Green Village Consulting

In my last post I lamented the decline of American retail spaces and products by sharing the sad tale of the new Rite-Aid at Goodman Street and Monroe Avenue in Rochester (see below). In the post I congratulated the City of Rochester for insisting on better design of the new Rite-Aid, which includes large display windows at the sidewalks, rather than blank walls. Unfortunately, the products sold in a Rite-Aid don’t lend themselves well to display…

I went by Rite-Aid today, and although the store looks almost completely stocked, the display windows along Goodman Street are empty. I could see clearly, however, from the sidewalk, through the windows, a large shelf of Cottonelle toilet paper and paper towels.

Last week, I saw one of the obnoxious Rochester-based mobile billboard trucks plying the East End. These trucks, which I believe are diesel, carry nothing but a big sign, and they drive around town all day. 

This day, I noticed that the ad on the back of this particular mobile billboard truck had something to do with preventing asthma. 

What do you think of this? Is it just shockingly hypocritical? Or is it better to have the trucks that chug around town doing nothing but trying to sell you something try to sell you some important awareness or inform and inspire you to a good cause?

This whole experience reminded me of a favorite campaign of mine: Breast Cancer Action’s Think Before You Pink. This campaign sheds light on breast cancer promotions and fundraisers derived by companies that make or produce substances that have been linked to the disease. BCA has exposed several of these “pinkwashers,” including yogurt, vacuum cleaner, and automobile companies. 

The “pinkwashers,” “greenwashers”, and other washers are out there in force, looking to capitalize on genuine concern. It is up to us to know them when we see them, and call them for what they really are. This requires research and scrutiny, which takes time and effort, for sure. But in taking such time, you’re honoring your own–and all the others’–efforts to make a real difference in the quest for ecology and humanity.

In 2007, staff of the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester turned the demolition of several of their buildings into big parties and press bonanzas. These implosion events doubled as product launches/hearty celebrations.

Why wouldn’t Kodak be happy? By demolishing these buildings, Kodak trimmed its property taxes significantly. This is because Rochester, like most cities, levees its property taxes overwhelmingly on buildings and improvements, and very little on the land underneath.

Why is this a problem? In the Kodak case, the company and community loses solid, usable buildings; and the City of Rochester loses critically important tax revenue. Also consider that a property tax so heavily weighted on buildings and improvements and so little on land encourages dilapidation, underutilization, speculation and sprawl.  At the same time, those who put time and money into making their properties, neighborhoods, and city durable and beautiful are rewarded with hiked assessments and taxes. What’s more, under the current system, we give tax breaks to a select few to achieve the kinds of urban development that the land value tax would enable across the board—LVT essentially gives the tax break to everyone without the city giving up the tax revenue. Most cities saddle themselves with a regressive system of property taxation that discourages good development, encourages bad development and neglect, and ensures local government dependence on the wild volatility of building values.

If you are toiling nobly to restore and revitalize your city, you owe it to yourself to learn more about land value taxation. This is not a new or unproven idea. Check out www.urbantools.org to learn more.

Click here to see photos of the implosion, and here to see a video of the destruction.

Although the sign may indicate otherwise, tiny Pinos Altos, NM still focuses all its activity on its Main Street.  (Actually, there are no other streets in town, but let’s get back to the subject of Main Streets, shall we?)

What does your Main Street look like, and how does it function today?

photo by Evan Lowenstein