EVENING NEWS LETTERS: July 31, 2010

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July 31, 2010

Anonymous newsroom@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Sat Jul 31, 2010, 01:31 AM EDT

CLARK COUNTY — Let’s look local along canal

It looks as if our canal is moving forward. This is a good thing. It will attract more of the visitors Louisville receives. This will aid Jeffersonville’s and Clark County’s economy.

My question is what kind of businesses will occupy the new shopping areas? Will the new businesses be locally owned or out-of-state chain stores?

Locally owned stores would preserve Jeffersonville’s uniqueness. Chain stores would give nothing to the memory of the tourists, except the sameness of what they see where they live.

A chain store’s money is eventually deposited with the parent company. Bookkeeping, marketing, construction and goods will also be outsourced. For every dollar spent in locally owned stores, three times as much stays in the local economy as opposed to chain stores. Local stores use local accountants, marketing, banks and construction. To bring in chain stores would hurt our local economy by costing jobs of local enterprises.

Let’s put local businesses on equitable footing with chain stores and restaurants. Let’s offer local businesses and restaurants the very same incentives as the chains — from securing grants to tax benefits to lower costs on utility hookups.

Whatever tangible incentive that is offered to the chain stores should be offered to local businesses. Only by putting local businesses in equitable footing with chain stores will Jeffersonville and Clark County really prosper.

As the bumper stickers in the state of Washington read, “Buy Local or Bye-Bye Local,” “Be a Local Lover,” and “Think Local, Buy Local, Be Local.”

We can start prospering in Jeffersonville if — when we shop — we ask, “Are you locally owned?”

— Steven Fetter, Jeffersonville

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