From Jeremy.Zeller at okcommerce.gov Tue Jan 8 10:36:24 2019 From: Jeremy.Zeller at okcommerce.gov (Jeremy Zeller) Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2019 16:36:24 +0000 Subject: [MainstreetTowns] Reinvestment Reports Message-ID: <9A22EFC9872B77409B6475696C8314A560DC2C1A@EML-EXA05.agency.OK.local> Just a reminder that your reinvestment reports are due by this Friday, January the 11th to get your quality assurance points. Thank you. Jeremy Zeller Economic Development Specialist/Main Street Oklahoma Department of Commerce Jeremy.Zeller at OKcommerce.gov 405-815-5186 | OKcommerce.gov -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Jeremy.Zeller at okcommerce.gov Tue Jan 22 09:01:03 2019 From: Jeremy.Zeller at okcommerce.gov (Jeremy Zeller) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2019 15:01:03 +0000 Subject: [MainstreetTowns] FW: REI WBC EVENTS In-Reply-To: <1131893290896.1109117771266.2020673582.0.521717JL.2002@scheduler.constantcontact.com> References: <1131893290896.1109117771266.2020673582.0.521717JL.2002@scheduler.constantcontact.com> Message-ID: There are a lot of these meetings in your communities. This is worth quality assurance points. Jeremy Zeller Economic Development Specialist/Main Street Oklahoma Department of Commerce Jeremy.Zeller at OKcommerce.gov 405-815-5186 | OKcommerce.gov From: REI Women's Business Center Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2019 4:18 PM To: Jeremy Zeller Subject: REI WBC EVENTS We've got great things in store for 2019. [http://r20.rs6.net/on.jsp?ca=dd31142b-257e-4a88-a153-ff8322d570e2&a=1109117771266&c=06433aa0-f8ad-11e8-9efa-d4ae5292bb50&ch=06b5d290-f8ad-11e8-9f82-d4ae5292bb50] [http://files.constantcontact.com/20e129c3201/607f8f65-5b6f-4651-8ff1-95ff3be06454.jpg] With the New Year underway, we have great things in store for 2019. Check out the events calendar below to register for a small business training near you. January 22 - Lawton - Get Your Business On Google 23 - Duncan - Comprehensive QuickBooks Desktop 24 - Durant - First Steps to Startup Success 29 - Okmulgee - QuickBooks Online 29 - Weatherford - Questions To Ask Before Starting A Business 29 - Elk City - Questions To Ask Before Starting A Business 30 - Woodward - Get Your Business On Google 31 - Drumright - WHEN - The Science of Perfect Timing! February 5 - Ardmore - Get Your Business On Google 6 - Idabel - Comprehensive QuickBooks Desktop 7 - OKC - Women's Business Breakfast 7 - Ada - Get Your Business On Google 12 - Wagoner - #WBC Connects 14 - Durant - Small Business Breakfast Club 19 - Claremore - Do It Yourself Video Marketing 20 - Enid - Women In Business: 5 Keys to Great Leadership 21 - Pauls Valley - Social Media Marketing 21 - Durant - Comprehensive QuickBooks Desktop 21 - OKC - Business Basics - Starting & Running Your Own Business 26 - Lawton - Reboot Your Brand's Content Marketing 27 - Altus - Comprehensive QuickBooks Desktop 28 - Durant - First Steps to Startup Success For more information or to register, click on each event. Event will be canceled in inclement Weather. REI WBC TEAM [http://files.constantcontact.com/20e129c3201/84f86720-c02d-4918-ba26-0dbb0dbdc52e.jpg] Jennifer Edwards: Program Manager Providing services to Oklahoma City metro and western Oklahoma Leslie Browand: Coordinator Providing Services to Tulsa metro and northeast Oklahoma Marla Herndon: Coordinator Providing Services to Southern Oklahoma Lori Smith: REI WBC Assistant — STAY CONNECTED — 2912 Enterprise Boulevard Durant, Oklahoma 74701 218 E. Main Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104 7615 East 63rd Place, Suite 201, Tulsa, Oklahoma 740133 (800) 658-2823 [Facebook]‌ [Twitter] ‌ [Instagram] ‌ REI Oklahoma | 2912 Enterprise Blvd., Durant, OK 74701 Unsubscribe jeremy_zeller at okcommerce.gov Update Profile | About our service provider Sent by wbc at reiok.org in collaboration with [Trusted Email from Constant Contact - Try it FREE today.] Try it free today -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Jeremy.Zeller at okcommerce.gov Thu Jan 24 13:28:26 2019 From: Jeremy.Zeller at okcommerce.gov (Jeremy Zeller) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2019 19:28:26 +0000 Subject: [MainstreetTowns] Opportunity Zones Message-ID: Gathered below is information regarding the Opportunity Zones. You can see if you are in a Opportunity Zone by going to https://locateok.com If you click on Communities Layers and then do the dropdown box under Incentives, you will see Federal OZ Tracts and State OZ Tracts. Below is a image: [cid:image003.jpg at 01D4B3E8.AE65AAB0] I have also attached additional information that can get you more familiar with Opportunity Zones and their purpose. See below: Webinar regarding opportunity zones: https://www.mcafeetaft.com/opportunity-zone-tax-incentives/ Power Points from the December Data Conference: https://okcommerce.gov/data/conference/ Website to see all Opportunity Zone projects: https://www.cdfifund.gov/Pages/Opportunity-Zones.aspx Below is additional information about the Opportunity Zone program: What we know and what we don't [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/fefb55dc846b4d629857464f8/images/1ebf377f-6d61-4a21-a48c-00568e39b153.png] [Tax Foundation Analysis] Opportunity Zones: What We Know and What We Don’t The Opportunity Zones program, created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to spur investment in economically distressed census tracts, reduces capital gains taxes for individuals and businesses who invest in specific areas designated as "opportunity zones." With opportunity zones, and any other place-based incentive program, it’s important to consider what we know and what we don’t: We know the program will attract at least some investment to low-income census tracts designated as zones. We also know that this investment will come at both a budgetary and economic cost. We don’t know how effective opportunity zones will be at improving the lives of low-income people in economically distressed communities. Both research and state level experience raise concerns that opportunity zones could actually be counterproductive to generating sustained development in these communities. Research suggests place-based incentive programs: * Redistribute rather than generate new economic activity * Subsidize investments that would have occurred anyway * Displace low-income residents by increasing property values and encourage higher skilled workers to relocate to the area. [How do qualified opportunity fund investments work?] Click the infographic to learn about how qualified opportunity fund investments work. Opportunity zones present certain budgetary and economic costs, but it is unclear whether they will actually benefit distressed communities. For now, policymakers should emphasize the data collection necessary to measure the effects of this program. Without it, we will be unable to measure the merits of this place-based approach compared to other alternatives that could more effectively develop economically distressed communities. See the Full Study You can also stay updated here: [Twitter] [LinkedIn] [Facebook] [YouTube] [Website] The Tax Code Shouldn't Stand in the Way of Success By educating taxpayers, the media, and policymakers, we're leading the tax reform debate to make people better off. Click the link below to see how you can help! Join Us Today! [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/fefb55dc846b4d629857464f8/images/ed3c856b-e741-4094-af46-badeffccaf4a.png] Copyright © 2019 Tax Foundation, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you have signed up for the Tax Foundation email list. Our mailing address is: Tax Foundation 1325 G St NW Suite 950 Washington, DC 20005 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? Update your profile or unsubscribe This email was sent to lesli.crofford at okcommerce.gov why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences Tax Foundation · 1325 G St NW · Suite 950 · Washington, DC 20005 · USA Jeremy Zeller Economic Development Specialist/Main Street Oklahoma Department of Commerce Jeremy.Zeller at OKcommerce.gov 405-815-5186 | OKcommerce.gov -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image003.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 71586 bytes Desc: image003.jpg URL: From newkirkmainstreet at gmail.com Tue Jan 29 11:17:32 2019 From: newkirkmainstreet at gmail.com (Alyssa Winner) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2019 11:17:32 -0600 Subject: [MainstreetTowns] Program Director Evaluations Message-ID: <5c508aac.1c69fb81.ceacd.3bb6@mx.google.com> Greetings! My board has asked for examples of program director evaluations. I pulled a few from The Point but I would like to be able to give them several examples to pick and chose from and possible. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you, Alyssa McCleery Newkirk Main Street Sent from Mail for Windows 10 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From idabelms at sbcglobal.net Tue Jan 29 11:25:11 2019 From: idabelms at sbcglobal.net (Idabel Main Street) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2019 11:25:11 -0600 Subject: [MainstreetTowns] Program Director Evaluations In-Reply-To: <5c508aac.1c69fb81.ceacd.3bb6@mx.google.com> References: <5c508aac.1c69fb81.ceacd.3bb6@mx.google.com> Message-ID: <015c01d4b7f7$977ddbc0$c6799340$@sbcglobal.net> I’d be interested in seeing different ones also. From: MainstreetTowns [mailto:mainstreettowns-bounces at lists.onenet.net] On Behalf Of Alyssa Winner Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2019 11:18 AM To: mainstreettowns at lists.onenet.net Subject: [MainstreetTowns] Program Director Evaluations Greetings! My board has asked for examples of program director evaluations. I pulled a few from The Point but I would like to be able to give them several examples to pick and chose from and possible. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you, Alyssa McCleery Newkirk Main Street Sent from Mail for Windows 10 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mainstreet at claremore.org Tue Jan 29 11:42:33 2019 From: mainstreet at claremore.org (Mainstreet) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2019 17:42:33 +0000 Subject: [MainstreetTowns] Program Director Evaluations In-Reply-To: <5c508aac.1c69fb81.ceacd.3bb6@mx.google.com> References: <5c508aac.1c69fb81.ceacd.3bb6@mx.google.com> Message-ID: This is what we use in Claremore. Each of those bullet points were part of the job description when I was hired, so they use that as the rubric. I evaluate myself and then the Exec Committee evaluates me as well. From: MainstreetTowns [mailto:mainstreettowns-bounces at lists.onenet.net] On Behalf Of Alyssa Winner Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2019 11:18 AM To: mainstreettowns at lists.onenet.net Subject: [MainstreetTowns] Program Director Evaluations Greetings! My board has asked for examples of program director evaluations. I pulled a few from The Point but I would like to be able to give them several examples to pick and chose from and possible. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you, Alyssa McCleery Newkirk Main Street Sent from Mail for Windows 10 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 2018 Main Street Director Evaluation.docx Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document Size: 31989 bytes Desc: 2018 Main Street Director Evaluation.docx URL: From Kelli.Yadon at okcommerce.gov Tue Jan 29 13:49:11 2019 From: Kelli.Yadon at okcommerce.gov (Kelli Yadon) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2019 19:49:11 +0000 Subject: [MainstreetTowns] Just passing along.... thought it was interessting. Long read.... Message-ID: https://ilsr.org/dollar-stores-target-cities-towns-one-fights-back/ Dollar Stores Are Targeting Struggling Urban Neighborhoods and Small Towns. One Community Is Showing How to Fight Back. BY MARIE DONAHUE AND STACY MITCHELL | DATE: 6 DEC 2018 | [Facebook] [twitter] [reddit] [mail] It's not easy to buy groceries if you live on the north side of Tulsa, Okla. This predominantly African American part of the city sprawls for miles and yet does not have a single, full-service grocery store. For many of North Tulsa's residents this means their best option for buying groceries close to home (and really, their only option) is a dollar store. There are dozens of those. Dollar General, together with Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, which are owned by the same company, have more than 50 locations in Tulsa. Many are on the city's north side. Alongside aisles lined with clothing and household goods, these small stores offer a narrow selection of processed foods, such as canned peaches and cereal, cookies and frozen waffles. There are no fresh vegetables, fruits, or meats in most dollar stores. And yet, as limited as their offerings are, dollar stores are now feeding more Americans than Whole Foods is, and they're multiplying rapidly. Since 2011, the number of dollar stores nationwide has climbed from about 20,000 to nearly 30,000. There are now more dollar stores than Walmart and McDonalds locations combined. Although dollar stores sometimes fill a need in places that lack basic retail services, there's growing evidence that these stores are not merely a byproduct of economic distress. They're a cause of it. In small towns and urban neighborhoods alike, dollar stores are leading full-service grocery stores to close. And their strategy of saturating communities with multiple outlets is making it impossible for new grocers and other local businesses to take root and grow. "I don't think it's an accident they proliferate in low socio-economic and African American communities," says Vanessa Hall-Harper, who grew up in North Tulsa and in 2016 won a seat on the City Council to represent the district that encompasses the area. She campaigned on a platform of public health and food security. "That proliferation makes it more difficult for the full-service, healthy stores to set up shop, and operate successfully." As our maps of Tulsa show, dollar stores have largely side-stepped the city's whitest neighborhoods and have instead concentrated in census tracts with more African American residents. Indeed, the presence of dollar stores appears to correlate much more strongly with race than with income.[https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-Tulsa-Dollar-Store-Map-FINAL-1024x724.png] One reason for this link might be that dollar stores see an easier revenue stream in places that lack competing grocery stores. In the case of Family Dollar, for example, "'Food deserts' are its sweet spot," notes Ann Natunewicz, an analyst at Colliers International. The absence of grocery stores is, in turn, a direct result of a history of racial discrimination by banks that have been less likely to lend to African American entrepreneurs and by supermarket chains that have tended to bypass black neighborhoods. For residents of North Tulsa, the consequences of this economic marginalization have been severe. "There has been a documented 14-year life expectancy gap between North Tulsa and South Tulsa," points out Hall-Harper. This startling disparity, she says, speaks to "the situation and environment, and how these systemic issues work." "I don't think it's an accident they proliferate in low socio-economic and African American communities," says Tulsa City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper. "That proliferation makes it more difficult for the full-service, healthy stores to set up shop, and operate successfully." A deep desire to change these systems and improve the health of people in her district drove Hall-Harper's decision to run for Council. Last April, after more than a year of rallying community members, marshaling legal research, and steadily chipping away at the opposition, Hall-Harper finally convinced the City Council to enact a measure that limits dollar stores on Tulsa's north side and encourages the development of full-service grocery stores. This is the first ordinance in the country to specifically target dollar stores, and its passage is being felt both locally and nationally. It's marked a new era of political inclusion and grassroots power for the city's African American residents. It's also focused national attention on the growth of dollar stores and inspired other cities and towns to take steps to check their spread. The timing for such local action could not be more urgent. In their latest annual reports, Dollar General and Dollar Tree say they have identified thousands of new locations for dollar stores. The two chains are planning to expand their combined empires to more 50,000 outlets. An Invasive Species in America's Left-Behind Places "Essentially what the dollar stores are betting on in a large way is that we are going to have a permanent underclass in America," Garrick Brown, a researcher with the commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, told Bloomberg last year. Alongside urban black neighborhoods, another place the dollar chains think they will find enduring poverty is rural America. Small towns have been battered by corporate consolidation. Mergers have triggered plant closures. Agribusiness giants have slashed farmers' incomes. As a result, rural communities have experienced little in the way of new business and job growth during the current economic recovery, new data show. [https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Dollar_Store_Growth_Chart-FINAL_2-745x1024.png]This follows two decades in which Walmart's super-charged growth left small-town retail in shambles. By building massive, oversized supercenters in larger towns, Walmart found it could attract customers from a wide radius. Smaller towns in the vicinity often suffered the brunt of its impact as their Main Street retailers weakened and, in many cases, closed. Today the dollar chains are capitalizing on these conditions, much like an invasive species advancing on a compromised ecosystem. Local grocers that survived Walmart are now falling to Dollar General. "This has become the number one challenge of grocery stores," says David Procter, an expert on community development and director of the Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University. Until this year, the small town of Moville, Iowa, had managed to defy the odds. The nearest Walmart is nearly 20 miles away and residents are passionate about supporting their community. When the owners of the town's only grocery store, Country Foods, decided not to rebuild after a devastating fire in 2008, residents quickly organized. They raised funds for a new building and enticed Chet Davis, who owns a grocery store in Kingsley, about 12 miles up the road, to open another location. For a time, Chet's Foods did a good business from its crisp new building along the state highway that runs through town. Then, in 2016, Dollar General opened. Sales at Chet's Foods fell by 30 percent. Davis, a veteran grocer, tried to adjust. He cut staff hours, changed his product mix, and negotiated a rent reduction from the community development group that owns the building. But it wasn't enough. Even though residents were still buying most of their groceries from Chet's, the drop in sales was enough to push the store into the red. Chet's closed this year. Six hours south, in the town of Haven, Kans., the family-owned Haven Foodliner also shuttered this year. "We lasted three years and three days after Dollar General opened," owner Doug Nech told The Guardian. "Sales dropped and just kept dropping." The stories of Chet's Foods and the Haven Foodliner are not anomalies. Reports from local grocers in numerous communities suggest that it's typical for sales to drop by about 30 percent after a Dollar General opens. Thin margins in the grocery business mean that such a disruption is generally enough to force a local grocery store to close, although it may take months or even years before the owner finally gives in. ________________________________ If you like this report, be sure to sign up for the monthly Hometown Advantage Bulletin newsletterfor our latest reporting and research. ________________________________ As a consequence, local grocery stores, which have anchored small town economies for generations, are fast becoming as rare in rural areas as they are in North Tulsa. When a town loses its grocery store, the rest of the local economy suffers. "The problem is that if the grocery store closes, this impacts the town in a big way," Procter explains. "Our research shows grocers are barometers for other businesses in town: as goes the grocery store, so goes other independent businesses in that community." One immediate effect is a decline in employment. Dollar chains rely on a lean labor model. Dollar General and Dollar Tree stores have a staff of eight or nine people on average, according to their annual reports. Small independent grocery stores employ an average of 14 people, according to federal data. Local shoppers lose nearby access to fresh food and they may also end up paying more for groceries. Dollar stores package many of their products in smaller quantities than items sold at traditional grocery stores. This cuts sticker prices, but often results in a higher costs per ounce. There are broader economic impacts too. "The economy is continuing to create more of our core customer," Dollar General chief executive Todd Vasos told investors last year. "Rural grocers provide all kinds of value: economic value, nutritional value, social value, and more," he adds. In many cases, this includes delivering groceries, a critical service in rural areas, where the population tends to be older and not served by public transit. This cascade of losses is a bitter outcome for communities that, in many cases, welcomed the arrival of a dollar store. "For many communities, it's the first new commercial investment in many years," says Chris Merritt of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs. [https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/dollar-store-state-map-1024x768.jpg]The parallel between these rural towns and urban neighborhoods like North Tulsa suggests that America's real divide is not so much rural versus urban. Rather, it's between the few large and mostly coastal cities that are prospering in an economy increasingly dominated by a few corporate giants and the many other cities and regions that are being left behind. "The economy is continuing to create more of our core customer," Dollar General chief executive Todd Vasos told investors last year. [USDA_Map_Grocery_Change_2005-2015]The number of grocery stores has declined in 969 counties, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (This map is from the USDA's 2017 study, "Independent Grocery Stores in the Changing Landscape of the U.S. Food Retail Industry.") As corporate consolidation erodes the economic foundation of many towns and neighborhoods, these communities are increasingly vulnerable to the dollar chains. The sector itself is highly concentrated. Dollar Tree is the product of a long history of mergers, including, most recently, its acquisition of Family Dollar in 2015. Even though that deal left just two companies in control of most of the small-store discount market, the Federal Trade Commission approved it. (The FTC stipulated only that Dollar Tree divest about 330 stores, but that requirement ultimately failed to produce a new competitor: Dollar Tree sold the stores to a private equity firm, which within two years, sold them to Dollar General.) Fortunately, some have started connecting all of these dots and are beginning to see dollar stores as both a symptom of larger economic trends and a cause of additional economic despair. With this knowledge, these communities are identifying strategies to control the growth of dollar stores and restore a more balanced local economy. Tulsa's Dollar Store Ordinance One way to understand the high density of dollar stores in her district, Hall-Harper says, is to remember what happened in North Tulsa a century ago. The neighborhood once boasted one of the nation's most successful African American business districts, nicknamed "Black Wall Street." But over the course of a few days in 1921, a white mob tore through the commercial district, destroying more than 1,000 buildings and leaving 300 people dead. The long-term effects of this are still being felt today. The neighborhood has relatively few local businesses and has struggled with a lack of political power to control dollar stores and other predatory companies. Today, though, these dynamics are starting to shift, as residents organize and show how policy change that rebuilds a healthy food system and local business community can underpin the broader goals of social and economic justice. After taking office, Hall-Harper opened two fronts in her campaign to address the lack of healthy food and proliferation of dollar stores in North Tulsa. First, she started researching policy tools, such as "formula" business restrictions, that could block new dollar stores and open opportunities for full-service grocery stores instead. In the spring of 2017, she called for a short-term moratorium on new building permits for dollar stores. Pressing the pause button, she explained, would give the city time to craft a permanent policy. But the city's legal department, Hall-Harper says, was slow in doing the research and preparing language for the moratorium. In the meantime, a developer filed plans for yet another Dollar General in the neighborhood, this one just down the block from an existing Family Dollar. "I felt [the city was] procrastinating, so the developer could get a building permit," she says. That led Hall-Harper to open a second front in her campaign: she rallied residents to protest the new Dollar General and pressure the mayor and City Council to act. "To my knowledge, this was probably one of the first times a city councilor from Tulsa was out actively organizing and coordinating protests of an incoming business," says Hall-Harper. This inside-outside strategy paid off. [https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-15-at-11.40.13-AM-1024x575.png]Hall-Harper joins Dollar General protest. Photo Credit: Vice News, 2018. In late August, just a few days before Labor Day, the City Council finally took up Hall-Harper's proposed dollar store moratorium. Residents of North Tulsa filled the chambers and one by one spoke in favor of the measure - a show of support that Hall-Harper says made all the difference. The moratorium passed by a 5-to-4 vote. It suspended the permitting of new "small-box discount stores" for a period of six months in Hall-Harper's district. Three months later, Hall-Harper proposed a permanent change to the city's zoning code. She introduced a "dispersal" ordinance that would restrict the development of dollar stores in North Tulsa. Intended to foster "greater diversity in retail options and convenient access to fresh meats, fruits and vegetables," the measure prohibits a dollar store from opening within one mile of an existing dollar store. It also prioritizes full-service grocery stores by cutting in half the number of parking spaces they are required to have. While other cities have adopted more aggressive limits on chain retailers, Hall-Harper's measure was the first to specifically target dollar stores. And in Tulsa, it was a reach. The city has long favored a permissive approach to development, even going so far as to use its powers of eminent domain to seize land for developers over the objections of residents. "I was told, 'That is illegal, we can't do that.' But fortunately, I had done my research," says Hall-Harper. "Communities have the authority, and in my opinion the responsibility, to put these policies in place." The Tulsa Metro Area Planning Commission opposed the ordinance, voting 7-3 to recommend that the City Council reject it. The city's daily newspaper, the Tulsa World, likewise editorialized against it, writing that the measure would "put government-enforced restrictions on where north Tulsans can do business and get jobs." The paper added: "We prefer incentives to encourage development to restraints to prevent it." "We kept pushing," says Hall-Harper of the neighborhood's campaign. That pushing paid off. In April 2018, Tulsa's Healthy Neighborhood Overlay ordinance passed the City Council on a 5-2 vote and was signed by the mayor. Now Hall-Harper and the community's organizing is paying off in another way. "We'll [soon] have a groundbreaking of a new grocery store," she explains. That new store is being developed through a project led by the Tulsa Economic Development Corporation (TEDC) in partnership with the City of Tulsa. Aiming to "eliminate food deserts in Tulsa's most distressed communities," TEDC has raised $3 million from federal block grants and other sources to build a 15,000-square-foot grocery store in North Tulsa. TEDC is in the process of identifying an operator that will own and operate the new store and lease the TEDC-owned building being constructed for the project. "Our number one [criteria] is that they have a passion for what we're doing," explained Kim Prince, TEDC's Operations Associate. TEDC is a nonprofit community development financial institution that seeks to create "economic vitality in communities by encouraging small business growth." Once a store operator is selected in early 2019, construction of the store will begin, with the aim of opening by the end of the year. A local architecture firm is already drawing up designs for the building, based on input from residents. "The community wants an aesthetically pleasing store, something they can take ownership of," explains Hall-Harper. For Hall-Harper, though, this single victory is just the first step. "One grocery store isn't enough," she points out. There is no shortage of ideas, from helping local entrepreneurs open food stores to supporting new models like mobile grocery trucks. "Reaching every citizen is how I'll know we were successful," she says. That long-term vision, though, hinges on the ability of new food stores to carve out enough market share to survive, and that's far from guaranteed. "The proliferation of dollar stores certainly has made that a challenge to overcome," says Hall-Harper. How Communities Can Check the Growth of Dollar Stores The dollar chains have been able to multiply virtually unimpeded because most communities have relatively lax planning and zoning policies. Even in Vermont, where big-box retailers must navigate a thicket of environmental and land use policies, dollar stores, by virtue of being relatively small in size, rarely face permitting hurdles or scrutiny by planning boards under current policies. As the story of Tulsa illustrates, some communities are beginning to correct this. In addition to limiting the density of dollar stores, as Tulsa did, another option for cities is to adopt a policy that restricts "formula" businesses - those that follow a cookie-cutter format. Used in dozens of small towns and cities, including San Francisco and Jersey City, N.J., formula businesses policies offer a way to limit chain stores or require that they meet certain conditions to open. These measures typically cover all types of retailers, including dollar stores. Motivated in part by increased development pressure from dollar stores, Mendocino County, Calif., passed a formula business policy in 2016. The measure, which covers unincorporated areas of the county that are outside municipal boundaries, requires chain stores to seek a special permit in order to open. The permit application involves a public hearing, and county staff then review the application based on whether the proposed formula business would fit the community's character. The idea is not to stop all development, but to establish a process for weighing the merits of particular projects. "Be ready to have to do your own research," Vanessa Hall-Harper advises local leaders and residents who want to take on dollar stores. "Having examples [of policies passed by other cities] keeps you as an elected official encouraged that this work is possible, even when you're up against opposition from the powers that be." Another key to winning, Hall-Harper says, is community engagement. "I honestly believe we wouldn't have been successful if the community didn't come out," she notes. [https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/BWST-2017-Dollar-General-Protest.jpg]Residents protest dollar store development in North Tulsa, Okla. Photo Credit: Black Wall Street Times, 2017. Already some cities are moving to replicate Tulsa's success. In Mesquite, Texas, which saw 15 new dollar stores built over the course of a decade, the city consulted with Hall-Harper and ultimately passed a similar dollar store "dispersal" ordinance. In New Orleans, several city council members have recognized dollar stores as a problem. Similar to Tulsa, they've seen these stores concentrate in particular neighborhoods. In 2018, New Orleans City Council passed a motion directing the city's planning commission to conduct a study to help "classify, define and regulate" dollar stores. Along with a draft of the "Small Box Retail Diversity Study," which was released in November, the commission has scheduled public hearings and invited public comments. Cities and states can also take steps to actively support the development of local grocery stores, just as Tulsa is doing with Honor Capital. One of the biggest barriers entrepreneurs face in starting new grocery stores is securing a business loan. The Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative has shown how to solve this problem. Through loans made over the course of about a decade, it has facilitated the opening and expansion of more than 80 local food stores in underserved cities and towns across the state. As these policy examples illustrate, communities are not at the mercy of the dollar chains and their plans to blanket both rural and urban America with thousands of new stores. By blocking the spread of dollar stores and fostering the growth of local grocers, cities and towns can begin to close the gap in access to fresh food while also building local power and opportunity. ________________________________ If you liked this post, be sure to sign up for the monthly Hometown Advantage Bulletin newsletter for our latest reporting and research. ________________________________ Update: This story has been updated to reflect new information about the grocery store being developed in North Tulsa and add additional details about Dollar Tree's acquisition of Family Dollar. Kelli S. Yadon Oklahoma Main Street Center 900 N. Stiles Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73104 c: 405.778.9375 o: 405.815.5379 800.879.6552 (toll-free) [OKLAHOMAMAINSTREETCENTER] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image009.png Type: image/png Size: 104722 bytes Desc: image009.png URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image018.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 54196 bytes Desc: image018.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image021.png Type: image/png Size: 867 bytes Desc: image021.png URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image022.png Type: image/png Size: 1526 bytes Desc: image022.png URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: image029.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 9278 bytes Desc: image029.jpg URL: From director at sapulpamainstreet.com Thu Jan 31 13:38:10 2019 From: director at sapulpamainstreet.com (Cindy Lawrence) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2019 13:38:10 -0600 Subject: [MainstreetTowns] Wine & Beer Events Message-ID: <006901d4b99c$7fb9b260$7f2d1720$@sapulpamainstreet.com> Has anyone had a wine or beer event since the laws have changed? Did you have to do anything different? I can't seem to find any information or anyone at ABLE to return my call. Sincerely, Cindy Lawrence Executive Director Sapulpa Main Street 15 N. Water St. Sapulpa, OK 74066 918-224-5709 Mission Statement The purpose of the Main Street program is to preserve and enhance the cultural heritage of Sapulpa, and to improve the quality of life by revitalizing the Central Business District as the center of the Community. This is done through education and management in organization, promotion, design and economic vitality. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mainstreetduncan at sbcglobal.net Thu Jan 31 14:27:56 2019 From: mainstreetduncan at sbcglobal.net (Main Street Duncan) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2019 14:27:56 -0600 Subject: [MainstreetTowns] Wine & Beer Events In-Reply-To: <006901d4b99c$7fb9b260$7f2d1720$@sapulpamainstreet.com> References: <006901d4b99c$7fb9b260$7f2d1720$@sapulpamainstreet.com> Message-ID: <3BDCE28F-922F-4950-ACBE-33B06C7F833A@sbcglobal.net> Cindy, Yes (wine) and yes. Call Captain Fairchild: +1 (405) 522-3055 Sent from my iPhone > On Jan 31, 2019, at 1:38 PM, Cindy Lawrence wrote: > > Has anyone had a wine or beer event since the laws have changed? Did you have to do anything different? I can’t seem to find any information or anyone at ABLE to return my call. > > Sincerely, > > Cindy Lawrence > Executive Director > Sapulpa Main Street > 15 N. Water St. > Sapulpa, OK 74066 > 918-224-5709 > > > Mission Statement > The purpose of the Main Street program is to preserve and enhance the cultural heritage of Sapulpa, and to improve the quality of life by revitalizing the Central Business District as the center of the Community. > > This is done through education and management in organization, promotion, design and economic vitality. > > _______________________________________________ > MainstreetTowns mailing list > MainstreetTowns at lists.onenet.net > https://lists.onenet.net/mailman/listinfo/mainstreettowns -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: