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E.Central MN | Most small towns are having a hard time keeping their old downtown stores in business. The shopping malls on the edge of town with big parking lots hurt the old main street businesses. And often the towns will impose extra taxes on those downtown businesses as well making it even harder for them to compete. Our town tries to have events in the downtown area to try and draw people in, but its tough. Nobody wants their tax dollars going to incentives for anyone else, just human nature. I think one thing that would help is to encourage coffee shops/cafes/restaurants to open in those areas. But they're competing with fast food chains near the malls, too. My barber rents a space in the downtown, he points out that he is assessed for various downtown improvements, but it hasn't changed his customer numbers at all so its just another tax he is forced to pay. | |
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City ordinance question
