone commerical airline.

Regarding how Flagstaff adjusts to change and growth, you are so right
- we all have a say in what happens - our city is small enough that
each voice and each vote makes a difference.