Public Invited to Share Opinions on Cruise Ship Program

There is no financial incentive or tax incentive in keeping a commercial space vacant! To assert otherwise is false and shows a major lack of understanding of finance and taxes.

"the land owners make it so expensive that retail just can't sustain itself in town. that is the main problem."
I know this thread is about cruise ships but this statement above caught my eye. Our tax code must change so that there is no financial incentive/tax incentive to keep commercial real estate vacant. There are commercial properties on State street that have been vacant for years.

And how about the Biltmore and Coral Casino? Zero income since the mudslide. Can you imagine the annual expenses to keep these properties in good shape?

If there were no incentives to keep the properties vacant, then land owners would have to rent the property at fair market value which would create jobs for people and tax revenue for the city.

That's exactly what I'm advocating against. What you and many are unware of, is that the favoritism and interference of the economy that is occurring if for the benefit major corporations (and not coincidently big political donors) and to the detriment of small business. They are gutting the middle class (small businesses) further increasing the wealth of the upper class and elite, and pushing more people into the lower class dependent on the government and the major corporations. I'm all for true socialism, where the means of production are controlled by the workers, NOT socialism that is controlled by the government which is NOT controlled by the people, as much as we like to pretend it is. Small-businesses are the closest thing we have to the workers controlling the means of production and they're being decimated by Big Government policies.

VoR: What you're advocating for is socialism. Favoritism and interference in the economy leads to distortions in competition, even on the local level. I cringed so hard when the last Potus promised an air conditioning factory he would help them expand, or that the coal companies would magically recover. It's not up to the government to make that happen! At best they are false promises, at worst it leads to a system depending on the whims of random officials.

I was referring to the multiple downvotes to my comment pointing out what is really impacting retail (small businesses) downtown, which corrected your erroneous post that it's the landowners that make it so expensive retail can't sustain itself - that is false.

VOR, anti small business? is that what you got from the posts? i dont see one post slamming people for having a small business. We just don't have retail in town. SB sucks for shopping. We have to go to Santa Maria, SLO, and Ventura for retail or we shop online. the few small businesses in retail that we have downtown aren't what people are shopping for, which is why they don't last and aren't really needed.

Wow, a lot of anti-small business people out today.

You're right @12:45, that isn't the city's role. Their role is supposed to be on our side, helping our businesses compete in the regional, national and global economies. Their role is to support and encourage the long-term prosperity of our city and the businesses that call it home; being anti-business by throwing up as much red tape as possible, and then some, goes against this.

correction VOR: it is not the duty or role of the city to decide winners and losers in the free market competition for the consumer dollar. A better mousetrap has been built and those who don't move on are going to fade away.

correction: the city makes it incredibly difficult / expensive for both landlords and businesses (it's a partnership, they go hand in hand) to open for businesses in a town where too many rely on Amazon/Target rather than shopping local.