June 27, 2008
MAYOR SAYS "LOCAL ECONOMY GOING QUITE WELL" - REALLY? LOOK AGAIN!
Yelm Mayor Ron Harding said in the NVN of Yelm's landmark Arnold's Country Inn Restaurant closing,
“'I don’t know all the reasons around Rick’s decisions to close, but I think the local economy is going quite well.'
Harding speculated that the restaurant catered to a specific group of diners, who perhaps no longer have the discretionary income to spend on upscale meals."
Mr. Mayor, with the national economic downturn and the Thurston County deficit announced last week, if Yelm patrons "perhaps no longer have the discretionary income to spend on upscale meals", that should be of concern to city officials, who will feel the tax revenue loss in the coffers, rather than such a casual dismissal of Arnold's closure.
Yelm now has its two long-time, full service restaurants closed (Arnold's & Annie's Bistro/Two Friends' Cafe)
and a convenience store (at 93rd). Even the NVN says the closing of Arnold's involves the loss of "34 full- and part-time employees". That's a huge job loss for Yelm.
Further, Yelm Community blog readers have known for quite some time what The Olympian readers learned about Yelm last week
"Homebuyers look to cut commutes and fuel costs
Rural housing market could lose out to urban centers"
"South Sound homebuyers are looking for houses closer to work, to cut the high cost of commuting brought on by record fuel prices, real estate agents and their customers said Wednesday [June 18].
It's another indication that skyrocketing fuel prices are driving major changes in the way U.S. residents live...
Laura and Craig Haff of Olympia made a similar decision, Laura Haff said.
The couple recently bought a house in Olympia after living in Steilacoom for four years.
Their first choice was to live in Yelm where they found a house for $183,000 with a really large yard.
The Haffs soon decided that Yelm, without a direct road to Fort Lewis, was too inconvenient for work and not close enough to shopping, Laura Haff said.
'It took forever to get anywhere, and if it takes forever, that costs more gasoline,' she said."
This story reflects what this writer has been reporting for months --
Yelm has a perfect storm brewing as people sell their homes here to be closer to urban centers and cut their commuting costs, businesses here losing customers that would come here from as far away as Gig Harbor or Puyallup for the Drew Harvey Theater, Arnold's Country Inn & Gordon's to name a few, as patrons are not driving out here because of the fuel costs. These factors plus Yelm's ambitious announced projects including a Public Library, new City Hall & new Recreation Center and County cutbacks will all come to roost here before too long.
There are signals here that things are changing, regardless of Mr. Harding's pronouncement "the local economy is going quite well."
THIS IS THE TIME TO SAVE FOR A RAINY DAY -- NOT SPEND, SPEND, & SPEND!
STORM CLOUDS HAVE GATHERED!
It's understandable to worry about the commuting costs, and everyone knows that until automakers start introducing alternately fueled autos, people will start looking at urban area's a little more fondly. I believe that Yelm is close enough to weather this "storm", with the 507, it takes 15 minutes to drive from yelm to Ft. Lewis, using the Roy gate. I'm not sure what the Haffs mentioned in this article meant by a "direct road". Also, with the opening of Starbucks, Kinja, and Saar's market place. what other shopping is "needed"? Another 15 minutes and your in Olympia, Lacey..Yelm is looking good to me.
Yelm will weather the storm, no question.
The point is that in an economic downturn, you don't add all of these capital spending projects on the backs of the local taxpayer:
1. new city hall
2. new community rec. center
3. new library that this city council has known since Nov., 2001 would be needed in 2012 and did nothing.
4. new water line to Longmire Park
5. all of that on top of fire and school levies and new school taxes coming soon.
and, what about Yelm's budget, since their fuel costs have exploded and receipts are going down?
The writer Tritter failed to mention that not everyone has access to the Fort Lewis Roy gate, which is reserved for military personnel or folks who work on Fort Lewis. What else is needed in Yelm? JOBS.
As for the Mayor's comment "Yelm's economy looking pretty good to me", this man is a total idiot. Yelm economy is looking good? Take off the blinders and get in the real world. We are in a recession, businesses are closing, homes are being foreclosed in the Yelm area as well as all over the country, gas is outrageous, and keeps going up. We are paying more and more for less, and by the way, the answer to conserving water is to increase the water rates????? Please note: I didn’t vote for this man.