SandBoxBlogs: Vail Daily "Why small business owners are hesitant to hire"

Good article. 

Joyce M. Rosenberg:
"NEW YORK (AP) — Ken Levien has no plans to hire more people for his real estate project management company in New York. He says his business has only about 85 percent of the amount of work it can handle because the building industry is still hurting from the recession.

"Things are looking down in the construction business in New York City," he says.

Levien has a lot of company. Many small business owners aren't hiring or expanding because the outlook for the economy, or their own companies, is uncertain.

That raises the question of whether small businesses will give the economy the boost that it needs. Economists say that in past recoveries, small companies were the first to hire. When the economy was improving, they were more nimble than large companies because they didn't have the bureaucracy that can slow the hiring process. Their hiring helped propel the economy forward.

The economy is growing, but that growth has slowed — and so has the pace of hiring among business with less than 500 employees. The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of just 2.2 percent from January through March, according to government figures. That's down from the moderate 3 percent growth during the last three months of 2011. Making things worse, the pace of hiring by small businesses is slowing, according to the payroll company ADP, which issues a monthly report on employment at companies in the private sector. ADP says that employment at small and medium-sized businesses rose by 181,000 in March. Employment rose by just 116,000 in April......"  (Read more?  Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

SandBoxBlogs; Glenwood Springs Post Independent "DDA looks to county for help on alleyway project"

There is no doubt in most folks minds that it is long overdue for the City of Glenwood Springs City Council to come down off their high dais and work nicer with Garfield County Commissioners.

There is an obvious uptick to that happening since the folks put Todd Leahy in his seat....(yes, sometimes the best strategy is to leave a race with a much needed seat as uncontested.  There was at least one more besides Dirk Myers who would have run if needed)...even if Todd is on the outer fringes of becoming a good 'ol boy's club member.  Leahy's doing a great job and is perfect for the seat he's in.  Let's all hope he has more terms in front of him.

There has been no doubt for many years... (remember back to the inception of DDA and then Downtown Market and then Downtown Partners and who knows how many private collaborations there are to help the disenfranchised promote downtown 81601)... that downtown merchants and numerous other small businesses in Garfield County... (remember back to the inception of Randi Lowenthal's enterprise and the more recent  Rifle Economic Development Corp)...need a number of capital and infrastructure improvements alongside a lot more attention paid.. (thank goodness for the entrance of Leslie Bethel!)...to tourism promotion that hits everybody and not just a select few.

But here's a point that just keeps getting missed by our esteemed leaders.

You have to listen to everybody.

If they won't come to you for whatever reason? (..from the sound of things out here they have very valid concerns..) then it is your job not theirs, to get communication flowing in to you.

John Martin will likely lose his seat this time around.  Not because he hasn't done a good job, he has.  He will likely lose it due to the last two years of almost unbridled chest thumping from that infamous Garfield County 'good 'ol boys club'.  The folks have given (even conservative folks) BOCC a full sweep of political power for two years now. Going deaf was not part of the deal.

There is a balance of sorts on council now, if Dave Sturges keeps on showing signs of remembering who he really is rather than taking the power at face value, there might be even more balance between now and the time 2013 council races hit.

What does all this have to do with alleys in downtown?

Jankovsky would be wise to cease the chest thumping and pushing of a tourism promotion agenda and sit back and listen to his county first.  The next two posts today give some insight into the real world of the folks <less> the view from the Lion's den.

John Stroud:
"Glenwood Springs City Councilman Todd Leahy said it makes sense for the city, the DDA and the county to partner on some of the downtown projects.

“One of my main goals when I decided to run for council was to work on the relationship between the city and the county,” said Leahy, who is also city council's liaison to the DDA board.

“The more we can work together to enhance that area the better,” he said.

County Commissioner Tom Jankovsky agreed.

“The face of the downtown is changing, and we have an interest in what goes on there,” Jankovsky said, noting that the county's main government campus is also a major part of downtown Glenwood Springs.

The county is also increasing its stake in downtown. Earlier this week, it signed a $2.5 million contract to purchase a large portion of the 700 block of Colorado Avenue from local attorneys Stephen Worrell and Anthony Durrett. The deal, which is scheduled to close June 1, would include the law office building at the northeast corner of Eighth and Colorado, and a building that now houses an auto glass shop.

Though there are no immediate redevelopment plans, the county eventually may create more public parking and expand its government office facilities on the site....."  (Read more?  Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."