The City of Apalachicola along with the rest of the nation is in perhaps one of the worst economic times witnessed since the great depression.Beginning in 2005 through the first quarter of this year, approximately one thousand homes was lost to foreclosure in Franklin County.
The local unemployment rate is up 1.4 percent from a year ago at 8.9 percent and projected to rise again with announced layoffs in the public sector.
Local mom and pop shops are teetering on the brink of closure, while leaving private sector workers unsure of their employment status.
During our most productive time of the year, national publicity surrounding the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill halted the sale of Gulf harvested seafood and kept visitors away from the area nearly all summer.
A five-year decline in the assessed value of real property has created an unstable tax base, which has put at risk essential governmental services.
Given all of these conditions, our community should be engaged in a productive conversation concerning how best to keep our local economy afloat.
Yes! The city has a host of other problems that need addressing as well. However, at this particular time, none compares to our current state of affairs, and if we don’t start the conversation soon, the other problems won’t even matter.
In addition, any efforts to improve our situation will be useless until all community components set aside their differences and start working together.
The city took the first step at its Aug 11 special meeting, where it unanimously moved to collaborate with the newly established Historic Apalachicola, Inc., to make application for national accreditation as a Main Street Program through the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Historic Apalachicola, Inc. is a volunteer group of residents and business owners interested in improving economic conditions in Apalachicola using the Main Street four-step approach.
Main Street has been around since the 70’s, its four-step approach places emphases on organization, promotion, design, and economic restructuring and has helped countless communities throughout the country bounce back from the brink of economic disaster.
Teamwork is essential for a successful Main Street Program and a successful Main Street Program in Apalachicola has the potential of renewing confidence in our commercial districts through an improved image. An improved image would lead to the creation of new jobs by attracting new businesses and new businesses would generate the necessary commerce to sustain our economy.
The best part about Main Street is the partnership with local government to promote a healthy community where people want to live and work. The City of Apalachicola has a demonstrated commitment toward such collaborations.
It’s your community too and I encourage you to get involved.
Mayor Johnson:
ReplyDeleteI think the Mainstreet program is a very promising initiative, but we also need to look at ways to broaden our economy beyond seafood tourism. Here's an article about the views of a very knowledgeable and respected professor at the U. of W. Fla, Dr. Richard Harper. http://www.pnj.com/article/20100916/NEWS01/9160324/Oil-Spill-Summit-looks-beyond-tourism-to-lift-Northwest-Florida-economy
Part of what got us to this current squeeze, he says, is our increasing dependency on tourism, even before the oil spill occurred in May. I personally believe we should be looking at green technologies (not necessarily housing) that could reduce our public sector expenses, provide training for local residents, and create jobs. I have some ideas, and I believe there is funding out there for this type of development. I hope we will get a chance to look into this further.
Sincerely,
Robin Vroegop