Somerville First

[teele-sq.livejournal.com]

I really like this concept, but man this website is ugly.

http://www.somervillelocalfirst.org/

Actually the point of this post isn't to disparage Samenfeld Consulting, but to say that I was in True Grounds this morning and was given a free Somerville Local First coupon book that has many great discounts to local independent businesses(a few are the same as the Brown School card).

Money you spend here, stays here!

Comments

[teele-sq.livejournal.com]

There's a letter on the first page from Mayor Curtatone that I find very admirable. So much in fact, that I've decided to manually transcribe it for you here:

Somerville Residents,

I'm pleased to present the Somerville Locally-Owned Business Coupon Book. This book represents an opportunity to continue supporting and building Somerville Local First institutional capacity, to stimulate local purchasing, and to benefit the locally-owned business community.

Especially in this financially unstable atmosphere, we must continue to work to benefit our local businesses, and to identify innovative ideas, creative solutions, and new opportunities to overcome its negative impacts.

omerville Local First, formed in March 2008, is a network of locally owned and independent businesses to build a robust Somerville economy and a vibrant community, has worked hard to promote those ideals and to identify creative solutions. Their membership has grown to over 100 hundred local business, and continues to grow. They have built organizational capacity from a steering committee to a full executive board; and they have actively recruited businesses through social networking activities, seminars, workshops and programs; they have worked to connect businesses with local resources, creating a strong value proposition, representing business leaders' interests and concerns to the local government, and adding a significant value proposition to the locally owned business community.

Recently I signed onto the 10% shift, pledging my personal spending to local independent businesses. The 10% shift is a strategy designed for people and organizations to respond to the current economic crisis. By making a modest behavior change and shifting 10% of our annual budget from non-local businesses to locally-owned independent business, we can help build a strong local economy. Such a shift would have tremendous economic impact for our local economy. A recent study from the Grand Rapids, Michigan area showed that, if the 600,000 people there shifted 10%, the local economy would see the following benefits:

* 1600 new jobs, reducing unemployment by .5%
* $53 Million in new wages
* $137 Million in new economic activity

And all of these tremendous results would happen without the use of one taxpayer dollar.

These enormous benefits to the local economy are thanks to what is called the Local Multiplier. When dollars are spent locally, up to three times as much money stays within the community. The 10% Shift strengthens our local economy and revitalizes our communities now.

I hope that you will benefit from the Coupon Book offers, and that you will spread the message into Somerville community about shifting purchasing behavior.

Sincerely,
Joseph A. Curtatone,
Mayor

[perich.livejournal.com]

Money you spend here, stays here

...

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

more like "Money you spend here on parking, stays here"

Aaargh, that yellow!!!!

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Or is it green???

... And remember, dear consumers...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

With a coupon, you magically save by actually spending money!

Re: ... And remember, dear consumers...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Somehow, I seriously doubt this logic... If every person in the US bought locally, then all communities in the US would suddenly have up to 3 times the amount of money they have now? Where would the extra money come from? This is absurd, and it may only work is a small subset of communities do this, at the expense of others who don't. But if they all do it, the scheme would not work.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reminder. I keep meaning to get that coupon book.

What would be nice to know is whether or not these businesses do *their* business locally. Do we benefit more by supporting a local business that imports all their stuff or by supporting a local branch of a non-local business that *does* source locally?

[astrajane.livejournal.com]

The website is terrible - it needs a lot more attention. I kinda hope it's just my browser?

****

Aside, the idea of buying local is great. However, after working for a local store for over a year, I realized buying "local" is a SHAM. I sincerely hope that the (other) local stores I patron do, indeed, source locally.

I don't claim to be any sort of high-horsed savior, but I do like to tell the truth. During my time with this vendor, I often asked myself what was considered "local" before frivolously slapping the label on. Are the states of New England "local?" Does local mean only from Somerville? Only from Massachusetts? What exactly is local anyway??

Perhaps I've been jaded through this negative experience, but I really don't believe any store that advertises how local it is. Sometimes being local is just another way to fight the competition.

Props to the stores that actually are local - wherever you are!

Not surprising...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Same thing happened to the "organic" label.