The Biggest Threat to Meadows of Dan The very existence of the business community in Meadows of Dan is under serious threat due to government regulations, and corporate lobbyists. Twenty years ago if I needed to address issues like water or sewage problems, I would have contacted a reputable contractor that I trust, someone like D.L. Harrell, and together we would have figured out how to fix the problem. I cant fix my own problems anymore due to government regulations. One part of the problem is that the people who are making the regulations dont understand how things work in the real world. To get a PhD one has to write a paper on just one very specialized subject. So, just because someone has a Phd doesnt necessarily mean they have any common sense whatsoever, and often they dont. But these are the types that are making the regulations. We are moving into an entirely corporate world. Here in Meadows of Dan, here in the real world in 2015, there are still a few people like me. People who created and run their own small business. A business owned by a corporation doesnt have to make a profit to survive. As long as it is perceived that the corpation is doing well, people will continue to invest in it, and operating expenses often come from those outside investors. Here in OUR world we really have to make it on our own merits. We are hanging on by a thread. Our local residents need to begin thinking about how Meadows of Dan might look without Janes Country Cafe or Poor Farmers Market, or any similar individual business to take our place. What we are headed for, if things dont change fast, are no businesses here at all. If there are ever to be businesses here again, they would have to be a corporation like Hardees or Dollar General, because small sole proprietorships like Poor Farmers Market dont make enough profit to build their water and sewage systems that the government requires us to have. Our only hope is obtaining federal or state funding in the form of grants to address some of our water and sewage problems in the business community. If we dont we will become extinct. These funds are out there but the problem in Patrick County is the perception that if we use them our taxes might go up. That is just wrong. If we dont use those grant dollars, some other locality will. I have seen this happen over and over. We missed an opportunity to get funding for something we need and other localities like towns in Northern Virginia, Tazwell, and even FlOYD got the money instead of us. If you dont really care whether our businesses survive or not, at least try to think about all our employees who have no place else to go to find work if they want to live in Meadows of Dan. If you dont care about whether young people are able to stay here or not, you better take a look at who is running the volunteer rescue squad and fire department and many of the things you enjoy about be able to live in this area .
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 20:28:19 +0000
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