Adventures In The Local Economy

Read my underwear expose

From this week's Citizen comes my expose on the availability of underwear in our fair city: Underwear uncovered in Carrboro.

Local unemployment fares fares better than state, nation

But just barely. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released shattering unemployment numbers today that show the nation's employers are continuing to slash jobs in an attempt to deal with slackened spending. While the our state and county's November numbers won't be out till later this month, we looked not-horrible in October.

Read about in my story from yesterday's Citizen: Few bright spots in the local unemployment picture.

Ideas for supporting the local economy

Lots of folks 'round these parts are very excited about BALLE, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. I think the group does some good stuff, but it seems a little cookie-cutter to me. And BALLE's kissing cousin, Michael Shuman, appears to be an ideologue whose ideas would be incredibly hard to implement in the real world.

Still, both BALLE and Shuman have some good ideas worth considering and BALLE, in particular, is a fine aggregator of information on the value of local living economies. Here are some items from the latest BALLE newsletter (with a tip of the hat to Dan Coleman for doing the digesting for me):

1) Van Jones' new book has a 10-page "policy ideas" section on green collar jobs.
2) 80 indie weeklies are participating in a spend $100 locally for the holidays promotion.
3) Michael Shuman wrote an article on local investment mechanisms.
4) A proposed Agenda for a New Economy.
5) The City of Denver proclaims Buy Local Week.
6) Elfster has a "Secret Santa" website supporting local businesses.

What do you think?

National jobs trends borne out here at home

Read about it in my page one feature in this week's Citizen: Local unemployment on the rise.

Mayor Chilton: Will you support greener schools?

Green schools may not be a clear economic gain for our community, but they have less impact on our natural environment and school construction does create jobs. So I encourage Mayor Chilton to join the Mayors' Alliance for Green Schools.

Here's the news release announcing the initiative from the US Green Building Council.

Roberson Square site for sale

From today's Carrboro Citizen comes news that the Robeson Square project is for sale. The credit crunch has caught up with the developers. My prediction: this is the first of many hiccups coming for all the downtown development planned in our fair city.

Acme provides private parking for Halloween

This little gem was tucked into Acme's Gas Price Tuesday email just now:

On Halloween (Friday), Acme is leasing a parking lot behind the restaurant that will only be for Acme customers. There are 24 spaces. We will provide pass codes for people who make reservations so that each reservation will be guaranteed a space. But only one car per reservation. And because of the limited number of spaces, only the first 24 who choose to use the parking lot will be allotted spaces. It will certainly make dining out on Friday night a lot more enjoyable as parking will be at a premium with all the out-of-towners headed this way. It's good to be local, don't you think? Call 929-2263 to reserve now.

Can’t wait till Friday? Stop by for an adult beverage of your choice for the same price as a gallon of gas (this week, that’s $2.79). Great promotional idea from our pals at Acme!

Buckhorn Road project approved, but at what cost?

I was disappointed to see that the mammoth Buckhorn Road project was approved by the County Commissioners. When we said we wanted to see new job-growth engines in the County, I don't think we meant more retail jobs that come with barely legal pay and generally no benefits. I know there will also be some office space, so that means "professional jobs", but how many? And how much will they pay? Will the residential component have enough (read: not just what's required) affordable housing and will it be the kind local residents need?

While the infusion of commercial property tax will be nice, the cost of that money is mighty high.

After all that, 300 E. Main on hold?

Even though we all got our panties/briefs in a wad about 300 E. Main, it shouldn't really come as any surprise that a massive project like this one might have trouble securing financing. After all, the commercial credit market isn't in any better shape than its personal counterpart. Projects all over the country are stalling, or restructuring.

For most commercial projects like this one, banks normally require a certain amount of pre-sales and/or pre-leasing. But in these times, with less money in the system, even a project that exceeds criteria could have trouble getting bank funding (see Why this 'credit crisis' hits everyone from the Wall Street Journal).

It's too early to tell what the impact of the economic crash will actually be on 300 E. Main, and it's not the only issue remaining to be resolved, as noted in Sunday's article in the Chapel Hill News: Economy could hold up project. But here's a great overview from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Commercial real estate feels pinch.

And the Cradle will rock -- probably still in Carrboro

In today's N&O, my pal music writer David Menconi and C.H. News editor Mark Schultz teamed up on a story about the impact of the BoA's deferred vote on 300 East Main (see: Board Waits on 300 East Main from the Citizen) and the fate of the Cat's Cradle. Read it here.

Like the Farmer's Market, the Cradle is one of those things that makes Carrboro Carrboro. So it's no surprise other localities might take more than a passing interest in luring our little gem away (see: Durham Eyes Cat's Cradle from the DTH). Losing the Cradle would be a terrible blow to the community -- and to its cachet as a place where the creative class flourishes. It would also be a blow to our local restaurants and bars that benefit from pre- and post-show business from music-loving patrons.

But before we get our panties in a wad, a few things to consider:

First, this post from one of the developers, Laura Van Sant, over on Orange Politics. In it, she sets the record straight.

Second, my personal take: I've known Frank Heath, the Cradle's owner, most of my life. He's an incredibly thoughtful and community-loving guy. And he's a savvy businessman. So you can't blame the guy if he gets a little chapped at the prospect of having to wait even longer to find out when -- or even if -- his uber-successful venue will have a home in the Paris of the Piedmont. 

As I've said here before, time's a-wastin'. I want a great development at 300 E. Main, and I've made my recommendations for changes I'd like to see. So have many others. Not acting on reasonable requests from the community and the developer could cost us. Maybe not the Cradle, but at the very least time and money. And none of us, or our little town, has a lot of that to spare.