Government Gives Leg Up to Business... Big Business

...and drains life out of downtown.

The Moody County Enterprise reports on the groundbreaking for a new retail outlet, an Alco store for Flandreau. We note with approval Flandreau's success in drawing more businesses to serve its residents and visitors. However, we note with a sigh that Alco is building its store out on the west edge of town. Flandreau has another one of those classic small-town Main Streets: old brick buildings with character, a nice collection of little shops trying to get by. Would it really be so hard for a new retailer to join forces with the local businesses and help promote that vital sense of downtown community, instead of insisting on separating itself from the heart of a city?

I know, I know, you gotta have parking, lots of parking. Parking for SUVs is so much more important than community.

To add insult to injury, those downtown business owners are footing the bill for the expansion of their edge-of-town competition. The City of Flandreau gave Alco a TIF (Tax Increment Funding) district. Short form: just like earlier additions Dollar General and the West End Plaza, Alco, a multi-state corporation with 256 stores and $433 million dollars in annual sales, gets to pay less taxes on its new property than if a regular Flandreaunian just up and started a business there and didn't ask the government for a favor.

Oh well. At least Flandreau has someone to compete with Dollar General. It's just too bad that none of these corporations seem to be able to compete without handouts from the government.