Placerville (Calif) OKs Moratorium On Thrift Stores

[Kadie]

Nov 5, 2009 10:31 am US/Pacific
Placerville OKs Moratorium On Thrift Stores

More Local NewsPLACERVILLE (AP) ― While many cities are taking aim at marijuana dispensaries and nightclubs, Placerville is addressing its own problem business: thrift stores.

The city council has approved a 45-day moratorium on the establishment, expansion and relocation of businesses that sell donated household items.

Supporters of the temporary ban say thrift stores, many of which benefit nonprofit organizations, don't generate enough sales tax needed to support city services while occupying prime commercial property.

Thrift stores have been thriving in the economic downturn. In Placerville, there are four used-good shops, one scheduled to open and another proposed.

more...
http://cbs13.com/local/thrift.store.moratorium.2.1294103.html

[pinto]

1. Whaa?

Geez. Talk about tunnel vision.

[Mari333]

2. trying to keep the riff raff at bay?

shit, dollar stores and second hand shops here are now the norm.

[intheflow]

6. But Dollar Stores aren't non-profits,

so you can have strip mall after strip mall filled with them, Big Lots, and Wal-Marts because they can afford that prime business-zoned properties!

Meanwhile... no one notices that they whole reason these non-profits can even get into those malls is because regular retail already died there and the property owners would rather have someone in there than no one. And you'd think the city would think that way, too! (I actually don't know if that's the case where this story is taking place, but it's sure the story here in Denver, back in my hometown in Massachusetts, and what I witnessed when I lived in Mississippi a few years back.)

[SoCalNative]

3. This is the crux right here

"Supporters of the temporary ban say thrift stores, many of which benefit nonprofit organizations, don't generate enough sales tax needed to support city services while occupying prime commercial property."

Bottom line: they wish to protect the profits of their wealthy constituents no matter how much it might cause others to suffer.

[FiveGoodMen]

4. Reminds me of the many bans on clotheslines

Some animals are more equal than others.

[Lars39]

5. Key words: "...while occupying prime commercial property."

I bet somebody's eying the property for developement and thinks they can get it thru eminent domain.

[hunter]

7. If I wanted to buy the kind of stuff affluent people buy why would I go to Placerville?

I bought one of my cool old cameras in a Placerville thrift store.

Gentrification makes places boring.

Upscale tourist towns are about as exciting as strip malls and big box stores.

[Brother Buzz]

8. They are shooting themselves in the foot

Placerville's thrift shops have been a stopping point for a lot of tourist passing through on the way up or down the mountain. The same tourists that have fun browsing through the thrift stores also fill their gas tanks, eat a meal in the local 'downtown restaurants' rather than the fast food joints on on the highway, patronize the ice cream parlors on hot days, and even visit the downtown hardware/sporting goods store that would have folded years ago without the tourist trade. Thrift stores are good business for the core downtown section, and I would suggest the city fathers re-examine the bigger picture.

[corpseratemedia]

11. +1

[Lance_Boyle]

9. How about a moratorium on churches? They don't generate any tax revenue, either.

And I'll bet there are WAY more churches than thrift stores in Placerville...

[juno jones]

10. When I lived in the Sierras I was dependent on thrift shops.

As one person I know commented, they add charges to food and other necessities that makes one think they had to haul the stuff up the hill by mule train. It is an expensive place to live, especially for working locals who aren't rich ski bums or retirees. Many of the shops are in holes-in-the-wall anyways. I'm sure this has more to do with preserving the 'image' of the town (ha!) than it does revenue.