Perhaps now is a good time to give our city council members a good kick in the shin and remind them that business are a valued and needed part of our community. The tax dollars created by goods sold fund our services so as businesses decrease so should our offered services. Somehow this concept of money earned equals available to spend has escaped them with their only solution to create more taxes and fees. Not protecting our businesses from harm has also not helped which makes their decision to charge fees for protection ridiculous. Even the Uptown Association chose to leave the neighborhood rather than recreate themselves into a more neighborhood forward series of summer or even annual events.
What a good podcast to have. It's a good example of something positive the city could be be doing to encourage new business as well as creating a greater understanding of what it takes to maintain it. It's even something our city council could even benefit from since so few have actually worked in the private sector.
GDP in the USA is 27T, so 33B (cost of private security listed) is 0.12% of GDP not 1.7%. You are off by more than an order of magnitude, please update the article.
Thank you for pointing out this mistake. Upon further research, that figure looks to have been from an article published in 1991. A more recent article from Security Sales & Integration Jan. 22, 2025 informs me that the private security market grew 6.8% last year from $117 billion to $125 billion. That would equate to .46% of GDP. I will update the article.
This was a very well done interview and very informative and Judy Longbottom sounds like an excellent small business owner/operator who is clearly a leader within her Uptown small business community. I was expecting to hear you ask earlier in the interview about what Judy thought the role of city council members was in supporting small businesses within their wards. Other helpful legislation and resources was discussed during the interview but it seems to me the city council person is the "first-stop" for help and direction and support. Maybe not? When asked later in the interview about this, Judy did mention that at a city council meeting she asked about the $300,000 that was budgeted/approved by the city for "Uptown ambassadors" and why that hadn't been implemented yet but got no definitive response from Councilwomen Chughtai and Cashman. I am surprised Judy has let them off the hook with that as well as other issues in Uptown. There is an election coming up and a very strong candidate has thrown her name in for the seat in Ward 7. I think it might be helpful to hear from a small business owner who has shut down/left Uptown for balance, not just someone who has 6 years left on her lease.
I know a few of those who have left, or are planning to. (I plan to interview one of them.) We all support healthy workplaces, but no healthy businesses = no workers. Judy is a pillar of Uptown and gives so much to the community. She rarely goes negative, but the rest of us can!
Chugtai and Cashman (wards 10 and 7) both have strong candidates running to replace them. It's critical for city voters to attend the caucus on April 8, 7 pm. Stay tuned for location. Because candidates vie for DFL endorsement at the caucuses -- which is a huge advantage in this DFL city -- by attending your caucus you have a BIG say in who is on the ballot in the fall.
Hi Lisa, Thank you for listening. I would like to interview more people about their Uptown experiences. If you know of a small business owner that has left, please email terry@betterminneapolis.com with their contact information. I'd me happy to set up time with them.
Fantastic piece Terry.
Sorry I couldn’t join you. You definitely got the picture across here. I am home looking over spreadsheets today wondering if we’ll make it to Summer.
Jaime Davis MD Uptown Dermatology
So sorry to hear that. Hang in there.
It’s been a rough past few years…
Perhaps now is a good time to give our city council members a good kick in the shin and remind them that business are a valued and needed part of our community. The tax dollars created by goods sold fund our services so as businesses decrease so should our offered services. Somehow this concept of money earned equals available to spend has escaped them with their only solution to create more taxes and fees. Not protecting our businesses from harm has also not helped which makes their decision to charge fees for protection ridiculous. Even the Uptown Association chose to leave the neighborhood rather than recreate themselves into a more neighborhood forward series of summer or even annual events.
What a good podcast to have. It's a good example of something positive the city could be be doing to encourage new business as well as creating a greater understanding of what it takes to maintain it. It's even something our city council could even benefit from since so few have actually worked in the private sector.
GDP in the USA is 27T, so 33B (cost of private security listed) is 0.12% of GDP not 1.7%. You are off by more than an order of magnitude, please update the article.
Thank you for pointing out this mistake. Upon further research, that figure looks to have been from an article published in 1991. A more recent article from Security Sales & Integration Jan. 22, 2025 informs me that the private security market grew 6.8% last year from $117 billion to $125 billion. That would equate to .46% of GDP. I will update the article.
This was a very well done interview and very informative and Judy Longbottom sounds like an excellent small business owner/operator who is clearly a leader within her Uptown small business community. I was expecting to hear you ask earlier in the interview about what Judy thought the role of city council members was in supporting small businesses within their wards. Other helpful legislation and resources was discussed during the interview but it seems to me the city council person is the "first-stop" for help and direction and support. Maybe not? When asked later in the interview about this, Judy did mention that at a city council meeting she asked about the $300,000 that was budgeted/approved by the city for "Uptown ambassadors" and why that hadn't been implemented yet but got no definitive response from Councilwomen Chughtai and Cashman. I am surprised Judy has let them off the hook with that as well as other issues in Uptown. There is an election coming up and a very strong candidate has thrown her name in for the seat in Ward 7. I think it might be helpful to hear from a small business owner who has shut down/left Uptown for balance, not just someone who has 6 years left on her lease.
I know a few of those who have left, or are planning to. (I plan to interview one of them.) We all support healthy workplaces, but no healthy businesses = no workers. Judy is a pillar of Uptown and gives so much to the community. She rarely goes negative, but the rest of us can!
Chugtai and Cashman (wards 10 and 7) both have strong candidates running to replace them. It's critical for city voters to attend the caucus on April 8, 7 pm. Stay tuned for location. Because candidates vie for DFL endorsement at the caucuses -- which is a huge advantage in this DFL city -- by attending your caucus you have a BIG say in who is on the ballot in the fall.
Hi Lisa, Thank you for listening. I would like to interview more people about their Uptown experiences. If you know of a small business owner that has left, please email terry@betterminneapolis.com with their contact information. I'd me happy to set up time with them.
Hi Terry, I don't know anyone personally. There is Ann Kim who closed her restaurant Kim's/Sooki and Mimi. Would be interesting to hear from her.