Subsidize Failing Businesses? No Way

09/09/2024

chianello.richmond

Well, now that you’re asking …

No. Government can’t solve every problem known to mankind.

Our local government is ridiculously incompetent and doesn’t have the money now to do it.

So former colleague Chianello … God bless ya … the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The city should do what it is supposed to do and has failed to do on Richmond Road, that is finish light rail and the street as soon as possible.

Instead, the city wants to turn Richmond into an urban nirvana while Rome burns. God knows how much that will cost. And how much will this extra construction time cost those businesses? Certainly more than subsidies could cover from the city.

Now here comes the diabolical side of your agent. Maybe the city wants those businesses to fail. It’s prime territory for building huge towers along the line which will pay lots of property taxes. At least more than a car lot or Subway shop.

Then developers can pick up those sites at bargain basement prices due to the construction and start building as interest rates drop. The condos or apartments could be ready just as the Richmond Road nirvana is complete. The City of Ottawa might not be good at many things but it certainly knows how to make developers rich. That’s a talent.

And as for the Richmond Road nirvana, no doubt it will be as successful as the Churchill Avenue complete street at $24 million. I’ve driven up and down Churchill thousands of times. Cyclists in the summer, let alone the winter, are as rare as common sense at Ottawa City Hall.

By subsidizing those businesses, the city would only be prolonging their failure which city hall caused by extending the building time on Richmond Road.

You can’t stand in the way of history. For example, government is trying to regulate work-at-home by forcing employees to be in the office three days a week. Business owners in the core say that’s not enough so what is the point of half-measures. Businesses go under and your workers are unhappy.

This just in … the world is changing. People will do what they want to do. They all have minds of their own. If they want to work at home, they will eventually work at home because it’s best for people. And it’s better for the environment, too. Who wants to idle their car on Highway 417 in traffic jams partially caused by the city butchering the mass transit system? How environmentally friendly is that? Work-at-home is the beginning of the post-transit society.

The city can’t solve business problems. It can’t solve its own problems. Businesses started to make money and it involves risks … upside and downside. Should government subsidize my losses on Intel stock? No. I paid my money and took my chances. i’ve won a lot of times. But here, I’ve lost. I’ve no one to blame but myself. So I pay the price.

If you want a steady job with no risk, become a city planner.

What business owners need to do is adjust. Find alternatives. Maybe even close shop.

Can city hall fix a failing downtown core? Not a chance. It can’t make the trains run on time.

Don’t try to stand in the way of history. It will just run you over. Instead, find a way to prosper from the changes.

Adjust. Do the bob-and-weave.

Find something necessary, lucrative, new and interesting to do.

Ken Gray