http://www.icsc.org/web/RecessionBooklet104.pdf

Consider Columbus, Mayor Coleman did not support it, Franklin County voters did not support it, yet some out of town billionaires will get to decide where the casino will be located, what it will look like, how it will operate and all of the other details.

Casinos traditionally are bad for surrounding local businesses as they are very self contained. Casino owners know their market and have all of the information at hand to squeeze the most out of their structures. The idea with a casino is to provide everything on site so people will not be tempted to drink, shop, eat, or sleep anywhere else. All of the dynamic and diverse businesses that make a district unique will be replaced by one stop entertainment shop. This is basically like writing into the state constitution that Wal-Mart gets to build three new stores in each of the state’s top retail districts with no oversight. The small business owners always seem to get the shaft.

As Ohioans we think that bigger is always better but small business owners have and always will be the backbone of our economy. According to the Federal Government small businesses employ more people than large businesses, they create more new jobs, they are also more innovative and they create a greater sense of place and community. Yet once again we send our money to those that need it the least.

Consider this study from The Economic Impact of Gaming in Missouri, by Charles Leven and Don Phares, “the consensus of existing national and state-wide research is that legalizing opportunities for casino gambling increases the prevalence of severe problem gamblers by at least 0.45 percent and possibly as high as 1.8 percent. Based on recent empirical studies of problem gambling, each problem casino gambler adds approximately $10,113 in yearly costs to a state’s economy.” So somewhere around 1% of gamblers at the new casinos are going to cost the state more than $10,000 a year. $10,000 a year in taxpayer money.

I am all for capitalism yet we seem to privatize profit and socialize costs. My hope is that these important downtown districts are not torn apart by these stand alone big box entertainment stores, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

A person can tell a lot about their neighborhood by the number of trick or treaters they receive. A good trick or treat destination must have sidewalks, that rules out some subdivisions. The street can’t have too much car traffic obviously for safety reasons. Minimal setbacks are a must, if kids have to walk more than a couple of steps up to each door they are losing precious candy gathering time. Lack of a side yard also makes for a much speedier trip between homes too.(I noticed on another nearby street that had all the right elements, but poor lighting. The street was much quieter and did not seem as welcoming or safe.) Most of the houses on my street have front porches which allows for some great decorating space and a nice place for people to sit and hand out candy.

All of these qualities that make it a great place for trick or treat, make it a great place to live. All of my neighbors know each other look out for one another, the sidewalks and front porches facilitate that sort of relationship. The street is fairly calm when it comes to traffic and we all feel safe with our kids. Detached garages are behind the house so we don’t have to look at a series of blank walls. Most people have their garages full of kids toys and tools so neighbors run into each other more often going from car to house. Our houses sit very close to one another so one can’t help but be a bit involved with the neighbors and their lives.

My neighbors have grown to feel like an extended family and while I attribute much of that to living next to great people, I must also give credit to the people that designed this street for creating an environment that facilitates such a situation. I forget how fortunate I am from time to time to live on such a street, but more than four hundred kids helped to remind me last night what makes it so great.

This year we are implementing a new strategy to ensure the new programs are successful in meeting the rigorous demands of the Main Street Program. Heritage Ohio staff will be visiting each new community three times during the first six months of being in the program.

The first visit will be a strategic planning meeting to develop a list of goals that will lay the proper foundation for future success. It is critical that new programs take on the appropriate projects that are highly visible,  demonstrate success, build momentum and can be accomplished within a year. Many new programs fall into the trap of taking on projects that are too large in scope and end up eroding community support and momentum because of their lengthy completion schedules. At the completion of the meeting, the board of directors of each organization will have a concise list of manageable projects for four committees. This in turn makes volunteer recruitment significantly more manageable. There is greater success in developing a healthy list of potential volunteers when one can consider the types of projects on the slate. For example, someone that loves developing marketing materials may not have any interest in putting on events. Having clear projects will help the board determine who in the community is a good fit for the project, not just the committee. It is also much easier to ask a person to volunteer for a specific project than it is to ask them to sit on a somewhat nebulous committee. Volunteers in the end will have a much more satisfactory experience from having their expectations met .

The following on-site visit will be a committee work planning session. Once the board has gathered the volunteers to fill the committees and assigned them projects from the strategic plan we will work with them to fill out work plans. Work plans are the foundation of a successful organization. Solid work plans ensure the projects get completed. It also leads to greater community support, shorter meetings, better volunteers and ultimately more successful fundraising.

The final visit will be a six month evaluation. This will help us determine if the new community is a good fit for the Ohio Main Street Program and vice versa. We want to gauge if the community is successfully using their strategic plan and committee work plans. We also want to know from the community if the Main Street model is working for them and if not what can be done to readjust for their benefit. Upon completing of the six month evaluation the new communities will move to the schedule of the existing Ohio Main Street communities.

We feel this gives us the best chance to get new communities off to a good start. By avoiding common pitfalls in the early years new communities have so much more potential to have a lasting impact on their community.

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The concept of educating the consumer on the importance of shop local has long been a panacea of the movement, but the question has always been how? How do independent business owners and non-profit organizations compete with the big box marketing budgets to make the case. The facts are there to support the case and people are ready to hear it. Spending more of our money in locally owned businesses would generate higher sales taxes for counties, higher income taxes for cities and some school districts, higher real estate values, more improved historic buildings, greater shopping options, a great quality of life and more money staying in our economy as our spending would go to our neighbors and not out of town. This makes sense to most people, but the challenge is packaging the message so it can be easily conveyed to the masses. My father is a perfect example, he is very patriotic and as a former entrepreneur, values small business.  He would never consider the impact of spending his money locally, it’s not that he doesn’t care, he just doesn’t know.  The big box stores have done such an incredible job of painting themselves as all-American and good for the economy that most people have a hard time considering the downside.

So how do we get the word out? The  3/50 Project message appears to be doing a good job, and it must be catching on, a number of magazines, newspapers and websites have already picked up the story. Social networking tools could prove to make all the difference. Marketing the message through YouTube and Facebook and Twiiter have no real cost, but the ability to reach millions. Maybe 3/50 Project will carry the banner for everyone, the good thing is, it is not a competition. However the message gets out does not matter as long as it gets out. Most likely it will come in multiple forms from various organizations. It is important though that all of us involved in revitalization continue lead through our actions and try to get the message out in our communities. Today the shop independent/shop local message feels like a couple disparate voices in a crowd, but with continued effort in a few years it is going to be a deafening roar from all corners.