4 ms·

>Traditional Republican philosophy is generally to seek out one or two major storefronts to anchor an entire town. How can you make a generalization like that

>Traditional Republican philosophy is generally to seek out one or two major storefronts to anchor an entire town. How can you make a generalization like that with a straight face? I spent a significant number of years in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho and most of the Republicans I interacted with there were pro small business and disliked dominating large chains owned by out of state corporations. A single store without meaningful competition is antithetical to the message of the Republican party. You are confusing what naturally happens when you have small cities (<200k) not filled with rich people with a political view. When you have small cities, anyone with a large war chest can pretty easily bully everyone else on price and a regular middle class population will not pay a significant premium to 'support local'. Talk to folks in a town dominated by a Walmart. Tons of people hate going there but still do because it's the best price. Finally, the only thing that gets a smaller city on the right track is businesses that attract outside money. A small city will never thrive regardless of building one huge retail store vs tons of small ones if the same small population are the only folks shopping there. The easiest way for city to get external money pouring in is to accept a deal for a big industrial operation.

GiorgioG 9y ago
> Finally, the only thing that gets a smaller city on the right track is businesses that attract outside money. A small city will never thrive regardless of building one huge retail store vs tons of small ones if the same small population are the only folks shopping there. The easiest way for city to get external money pouring in is to accept a deal for a big industrial operation. Buffalo is hampered by being in the same state as NYC - it's too far from it to reap any of the benefits. High taxes, a ton of regulation, red tape and little to no political sway at the state level. If NYC were to secede and form its own state/district/etc, Buffalo and the rest of upstate NY might be better off. It's near and dear to my heart, but nothing will save Buffalo. Will it get better? Sure, but not fast enough to stop the bleeding: "Buffalo, on the other hand, has experienced the sharpest rate of decline, losing 61.75 people per month." Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2017/10/31/upstate-population-trends.html https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2017/10/31/upstate-... Meanwhile, in the Raleigh, NC area where I moved is growing at ~62 per day or ~1860/month.

GiorgioG 9y ago

> Finally, the only thing that gets a smaller city on the right track is businesses that attract outside money. A small city will never thrive regardless of building one huge retail store vs tons of small ones if the same small population are the only folks shopping there. The easiest way for city to get external money pouring in is to accept a deal for a big industrial operation. Buffalo is hampered by being in the same state as NYC - it's too far from it to reap any of the benefits. High taxes, a ton of regulation, red tape and little to no political sway at the state level. If NYC were to secede and form its own state/district/etc, Buffalo and the rest of upstate NY might be better off. It's near and dear to my heart, but nothing will save Buffalo. Will it get better? Sure, but not fast enough to stop the bleeding: "Buffalo, on the other hand, has experienced the sharpest rate of decline, losing 61.75 people per month." Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2017/10/31/upstate-population-trends.html https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2017/10/31/upstate-... Meanwhile, in the Raleigh, NC area where I moved is growing at ~62 per day or ~1860/month.