"Our markets don't necessarily draw"

There's been plenty of bits about impending rate increases and perhaps even tax increases in the local news lately. I'll bet that our locality is not the only one engaging in such discussions at the present time.

Today in this article from the KDMiner.com about how the city is already tightening it's already tight belt, comes the following quote...

"The shopping venues we have in Kingman are more of the mainstream shopping opportunities," (Finance Director Coral) Loyd said. "People are able to meet their basic needs here ... (but) our markets don't necessarily draw, I would guess, a lot of out-of-town shoppers."

I'm not using the quote as an indictment on Ms. Loyd or anyone else at the city. But I do find it odd that the community has an interested party knocking at the door with a plan for a new shopping center, a huge Interstate cutting through the city with more than 5 million vehicles a year on it (not counting semi trucks), and an economy that leaves us talking businesses in jeopardy/people losing jobs/folks leaving town for hopefully greener pastures. We've also seen the city coordinate an effort to remind locals to shop local for their holiday shopping... even if it means heading outside the city limits to other 'out-of-town' locations within the county.

Yeah, no kidding... it is not adding up.

Not for nothing, but next year I hope we see wall to wall coverage of non stop public workshops, public hearings, and ongoing negotiations with any interested party looking to bring improvements to this community's situation.

I'll go out on a limb and say that the majority of the folks that live in Kingman won't rest easy with talk of increasing sales taxes. Surely the talk of bond measures won't put folks in a good mood on a grand scale. Adding a property tax to the mix will be a non starter.

So what is left??

How about beneficial development meets with the path of least resistance for a change?? Help the market by removing unnecessary obstacles that don't seem to be meeting their intended goals. Let others put their money where their mouth is. Some of something would be better than all of nothing.

While we're at it, let's get rid of the 168 acres of land that isn't doing anyone in the community a bit of good other than those that use it for a dump-site. Auction it off and let someone else come up with a vision since together... we have none for this property (where's the talk about the Kingman version of Central Park anyway?? As suspected, that talk was just a convenient political ruse) .

The 'nice' weather is just not enough of an attractant to bring people here. We just had a glorious fall season weather wise and I bet more people left town than located in Kingman. The money supply shrinks for many reasons, but none bigger than a net loss of people with a buck or two. And as Ms. Loyd correctly pointed out... this ain't no shopping destination. Kingman must find a way to bring money here given the situation we have voted ourselves into over the years.

But I digress...

I didn't vote for the man (The One)... but the words 'hope' and 'change' still resonate with me at this time I guess. Thanks for reading.