Agenda - 06-03-2008-5b5e - Laserfiche WebLink

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6 II. Benefits of Investing in Local Enterprise Networks The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) website a sums up the reasons for going local as: 1. Local businesses tend to offer more stable employment and to bring in more taz revenues than they cost. They account for the largest share of net new jobs generated, each year and their employment tends to be much more stable than multi-national or chain stores. 2. Money spent locally. tends to stay in the community. More money spent locally brings a "multiplier effect" that creates more local jobs and prosperity. 3. Local businesses tend to have lower environmental impact. Small businesses tend to have less impact on local ecosystems because they are more often located in central business districts. 4. Local business owners are more apt to contribute to the general well-being of the local community. Unlike the absentee shareholder-owners of giant corporations, local businesses know and care about the consequences their actions have on the local community. When local business networks are strong, residents of a community tend to get the products and services that they want in a geographically convenient area. 5. Local businesses maintain uniqueness, which attracts tourists and creative, committed citizenry. In The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida (2002) also notes that today's creative workers want to settle in places that preserve their distinctive character and provide a "sense of being someplace." Conversely, as Florida says, today's "sad bodge-podge of cookie-cutter housing tracts, cluttered commercial strips and decaying downtowns" attract neither tourists nor creative workers. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ISLRS) lists the following reasons for going lacal in its paper "Ten Reasons Why Vermont's Homegrown Economy Matters": 1. Local Character and Prosperity. In an increasingly homogenized world, communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character have an economic advantage. 2. Community Well-Being. Locally owned businesses build strong communities by sustaining vibrant town centers, linking neighbors in a web of economic and social relationships, and contributing to local causes. 3. Local Decision-Making. Local ownership ensures that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who will feel the impacts . of those decisions. 4. Keeping Dollars in the Local Economy. Compared to chain stores, locally owned businesses recycle a much larger share of their revenue back into the local economy, enriching the whole community. 5. Job and Wages. Locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and,. in some sectors, provide better wages and benefits than chains do.