Chambers. Small to big:

[OxQQme]

I've lived in a town with a population of 4,200 back in the '70's.
It had a CoC.
The wealthiest were majority members.
Land Owners.
Decided who could or couldn't get a city business license.

Is that a good or bad thing for a small community?

Who sits on the Board in your vicinity?




snip:

<A chamber of commerce (also referred to in some circles as a board of trade) is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community. Local businesses are members, and they elect a board of directors or executive council to set policy for the chamber. The board or council then hires a President, CEO or Executive Director, plus staffing appropriate to size, to run the organization.>


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamber_of_commerce

[RandomThoughts]

1. Did you change your name?

Or do you use the same Icon as MFM, your posting style is different.

[OxQQme]

4. No name change RandyThoughts

It's a common avatar.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. The cities in Los Angeles country have Chambers of commerce.

Not sure how much power they have. They tend to stick their noses into political issues.

[Hannah Bell]

3. same in my town. the biggest landowners/business owners run things, but their prerogatives

have been somewhat cut into by big outside capital.

the only difference between small local capitalism & big capitalism, in my experience, is that small capitalism does have to maintain civility with the local population so it observes some niceties. often there are family/work/club connections that would go to hell if the big guys went too far. also everyone knows if you really breach the rules, so there's the shame thingee. i.e. social standards/morality has some power.

the face to face aspect is what's missing from big capitalism & what makes it more deadly.

[OxQQme]

5. Walmart moved in as I was leaving

First, a big aluminum mine/smelter convinced our town's CoC, and several smaller communities in the valley, that the dollars that would be put into the local economy would outweigh the loss of the honeybee population downwind.
Couple of years later,it's built, and the non-local specialty building contractors and mobil home bases crews moved on.
In the meantime the local Safeway had seen enough of an increase that the relocated store was much more modern. An influx of folks seeking employment caused the population to explode over a 3-4 yr period.
Taxes went up (had to expand the schools, add bus routes, import police from outside, new roads had to be built to accommodate the new housing units built upon the inflated higher priced land on the edge of the city limits, etc).
Yup. Lost was the face to face, neighbor to neighbor aspect.
Big money ruled.
And I understand the thirst of a small town desiring better times.