From Entrepreneur Magazine:
For small-business owners who have run into financial trouble, a new
Small Business Administration loan program offers relief. But the
America's Recovery Capital (ARC) loan will only help businesses that
meet certain strict criteria.
ARC was funded with $225 million to
provide five-year, zero-interest loans of up to $35,000 per qualified
business. To qualify, businesses must demonstrate that sales are down,
expenses are up or they are having trouble paying current loans or
suppliers. Owners also must provide two years of cash-flow projections
and explain their game plan for returning to profitability.
The
program is not for new startups--to qualify, you must have been in
business at least two years, and profitable for at least one of the
past two years.
The SBA is working on building support from
banks, which get just 2 percent interest over prime and can't charge a
fee. Many national banks that make other SBA loans declined to
participate. After a slow first month with just $16.4 million in loans
approved by mid-July, $96.5 million in ARC loans had been made by early
October. The program runs until September, or until funds are exhausted.
Working
with a participating community bank where you already do business is
helpful, says Neal Gordon, principal at the loan-intermediary firm
Business Borrowers Alliance. That worked for Jim Brunberg, owner of
recording studio Mississippi Studios in Portland, Ore., which needed
help paying a loan for an ill-timed expansion. Brunberg worked with
Albina Community Bank in Portland, where Mississippi has accounts, and
said his ARC loan process was a breeze.
Not so for Auburn,
Ala.-based decor-store owners Ingrid and Frank Brown, who sought an ARC
loan from a national bank in June after sales sank 30 percent. Ingrid
Brown says the bank was making ARC loans mostly to existing loan
customers and turned the pair down. They reapplied and were approved
for only $13,300. They passed on it to apply to a community bank where
their businesses, The Villager and Auburn Art.com, have accounts. They
got $15,000 of the $45,000 they wanted.
"We still need money to buy merchandise for the holidays," she says.
In the same issue, From Entrepreneur Magazine identifies LOCAL BUSINESS as the 5th ranked hot trend for 2010:
Demand is exploding for locally grown and made products--which means
more support for mom-and-pop stores. The dividend: For every $100 spent
at a locally owned business, $68 comes back to the community. Only $43
recirculates from national chain stores.
The "buy local" ethos
has its roots in the farmers markets movement: There are almost 5,000
farmers markets across the country, the result of more than 5 percent
annual growth for the past five years, according to the Department of
Agriculture. Nearly 60 percent of consumers say they try to shop at a
farmers market. Wal-Mart and Safeway recently added "Locally Grown"
sections to their produce departments, and the USDA launched a "Know
Your Farmer, Know Your Food" marketing campaign.Programs that promote community shopping, like Buy Local Orlando, are
also popping up all over the country. About 40,000 Orlando shoppers
have participated since May. "We like to appear that we're not just
consuming for the sake of consuming," says Don Boudreaux, an economics
professor at George Mason University. "It makes us feel good to show
that we're socially conscious." --K.O.
Read the rest at:
A Small Business Bailout--Maybe and 2010 Trends
Franklin council delays action on Meijer proposal - JSOnline
Above: A Meijer community meeting in Franklin.
Here's an article that oversimplifies a more complex issue. As a member of Franklin's Economic Development Committee and Plan Commission, I can tell you that there are, actually, myriad issues that have NOT been dealt with relating to DNR permits (Meijer subverted the process a bit when they went to a DNR pre-plan meeting with a full plan) and the DOT's fairly tone-deaf road requirements. Homeowners who live nearby are in for quite a change.
Meijer has proposed a take-it-or-leave-it 24-hour big box with an ocean of new impervious surface. The DNR requires that a site plan be submitted that does not impinge upon the floodways and wetlands to the extent that the current plan does; Meijer is then charged with proving that the improved site plan is impossible.
Meijer has not submitted that plan or its reasons for not creating a more location-sensitive site plan; the DNR has made it clear that the burden of proof resides with Meijer. The Franklin Plan Commission voted on the site plan and other accommodations for Meijer WITHOUT access to the alternate site plan (I was the lone "no" vote on the Commission).
Communities get the development they deserve. Big box stores of this size demand a large market share and will drain that market share from surrounding businesses (the Franklin Pick and Save Center on 76th Street is already for sale; they know which way the wind blows). A store like Meijer is certainly welcome, but they should develop the property with sensitivity to the community, surrounding neighborhoods, and local long-term economy. The answer is there, but Meijer has not presented any alternatives.
Read the rest at: Franklin council delays action on Meijer proposal - JSOnline
Posted at 09:25 AM in Bad news, Buy Local, Close to Home, Commentary, Community Concepts, Current Affairs, Economic Development Commission, Franklin Photos, Plan Commission, Politics, Problems, Retail design, Traffic/Transportation, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
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