Quote:
Originally Posted by JackPurvis
Should our commmunity leaders (business and elected) be working to find solutions to the 10 month economy? Do you want or neeed 12 month business/employment?
MAKE it a great day
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Well, Jack a 12 month economy would fulfill many dreams of many people.
The hard working hourly and/or customer service people in town would have a full year of income which as another subject, needs to improve before employment levels can meet employer demands. When these folks are on tip income or hourly base pay and get laid off for 2 to 3 months, they just can't make it through on unemployment and shouldn't have to.
All businesses would benefit by it. Theatres included and if they want a "vacation" or relief, they can easily go dark for the desired time.
Higher income levels of the general employment population, from, hopefully higher wage base together with a longer income year, would serve to strengthen the overbuilt retail community we have now.
HOWEVER , having said that, there are a number of factors which really make that difficult to unlikely. First but not the least of which is the weather conditions in our area. If a family planning a vacation outing are considering January thru March, they have probably two considerations. If they like winter sports, they head to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado, Utah,etc. They can't count on anything approaching winter fun here. Secondly, if they prefer a true "southern atmosphere" as to beaches, etc., they will head to Florida, Vegas or the Caribbean etc. They cannot, once again, count on nice weather for their trip here.
The outdoor attractions, (SDC etc. etc.) including the lakes areas and resorts are heavily impacted by this. They can not gear up these attractions only to shut them down every day or few days due to weather. It is not economically feasible to expect these attractions and resort type properties to risk capital on this type of move. It is nothing more than wishful thinking. It just doesn't work and people aren't looking to spend time in the outdoors in those types of attractions. The hoped for convention business will be effected by this, perhaps not in its entirety but certainly significantly by the "lack" of a full bore, active "Branson" in those winter months. The signature Branson attraction doesn't exist for a convention planner for the months of January, February and March either. During those months, essentially or largely because of weather, we don't have a "Branson" to sell, we have a very unique and nice small town with some shopping centers. How many of those exist?
There is a possible avenue which may serve to provide a more seamless approach to all of this. If Branson were also to attract a very light industrial and/or scientific- technical industry base which could or would attract and support professionals and advanced technical positions with good wage levels, its possible to elevate the family income factor to a comfortable level and interest the spouses or younger family members in the tourist employment areas. This would serve to level out the income factors facing the affordable housing element and smooth out the impact on the families from seasonal layoff.
The bottom line is there is no silver bullet for this subject. It is going to take strong planning and pursuit. This won't happen by cowtowing and rolling out the carpet to self interested developers. We need diligent non self interested steering on this issue with a strong, focused economic development staff and city administration which is above reproach.