It was a sight to see. In-n-Out Burger has a burger business in Eureka now. To make ready for what they figured would be long lines, the City setup a long range traffic detour, making sure that the morning and afternoon rush hours would not be held up by what must have been the all day Burger Rush.
It's amazing what happens when a city helps business do business. What else could the city do to help business? One other thing that is sorely needed right now, is to find businesses willing to fill our empty storefronts.
Our city council ought to be getting on the phone and inviting we'll known corporations to come here. Simply have the city staff make a list of what services and retail categories are missing, and then call them up.
With the radical left riots happening around the country, it's important for us to realize that "business goes where it's invited." We don't want business boardrooms to think that Humboldt is just another backwards bunch like Seattle or Portland, where mobs can loot stores, hurt people and break things. The truth is that we are peaceful community, but our economic growth is stunted, and that is not ok.
Big corporations is just one solution, and I would imagine that would impact the larger empty buildings. Our City should also reach out to Franchise-based corporations as well. The beauty of that is the city could start building relationshops with these businesses, and then educate the public about the cost and commitment for each. There are many franchises that would enrich Humboldt County's economy, and how great would it be if our locals ran them?
With franchises, usually a local person or family takes on the task of running the business. Imagine if our city council personally invited 50 corporations to come here. With enough phone calls I bet we could bring eureka some business.
Pushing back the environmental groups and setting up a proper roadway through Richardson Grove would also be a good move, how can we expect to reach our economic potential if we can't have proper trucking and shipping?
Besides just wanting what's best for our community, the City Council should have another motivation, that of increased revenues. Potholes, personnel and public works projects cost money, and traditionally it is the local economy that helps pay for these things. Now that Covid19 has happened, we are seeing massive shortfalls in local and city budgets. The sooner our local leaders get on the phone and invite businesses to come to Humboldt, the sooner we can get money back into local government. Our city council is happy to hire a poetry Czar, yet we see no effort to invite new chain stores, restaurants or industries to set up shop in Humboldt. Corporations are not going to settle in areas where anti-growth people make them feel unwanted, and local families are not going to open new franchises if they fear their neighbors.
