At Least I Have A Starbucks

I asked the guy at my neighborhood Starbucks this morning if the store was in danger because of the 600-store closure announced last week. He said that the store is among the top five most profitable in Starbucks' SW region (whatever that is) and that there was no chance it would close. That's good news for me, Not everyone will agree with me on that. Most people profess to prefer the homeyness of the little business on Main Street, to the branch office of the giant on Wall Street. After all, small business is usually someone's dream and who doesn't want to support someone in pursuit of their dream? It seems a lot of us won't. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a Starbucks on every corner. Would I prefer a nice coffee house to a Starbucks? You bet, but I don't have that choice at the moment, so I go where I can. Independent coffee shops do not proliferate here in Hooterville, party because we have our fair share of SB locations, but also because our geographic layout is not conducive to foot traffic, which I think is a key to success for the small operator. In fact, it is something of a miracle that any business succeeds here. If Older Son and Daughter Sneed were to move elsewhere, I think I would vote to blow this joint. Pretty much all we have going for us is the terrific scenery and very agreeable winters. For that we pay the price of the unbearable summer. To make matters worse, our fair city is reeling backwards rather than moving forward, economically, and from a quality of life standpoint. Our city council is controlled by special interest groups, including well-to-do Yuppies, business and special interests and advocates for minority groups. They conspire to make sure that nothing ever gets done. Each idea put forth is promptly planned to death. Employment, here in the 51st largest metro area in the country, is dominated by the government. 15 of our largest 20 employers are governmental entities. Another is a large producers of military armament. Of the four remaining, one is WalMart and the other three are hospitals. We are a city of the very wealthy, those people who make a decent living working for the government or people barely getting by, working at low-wage jobs. We routinely reject light rail, and freeways as a way to move people more efficiently. Our streets are over-crowded. We have passable bus service so long as you have a very flexible time schedule. On the other hand, the Phoenix metro area has been led by folks with a clue. As a result they routinely accomplish what Hooterville won't. We are their poor cousins. The latest indignity visited on us by our relative to the north, is that they are poaching our baseball spring training teams away. We currently have the Chicago White Sox, the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks spring training here. The White Sox have announced that they hare headed to Phoenix and the other two will soon follow. Our leaders fiddle while the moving vans are loaded. Even our Triple A minor league team is bailing out for Reno, NV. Reno? Our isolation in the far corner of the nation makes it difficult to attract major employers, quality airline service and a host of other things big cities routinely expect. It seems as though our fearless leaders are content with that situation. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky