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Why Independent Businesses Must Do More Than Donate

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RG4N worked to keep Austin Neighborhood & Small Independent Business friendly.

RG4N worked to keep Austin Neighborhood & Small Independent Business friendly.

Next month, it will be four years since I became the Business Liaison Chair for Responsible Growth for Northcross (RG4N).

I chose to get involved because I am a business owner, a small business activist and I live and work in the area.

Last night was the VIP opening of the more neighborhood-sized WalMart on Anderson Lane in Austin, Texas. The RG4N board was invited and several of us went including the original President, Paige Hill.

Our efforts to stop the supercenter were not about size as much as about the impact of that size. That impact includes traffic, litter, security, safety issues for those with disabilities, crime, air and water quality. It was also about the impact on locally owned stores that do not fare well with a big box, especially a WalMart, nearby. [Read more…]

Austin Small Business Summit, Now What?

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Austin City Manager Marc Ott

Austin City Manager Marc Ott

I wrote a post in April about Austin’s March Small Business Summit.

I have not seen City Manager Marc Ott’s proposed budget. I am curious to see if he followed Council’s directive and included anything about how the City will try to address the needs and wants expressed by the 40 business representatives that were part of the original Summit.

According to the resolution that passed in June, Ott has 120 days to come back to Council with a report and policy recommendations to enhance the City’s effort to facilitate growth of locally-owned businesses.

That means there may be nothing in the budget. If his budget passes, it looks like it will mean higher sales and property taxes (and they wonder why we aren’t  hiring or buying). [Read more…]