Maybe some good can come of chamber turmoil

EDITORIAL: Business is hurting

By Inside TUcson Business staff
Published on Saturday, December 26, 2009

Rare is the business – of any size – that hasn’t suffered this year from the recession. That has brought frustration that is culminating as 2009 comes to an end with a public display targeting the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

The small businesses that have organized as the Tucson First Coalition want chamber president Jack Camper out. Meanwhile, the chamber’s board dug in with a “vote of support” for the man who has led the organization for 32 years as of next week.

It’s not the first time that Camper has been a target. Those involved still won’t talk publicly about an effort that took place two years ago. Some say that was a move by one board member to try to get the job. Others say it was nothing more than an exploratory effort. In any event it didn’t come to fruition.

 

 

As both the organizers of Tucson First and Camper acknowledged in an article in the Dec. 21 issue of Inside Tucson Business, the interests of business in this region are fragmented. As a result, local governments – namely the City of Tucson and Pima County – have been able to exploit the lack of cohesiveness to either ignore or dismiss attempts by businesses be heard.

The word has spread that Marana and Sahuarita are much more business-friendly. But for the owners of small businesses, it’s an expensive proposition to relocate, especially in these times when it’s difficult, if not impossible, to get financing for such a move. And there’s always the risk/reward equation to considered.

In the small business world, it’s better to try to make what you already have work better.

Unfortunately, for as much as many have tried, it just hasn’t happened this year.

That has taken its toll. Not only are owners and managers working harder and longer hours, they’ve had to cut employees – and in the world of small business, that can get personal.

Yet these owners see government entities that have not faced up to the challenges. Percentage-wise, city budget cuts have been relatively modest — so far — compared to the owner of a business employing a dozen people that’s let 25 percent of them — four people go.

Instead, the city this year raised taxes and fees and continues to make its bureaucracy cumbersome and illogical.  Why, for instance, does the city compete with private landlords, sometimes cutting sweetheart rent deals?

And just what is it the city envisions for downtown?

It’s difficult to predict what will happen from the public controversy about the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. Some of its members are also members of other business organizations. And some of those other business organizations do things that are closely competitive to the work of the chamber.

If there is good to come from this, it should be that each business organization gets clearly defined missions and goals with unified support behind them. If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it is that there needs to be a change in attitude among some key decision-makers at Tucson City Hall and in Pima County.