On the front page of the East Valley Tribune (which services a large part of the Phoenix metro area) is an article entitled, "Merchants abandoning area".

Vacant stores and growing numbers of "For Lease" signs in downtown Scottsdale have sparked a call for action from local business owners, who are demanding that City Hall help stem the flood of merchants leaving the area.

Twenty downtown property and business owners sent a letter to the City Council on Wednesday saying the city's Downtown Task Force has only scratched the surface of petential solutions for the area's woes, and asking the city to help fund a study to find a new economic engine.

Personal Note: The article continues but its a joke to have the city taxpayers "fund" a study. I can sum up the problem right here and now. Its a combination of greed. Property values have skyrocketed due to the boom, which means commercial property taxes have skyrocketed which means the downtown property owners have passed that on to businesses that lease there property PLUS added quite a few percents themselves. A small business owner can't make money when they are paying $3000-4000 a month for a small space selling knick knacks and paddywacks. The only businesses that can afford that type of rental are lawyers and medical offices.

Those spaces remain empty because the property owners refuse to budge on there lease rates. After all, if you want to lease in tony, downtown Scottsdale, you've got to pay for it.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@altavista.com), April 27, 2001