Without sufficient and varied local retail we are penalizing our citizens by increasing property taxes to compensate and forcing on them the ever increasing costs of travel to shopping. They pay us back by living elsewhere.

I would say retail becomes dirty when projects like Flatwater Grill is pushed and turn dismal results but receives the same tax savings, as would’ve GBT. If the 6 million needed to turn Pine Ridge into a retail center was put into infrastructure, new roads, additional personnel to the city payroll, and an all-out better entrance to Oak Ridge than what was presented, I would have been able to live with the cost, but not the money for only a change in retail square footage. We are looking at changing our look, aren’t we?

I feel the Chamber of Commerce has set a bad look for Oak Ridge with so many large payroll companies and very few family owned businesses enrolled. Can anyone feel how difficult it is to navigate Oak Ridge business? Now living here, I would think the $220,000 a year going to the chamber should be used to set up grants to improve locally owned stores as the Community Development Block Grants does to residential communities. Having the word out which Oak Ridge businesses are great is vital to new comers. As we have of it today, it is left up to the local newspapers. Is that in anyway to find the best companies in a city?

To find out the value of a property outside of property taxes, LOL, ask Target? Those are business numbers. If our city manager and assistant were to know what is really available in “retail” for Oak Ridge, I don’t think they would be working for the City of Oak Ridge. They need to get back to citizens who can send the message; hey we have changed our direction, look at our masses, and look at us.

Ellen, I appreciate pointing out retail as a dirty word. I do not think they are talking about the businesses, rather the transparency of what we get for our money. It could be people just have an inherited disposition to think of the council that way. That is just life as a politician, I believe. I wouldn’t take it anyway. Just send it away.

We need to see there is money that must be put into our sewer, electric, basic safety, savings, and MOSTLY lack of and out-dated roads and civic buildings. Does the money really need to go into anything else for the next 4 years? And even if we wanted to halt some sour programs and projects of our city council, it would take years to get out from under it. I’m glad I see I’ve taken you wrong and you see it correctly; I thought you would go and say our city is broken.

People moving here from out-of-state don’t think our property taxes are particularly high anyway. But diversifying our revenue streams is a desirable goal in the same way that diversifying investments helps deal with financial uncertainty.

I didn’t say retail was a “fix,” if you were referring to my comments. It would help if we could increase the tax base from that source.

I think we agree on pretty much everything else in your post, but I guess I don’t know to what under performing groups you were referring. I think developers are in there somewhere, though. I’m not going to put you on the spot to spell it out for me, but there’s fat to be cut in any government.

It’s good to have a dialogue going.

Best wishes Ray,

Phil

I have to say the biggest investment Oak Ridge can find today is to stop handing money away to under performing groups. It isn’t that our tax receipts are low; rather it is our tax leakage from within city council.

Really, just how large of a crowd can be expected to gather anywhere in Oak Ridge?