Toellner Tells it

Making it easier on small businesses

Mark Cuban, the near legendary multi-billionaire that knows a thing or two about start up businesses has an interesting blog posting today about how to spur the increase in small business startups.  He notes the intimidating paperwork that is associated with starting a business (noting four forms for the state of Texas -- where he lives) and didn't even touch on the city paperwork that people have to step through.

Honestly, it almost takes a lawyer to get through the paperwork of starting out a business. Of course, if you're starting up a business, that last thing you can afford is some lawyer fees to get started (note, not only do you not have income coming in now, it may be awhile before you do).  Cuban suggests allowing businesses with fewer than 25 employees to begin tax-free as a way of stimulating small business growth.

Seems smart. 

I got a colorful email from a small-business owner a while back that mentioned some of the frustrations with working with the KCMO City Council in getting certain variences and change of use rules changed for the opening of his business. I'm going to copy this little piece of the email so you get the gist -- including the author's colorful language that I think sums up the frustration.

"I'd really like to have several more locations around Kansas City.  It just takes so much time and money to get through all the fucking codes and bullshit that I start to lose hope and energy... I begin to consider playing video games and fucking off rather than having my own business. 

 

Sorry for the rant I'm just frustrated with all the red tape and bull shit.  The city is comprised of really nice people it's just the fucking rules that slow everything down and some of them don't make a fuck bit of sense."

 

I think you get the idea.

 

If Kansas City wants small businesses to start up to help stimulate growth in the city, and to stimulate the job market, they should make it easier on small business owners. Fewer rules. Fewer restrictions. In fact, encourage small businesses to open. Encourage entrepreneurship. Make the rules few, and easy to follow.  Allow people to be able to open a business without needing to get a lawyer to wade through all the forms and paperwork. It's business. It's growth. We should encourage growth instead of making huge barriers to entry.

 

Several locally owned Kansas City bars and restaurants have closed due to the combined opening of the Power and Light District and the smoking ban.  We're making it FAR too difficult on local business owners.

 

Earlier this month, we offered$240 million in economic incentives to Bombardier to build a manufacturing plant in Kansas City that would have brought with it 2,000 jobs.  Maybe its time to start focusing on growing our city from within, by making it NOT a pain in the butt for local people to start their own company, instead of throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at other companies to get them to relocate here.  There is no reason to make it that difficult.

 

Is a 4 day work week more productive than a 5 day?

Apparently the folks at 37-signals -- a Chicago based business thinks it is.  They implemented a 4-day work week last summer just for the summer.  They determined that productivity didn't decline at all in four days vs five. That people came back to work more refreshed on Monday and worked harder, better and smarter while they were there. I would also speculate that people would spend less time doing personal business during the work week because they can get it all done in the three days on the longer weekend.

"Three-day weekends mean people come back extra refreshed on Monday. Three-day weekends mean people come back happier on Monday. Three-day weekends mean people actually work harder and more efficiently during the four-day work week".

As we start discussing the costs of communiting and traffic flow, there will be more companies that decide that a 4 day work week is the way to go.

Besides, who decided that we should work over 70% of the time anyway?

Hat tip: PSFK

Hybrid-only parking?

 Last week I was in Green Bay, WI and in their public parking garages, right next to the handicapped spaces, they had parking spaces designated for Hybrid Vehicles only.  The idea I suppose is to reward people who are buying fuel efficient vehicles, that create less polution, by giving them preferred parking in their downtown area. Today seemed like a good day to post the message given that it is the first day of the year where we're forcasting poor air quality.

Not as good as taking the bus, but it would be a step in the right direction.

No Car Day

 In 2007, the city of Kunming China joined 100 cities from around the country for a "No Car Day".  The idea went over so well, that the city is now doing a no-car day once a month.  No private cars are allowed on the roads, only motorcycles, taxis and buses.

I'm not sure if this would work in Kansas City. However, let's assume that say, in 2011, when the city opens the light rail line (yeah, I'm optimistic, shoot me) and reconfigures the bus routes to tie into the light rail line. Let's also assume that we've created more bike-lanes that also feed into the routes. Let's say in order to get people to experiment with the new transit routes, they instituted a no-car day so that everyone was forced to use the public transit for the day - - and found out they kind of liked it. 

It would seem like a good way to encourage people to try out a new public transit system.  Not all would stick with it, but I think many would. Now, where's that new public transit system? 

Hat Tip: PSFK.

Editor's Update: Kunming does their car-free days on the fourth Saturday of every month.  Certainly the decrease in the amount of traffic without the commuter traffic makes this a possibility on a weekend.

18th and Vine Celebrates New Improvement Projects?

 The 18th & Vine Jazz Distric is set to celebrate more than $3 million in completed and planned improvements to the area tomorrow morning.  The planned and finished improvements consist of:

1) A surface parking lot at the corner of 18th and Paseo that is already complete.  It is a wonderful parking lot and all, but I am fearful when we are celebrating the "construction" of surface parking.

2) A new patio at the corner of 18th and The Paseo.  I'm not sure if this is a separate use for the surface parking lot or a different use of concrete. My guess would be that this is going in next to the now vacant former home of the Peach Tree Restaurant.

3) A rooftop billboard, er sign, to distinguish the Jazz District.

4) $1.6 million in retail space renovations.

Hey, I will say I'm one of the biggest champions of the Jazz District there is, but one of the biggest things holding the area back is maintaining the businesses and retail that are already there.  Outside of the Blue Room, which has some of the best Jazz played in the city, most of the other places have either failed or moved on to greener pastures.  The Red Vine restaurant was great, but suffered from high rents for the amount of traffic they were getting and eventually folded. The Peach Tree did wonderfully, but is in the process of moving to the Power & Light District.  I'm hopeful that Harpers and the Jazz Haus will hold on and do well.

Many of the developers here would do well to lower some of the rents in order to fill up the retail/restaurant spaces....or make the rents available on a commission of sales basis.  When the Red Vine closed, they were getting charged $5,000 a month rent on the space they occupied. The district is struggling to bring in a mass number of visitors to make the retail/restaurants more viable. However, many people shy away from the area because the few number of places to go makes the area seem less viable. Lowering some of the rents to keep places in business would be great for the area -- and a lower amount of rent is still more than the $0 they made off of the space for 2 years while the space sat empty. 

Let's use some common sense when redeveloping some of these east-side locations...and not let the greedy developers charge such astronomical rents that the places can't succeed.  Successful businesses in the 18th & Vine District would be something to get excited about...much more so than surface parking lots and illegal billboards.  Maybe the refurbished retail space will get some businesses going...let's hope.