Posted by GrowGranite on November 5, 2018, 1:46 pm
It's time to get involved with our local Government.
Granite City has nothing attractive to bring people here to stay or even to shop, no abundance of jobs to entice people to stay or move here and no effective city planning to negate the above-mentioned problems. Often when I listen to people talk (complain) about the businesses leaving GC, I notice that they fail to understand the reasoning. Let's have a look at a few closures "recently" besides the Mill...
1. Starbucks This is one I hear every time a discussion is had about this city. In 2008, Starbucks announced that it would be closing 600 stores nationwide. "The move to close the stores is a turnabout from Starbucks’ aggressive expansion plans. But the company curtailed those plans as it saw traffic and its profits decline recently as the faltering economy has led some consumers to question their spending on pricey coffee." https://bit.ly/2zAMdJq
2.Kmart Sears Holdings Corp (Kmart's parent company) filed for bankruptcy and has plans to close the few remaining stores it has open nationwide.
3.Shop N' Save This grocer had a horrible management restructure in 2013 and it's been nothing but downhill since. Although Schnucks purchased quite a few Shop N' Save stores, Granite City was obviously not one they were interested in due to the proximity of their existing store and the fact that they moved from that location previously in favor of the larger building when the company acquired National Supermarkets.
4.Lowes Recently the news of the Granite City Lowes closing was released. Immediately the chatter started with everything from tax incentives expiring to poor sales. Although poor sales is a factor, Granite City is not the only location being closed. In fact, Granite City is only one of 51 total stores being closed this year in the U.S. and Canada. Lowes states that this move is part of a strategic reassessment in which the company said it plans to focus "on its most profitable stores and improve the overall health of its store portfolio." This is not uncommon in today's retail economy. In fact, Lowe's owns Orchard Supply and announced in August of this year that they would be closing all 99 of those stores nationwide by Feb 2019.
Now, on to the city having nothing attractive and lacking the planning to bring business and jobs to the area. There are a few of MAJOR things that I have a problem with here.
1. Lack of information The leadership of Granite City (Primarily the Mayor and his staff) fail to properly communicate the city's vision and plans moving forward. Although people must understand that plans that are in negotiation can RARELY be discussed publicly due to non-disclosure agreements, the city could inform the residents that there are indeed plans for specific areas in the works and that further details will be forthcoming. While the city has showcased some recent business additions on social media, we still see an almost total absence from our Mayor in a time when real concern about the wellbeing of our city is an issue. Meanwhile, the Mayor of Pontoon Beach regularly posts updates about the progress of the village and even does live videos explaining plans. While speculation is not necessarily always unhealthy, it almost always leads to discord in a social media setting when little to no information is available about the topic.
2. Lack of Vision Just recently (2017), the city held an event (Grow Granite) for future planning and development and improvement of Granite City. This conference was held at the township hall and included City officials, Major business owners and several other community figures that were united to help make positive changes in Granite City. The conference was led by the Agile Strategy Lab from Perdue University using the proven "Strategic Doing" process. The conference was actually very productive as teams were formed to discuss and plan to solve issues with the city. While some teams such as the city beautification team have completed some work (like painting fire hydrants) others have faltered or lost steam. The overall lack of vision and procedural steps to achieve that vision appear to be the stall in the process. Yes, there is a general vision "Grow Granite City" but there is no individual vision on some of the teams and the lack of "inspect what you expect" from leadership is astounding.
3. Not Heeding Historical Lessons This is where the pill gets tough to swallow for some. If you dig into the demographics and history of Metro area cities that have majorly declined, you will see a defined pattern. As jobs decline and interest moves elsewhere, the higher income folks move to the areas of interest or the areas with jobs. While lower income folks capitalize on the reduced property value. And some cannot afford to make any major moves or changes at all. At the same time, business such as title loan companies and "finance" companies move into the shells of once large name businesses simply because the property owners are forced to reduce the lease rates in order to at least get something out of the property. And other, once valuable retail space is also being occupied by doctors offices, clinics, churches, and other "Mom and Pop" fly by night businesses diminishing the amount of retail traffic through those areas. (I am in no way saying that Doctors offices or clinics are not needed, but they definitely do not belong in a retail plaza's development.) At some point, the city will attempt some sort of "restructuring" or "economic development" which more often than not will partially or fully fail due to lack of proper planning and vision. As larger corporations sell off property or property is bought by out of area or foreign real estate investors, the city has little to no power over lease rate negotiations or property conditions. Established citizens begin to make moves like urging councils to bar certain businesses from developing in an effort to keep "what we don't need" out of the town. Some of this based on political views and others based on lack of information and stubbornness. As the population continues to decline, property conditions decline as well and eventually (in an effort to fund city operations) the city begins to allow lesser desired businesses to take root. Public facilities such as parks, common areas, and former development projects turn to ruins or empty plots of land and the city no longer has the funding to even remove unsafe or condemned structures. Eventually, due to a lack of city funding, officials pull back from offering enticing tax breaks and incentives for business and industry to move in.
Granite City is not "beyond repair". We are in a great location for industry and manufacturing. We have Road, Rail, and River transportation at our fingertips and the opportunity for great development. Our city officials must develop ONE UNIFIED VISION and a plan to make that vision succeed. Continuing to elect individuals that fail to communicate, primarily focus only on small businesses and the shell of a former downtown will lead to the demise of what we have left. We need a reason for people to WANT to move here. A Vision and a Plan to increase industry and property value all while still promoting small business and community. This cannot be fully achieved with only an "Art District". The Vision must be clear and goals must be S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound). City officials must "Inspect what they expect" and see that the Vision is carried out at all costs. Unless we invest in the town we live in and get involved to see this come to fruition nothing will change and you can look to communities slightly west to get a picture of what the future looks like for Granite City.
on November 5, 2018, 1:46 pm