As a member of the Small Business Association, I feel compelled to chime in. It is true that SWSBA supported Cecilia Jones. Here is why. There were a number of proposed ordinances that had great potential to do significant harm to small businesses. Many of us appealed to our commissioners to no avail. My favorite BCC response has always been the eye roll. I am sure that many of you have had similar experiences. If you are not getting a satisfactory response from your representatives, the only recourse is to replace them. I think that most reasonable people would agree with this. By the way, our support was in the form of voter turn out. There is no "mass cash". Let me also point out that most of us are true small business owners. Our pockets are not deep enough to buy gum much less politicians. If you do not like Comm. Jones, there will be another election and we will all have the opportunity to vote as we see fit.
I have been a resident of South Walton since 1990 and have seen many attempts to organize the business community as we typically have not been adequately represented. All previous attempts have failed. Why? Because we are running small businesses. We can not afford to take time away from that. Time away from running our businesses is equal to no school clothes, or braces or water and electricity.
Finally, we have an organization that sticks! It may not be perfect but it's main purpose is to support small business and that is exactly what so many of us needed. We all felt like we were in the process of being forced out of business from every direction. I certainly would not need to put so much time and energy into this mess if I did not feel that it was critical in order to preserve my livelihood. I would much rather run my business and spend time at home. So please understand, there is no evil secret mission. We are just a bunch of moms and dads and hard working folks trying to stay afloat. Those of you that attend BCC meetings and the like know exactly how it feels to be ignored. You all know what it feels like when something passes that can adversely affect you, your family, friends etc. The only thing you can do is gather people with similar views and try to get the County’s attention to your needs. Nothing evil or sinister, just an attempt at fair representation. Every one of us deserves that.
In the beginning, most of us were not looking to become part of a political action group but the natural order of things was bound to push us in that direction. How could we support business without participating in local government? Networking is incredibly valuable but it does not protect us from unfair regulation. I am grateful for an organization that connects us. It sounds hokie but I truly believe that we all succeed and fail together. This is a small town and all we have is each other.
I would like to clear up some misconceptions about the SBA as I have heard all kinds of fun things about the SBA's hidden agendas. There are none. Our organization is run by a board, elected by it's members annually. Nothing is done in the group’s name without consensus. In other words, if there are individuals with a less than savory "plot", they would be hard pressed to get the support of our organization. Ask around, I make it my personal mission to insure that is the case. I am careful who I put my name with and I am probably more skeptical than most of you. This organization, like any other, is not perfect but the good far outweighs the not so good. Our membership collectively want a business friendly environment but not at the cost of quality of life. The term I hear members use most is "a fair playing field". As a group, we are a pretty reasonable bunch. For example, when the parking ordinance was proposed it was immensely flawed. For starters, most of the lots left are not big enough to satisfy the proposed ordinance. In effect, it would stop all construction. That is fine if it is the intent of the ordinance and is supported by the citizens but that was not the case. Second, "grandfathered" is a sneaky term. Yes, that would mean that existing business would not have to comply to the new ordinance. However, in the event of a disaster like a fire or hurricane, any destroyed business (I believe the threshold is 50%) would not be able to rebuild as they were. So, imagine if you owned one of those tiny businesses on one of those tiny lots. This business is how you pay your bills and take care of your family. Of course, you have put your time, money and energy into this business. You and your loved ones have made sacrifices to build this business. You plan to retire one day, maybe pass the business down to your child, or sell it and buy an RV and spend your retirement touring. Now imagine that a hurricane wipes you out. You can not rebuild because your lot is not big enough to satisfy the ordinance. What do you do? Sell? Sure, if you can find someone interested in buying a property that isn’t big enough to legally use. At best you could sell at a reduced value. No one invests their blood, sweat and tears into anything unless they plan to be in it for the long haul. The payout does not come in the short term. This ordinance would have been great 15 years ago but we can not roll back time and start over. This is why we do not support that ordinance at this time. However we do support a comprehensive, public parking/shuttle plan. This is a much more realistic goal to achieve from where we are. It seems obvious to me that the County needs to be aggressively acquiring land for public parking and shuttle stops. We can not really fix parking or traffic in any traditional way so why not work on ways to get people out of their cars. We have to all agree on something soon because this issue has been kicked down the road for so long that our options are quickly dwindling.
Also did you know that the SBA is an advocate of transparency. Do you want to know who is up to what? So do we. The SBA wants all proposed ordinances to include the name or names of the parties responsible for bringing them forth. We have suggested this to the BCC on more than one occasion. I am sure you are not surprised that none of our commissioners have latched on to that idea.
Finally, I see that some of you are planning to boycott SBA members and that is certainly your right. However, I would like to request that you give that careful consideration. A lot of things have been said about our organization lately and they are not all true. I humbly ask that you consider the big picture as well as the individual business. We will never all agree on everything but we all have to find some common ground to share this place we call paradise.