Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Danica Hughes - Let's save Shoe Warehouse...

At last night's Williams Lake City Council meeting -- Councillor Danica Hughes appealed to Council to write a letter of support to support the workers at Shoe Warehouse in Boitanio Mall who are slated to lose their jobs in January 2013.  Read more here.  Councillor Hughes also suggested that the Cariboo Regional District should be approached to write a letter of support as well

Methinks that Councillor Hughes has forgotten one of the primary roles of local government -- ensure the business fundamentals (appropriate levels of taxes/fees) are there so all local business have a chance of thriving.  Is she (Hughes) saying that Williams Lake City Council should write letters of support for all business that may be failing, even when the outcome can not be changed?

I would argue that this action demonstrates a lack of understanding by Hughes as to what local government can/should do and not do.  Writing letters of support for businesses that are shutting down is something local governments SHOULD NOT do

SBF

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agreed Steve.
As you mentioned council needs to ensure appropriate levels of tax/fees are there to ensure all business has a chance to thrive.
Raising of taxes year over year to fund feel good fluff (aka dog park)is just going to make things worse for these businesses tryin to turn a profit.
I think we will see much more close until city hall wakes up as in my opinion city hall has its head in the sand. Mayor Cook keeps telling the media how wonderful things are by focussing on things like:

"• An increase in business licenses issued, up to 96 so far in 2012, compared to 71 in 2011."

No mention is ever made that although there are more licenses issued this year than last, we actually have less businesses total in town this year than last.
So how is her news release positive again?

Anonymous said...

Where are these new businesses located? Mall is empty and so is downtown.