What about mom & pop? “Big Time Billionaires” need billions more in bailouts to survive...

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Little local mom & pop places have no bailouts... they just have you.
What is it going to take? This little EV rag may be the runt in the paper rack but at least if you read our archives you’ll see we have been consistently harping, crying, begging and occasionally demanding that you shop mom & pop.
It didn’t take a recession to make us believers in the fact that strong local economy is based on supporting local businesses more than out of town, out of state or (even worse) out of the country businesses. It all comes full circle, or at least it should.
We do not claim for an instant to be certified economists, our opinion is worth just what it costs. Nevertheless, odds are that when you spend your cash at the drive thru line at Mickey Dees it eventually makes it’s way back to 2111 McDonalds Drive Oak Brook Illinois and that helps Oak Brook immensely I’m certain. It doesn’t do a damn thing for us here on the eastside. Much of our necessary daily spending does not even allow us to choose a Cincinnati, Ohio, Tri-State Area, or often times even U.S. product. For now, that cannot be avoided.
We can only read labels and make our best effort. Sad fact is, giving your money to China, Korea, and who knows where else is going to happen like it or not, even if your Amish.
That’s a problem the big brains in Washington will have to solve. Fat tariffs on all the goods on those foreign ships parked at our docks would be a good start. The U.S. is certainly allowed no such tariff free trade privilege, big tariffs would just be making it equal. Some countries tax as much as 100% of the value of the good! Let’s see, at that rate a 60K Corvette overseas would be about 120K in just costs to a dealer, no wonder we can’t make any money exporting.
Why export when you can outsource? Instead of paying the U.S. workers minimum wage, corporations simply close the labor plant, outsource the labor, pay for the shipping and still come out ahead. It’s as if someday we will be almost 100% dependent on countries like China. Can you imagine!
It’s heading that direction. We used to feed the world (especially Russia) now almost all of the produce in our local grocery is foreign. We basically invented cars, have a higher ownership rate than any other country yet chances are, every part you’ll ever buy to repair that car is foreign, regardless who made the car initially. We work, make money, give it to foreigners, who put us out of work. American economics at it’s finest? I think not. Good luck Obama. Hopefully your people can pass up the billions in bribe money those countries will throw your way to keep it like it is. Otherwise you’ll just let that sleeping dog lie (everyone else did) and someday it will be way too late.
These world trade issues are a bit beyond our influence here on the eastside though. Not to worry, we have plenty to keep us busy in our local trade economy. Local trade is the most important of all. It puts my money in your pocket and visa versa. Way back things grew and prospered in this country because every business was local mom & pop. All the people’s incomes were passed around town, creating a flow from one person to the next and back to the beginning. Corporate conglomerate businesses sever that flow and divert massive amounts of local income into some other area’s economy. Drain too much of that precious life blood income and the city starts getting dizzy.
Drain it all and it will die.
The eastside is too nice to let die. We have rich history, beautiful scenery and wildlife, great schools, safe neighborhoods, high employment, high average income, diverse international cuisine, exciting nightlife, talented local artisans and musicians, good fire departments and (even with the so so cops) we still maintain a good quality of life over here. That may not be the case if we do not respond to our changing economy quickly.
As eastsiders we must focus on primarily supporting other eastsiders. If we achieve that, we will be strongly braced for whatever comes next in this recession. If we fail, we will be at the mercy of McDonalds and their fortune 500 friends. Figuratively and literally.
In the recent past, there were many little local places that had been around for decades. Mom & pops that people adored and supported for generations were prevalent all over city, including the eastside. Now, the odds of a little “Jim’s Family Pizza” place prospering, feeding an extended family with income and 30 years from now being passed down to the children is a pipe dream. It’s sad and it must be changed.
The ray of sunshine in this dark cloud of recession is we do have the power to change it.
It’s simple. Start shopping, eating, drinking and patronizing every local business that you can.
Try the local hardware store before reaching for that Home Depot card. Buy your car parts from KOI or Smyth’s instead of Auto Zone (Tennessee) and Advance Auto parts (Virginia).
Get the morning brew from a local restaurant or bakery and back up off the Starbucks, Seattle doesn’t need our money as bad as we do. The list goes on and on. Sit down and think about it, how much do you give to the eastside?
The best part is you don’t have to spend more money to improve our local economy. You just have care more about who your giving it to. Odds are you are already dumping enough cash to support our local restaurants into places like Mcdonalds, Wendys, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut. KFC, Fridays, Outback, so on and so on everyday. These places don’t care about the eastside or any other side for that matter. Some don’t even really care about future U.S. sales at all.
Yum Brands incorporated (the Louisville based operator of Taco bell, Pizza Hut and KFC) is cutting back massively on U.S. jobs and locations. Is it the recession? No, it’s because their foreign sales are so high they are growing even with shrinking U.S. sales. China is their #1 focus! They are closing an “unspecified” number of jobs here in favor of building more locations in China. Have at it.
We don’t need your crap ass chicken anyway.
We don’t need any of these corporate clowns.
The food sucks, the ingredients are made in a noxious lab and they are supporting our overseas competitors (if not our adversaries even).
We have everything they offer times ten right here in our neighborhood mom & pop places.
We need only dedicate ourselves to making the right choice over the easy choice. New habits.
The drive thru is fast and easy. But making customers say “Two doubles, a fry and a large diet” took too long so they shortened even that into just “#4 diet”. Fast food companies bet if they make things so fast and so simple people will buy it regardless of what it actually is. So far they’ve bet right. We screwed our own economy by falling for it. These companies aren’t in fear of going out of business, even in the worst ghetto there is always a McDonalds.
McDonalds and their fast food cohorts are not to blame. There is savage world wide criticism towards these companies. There was even a movie (Super Size Me) detailing the physical ramifications of eating a “McDonalds only” diet (and they were severe). We disagree with such campaigns. McDonalds has the right to sell their product. We are not even asking you to stop patronizing your favorite fast food joint. We are just asking that you incorporate a portion of your fast food budget to local mom & pop as well. Hopefully you’ll even replace old fast food habits with newer healthier habits and make a few new favorites along the way.
In the end everybody wins except the billionaires and who needs it more, them or us? Right,
we need it more and if the recession is as bad (or worse) than predicted that portion in your food budget may make the difference between “Open” or “For Sale or Lease” on the sign of your favorite local spot. Once they’re gone they never come back. It’s never the same again.
Case in point, DeMeos Pasta & Grill in Old Milford. Great place. Dom and his wife Linda used to talk to us the through the whole meal, sharing stories of life in Jersey, the food, the vibe and the mob. Dom did well there, he came from generations of restaurant owners who were well respected in their neighborhood. Dom told us once “Now, Little Italy is like two blocks long... the Chinese have completely taken over everything in the old neighborhood... we would have never believed it.”
Dom married a Milford native and set up shop down in old Milford. His Italian was different than our own, it was Jersey Italian and it was good. He dished out 5 pound plates of pasta smothered in marinara made that morning. He had many fans. He worked 60 hours a week to please the patrons and keep the costs low. In the end the costs weren’t low enough or for what ever reason Dom decided to pack it up.
We lost DeMeos in November 2008. They will be missed and remembered fondly. A simple note was left hanging on the window. It explained that the weight of a sagging economy and the lack of customer support were too much for the owners to bear. It was a surprise.
Sadly it won’t be the only innocent casualty in this economic war we’ve all been drafted into. Many more will die, many already have. The Country Cruz Inn in Owensville tried to make the most boring town on the eastside a little brighter, they also fell through the cracks this past fall. Same with Bakers Diner in Goshen.

We asked local business owners how much (if any) the recent slow down has effected them. The answers were varied. A few have felt the slow down, while most say they are actually doing just as good as they were before the media hyped “recession”. Good news.
Nevertheless some are getting squeezed. Are the fast food dollar menu prices to blame? Certainly to some extent they are hurting the mom & pops who can’t sell their food for a dollar because they actually buy real food.
Many believe they are slowing due to the recent wave of fear the media is preaching. Every minute of the news and financial reports consistently talk about growing recession figures, economic crawl and plummeting stocks.
How many eastsiders have lost a bundle in stock in the last few months? Has that really been the reason people have backed off patronizing small businesses? That’s very doubtful.
Things have barely began to slow down, yet it has already created a ripple effect. Many local bands are lowering their prices in efforts to keep an income going. Bar owners walk a tight rope between $500 a night live bands (some pay double even triple that) and paying the landlord, staff, suppliers and the IRS. Lately, slower sales have made many bars reconsider that $500 expense. The effect is quietly rippling the service industry as well, servers and bartenders used to working in $600+ a week jobs are now looking for any job at all.
This wave can wash through tens of thousands of people in every aspect of business. All those bands, servers, cooks and bartenders buy food, gas, cable, diapers and everything everybody else buys. They also pay rent, car notes and student loans. No job, nobody gets paid. So even the grocers, landlords and gas stations are taking a hit when the local pubs go south. Not to mention countless others. It’s a vicious chain reaction.
One sad example close to home is Garzelli’s Pizza on 125. Garzelli’s is a true family business. The owners (Kathy & Bill MacDonald) were the first to purchase a Garzelli’s franchise and their Withamsville location is a model business run by a dedicated family. They have created many of their own popular menu items and all six family members work full time at the restaurant. They have dine in, beer & wine, big plasmas and clean modern decor. They run specials & coupons but even with loyal customers, the sales are sliding so bad this may be the last month they can make it. If you like Garzelli’s for a fat juicy grinder to go or pizza delivered to your door hot & fresh, you need to support them asap. The residents of just Brandy Chase and Withamwoods alone could pull this place out of the hole. Factor in all the business lunches plus the school and you could put them back in the swing of things. We ask all you Garzelli’s fans, friends and neighbors to make it a point to get a few (or more for this month) meals from the MacDonald family over at Garzelli’s. They need your support because that’s the only support they can get. Bush didn’t pass along a billion dollar small business bail out and Obama probably won’t be writing one either. Their fate is solely in your hands.
Maybe Obama will find a way to support small businesses. He recently said this about the issue. “Small businesses employ half of the workers in the private sector in this country, and account for the majority of the job growth. But we also know that a credit crunch has dried up capital and put these jobs at risk, shops can’t finance their inventories and small firms can’t make payroll,” “If we don’t act, we’ll be looking at scaled back operations, shuttered shops, and laid-off workers.” “Main Street needs relief and you need it now,” “It’s what we did after Sept. 11, and we were able to get low cost loans out to tens of thousands of small businesses.” Obama’s spokesman estimated the program’s price tag at $5 billion (we spend 12 billion every month in Iraq). If the economic crisis grows large enough to convince Congress to heed Obama’s call, the SBA Administrator Sandy Baruah, (new to the job), will be faced with a dramatic test of the agencies ability to support tens of thousands of our struggling small businesses. Do you want to rely on that?
The time is now, the solution is affordable the burden is not on the SBA to save the eastside small business, it is on you and all of us. Don’t take for granted that our community culture and social ambience won’t be altered forever if nothing but billion dollar corporate giants litter the landscape with their iridescent dollar menus. You know better.
We can individually fund our local economy without spending any more than we have been all along. We just have to pay more attention to whose hands we are putting that income into.
If the government comes to our aid, great! If not that will just be what we expected anyway. Go out, see the band, eat at the pub, back off funding the fast food giants, shop mom & pop, enjoy the eastside for what it has to offer. If we can’t rely on our own locals to shop local, this isn’t the eastside we want to live in anyway.