Fort Collins Now
January 2008
So the city wants to get rid of the newspaper boxes that clutter up the corners of Old Town.
Yawn.
No big deal, right? After all, it does look a bit cluttered in Old Town. There are different colored boxes for the different newspapers (including this one), alternative publications, real estate circulars, you name it. It’s kind of a mess.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could put them all into one tasteful rack? That’s what the city is discussing. The city planning staff has been drafting up some proposals that would eliminate the different newspaper boxes and replace them with a single newspaper rack.
Then again, what if you owned one of those newspapers?
Any time you have a “planner” telling entrepreneurs how to run their companies, it’s the edge of a very slippery slope. Unfortunately, the city has a pretty cavalier attitude towards small business, and this type of “trust us, your business will be okay” attitude is all too common.
We don’t always think of newspapers as small businesses, but in this town, many are. Someone invested some of their own money, probably got a loan, and decided to start a business. Newspapers are often small businesses, usually with razor-thin margins.
But let’s take a look at how this type of regulation would affect a more traditional small business. Imagine you’ve spent years putting aside some money to open a store. You get a bank loan to help cover your startup costs. You choose your location carefully and settle on a College Avenue storefront because your business plan relies primarily on foot traffic. Of course, that prime location means a pretty hefty lease payment. You budget for your inventory and staff, utilities and insurance.
Finally, you set aside a portion of your budget for advertising. After all, if people don’t walk through the front door, everything else is irrelevant. You hire a graphic designer to create a logo, you check with the city ordinances, and you hire a sign company to build you a sign. You’ve hung out your shingle.
Now imagine that City Council decided that signage along College Avenue was looking too cluttered and passed a law making your new sign illegal. What about the money you invested in your sign? Sorry, you’re still going to be paying debt payments on it, but it’s not going to be bringing in any customers. What if your marketing strategy involved using unique signage to differentiate yourself from your competitors? You’re out of luck.
Does that bother the city planner or the City Council? Does that affect their ability to pay off debt, make payroll, cover costs and still bring home a paycheck? Of course not. The entrepreneur pays the price. The city staff is going to get paid either way. (And if sales tax revenues fall off a bit, they’ll just raise taxes on your business.)
Unfortunately, this type of stuff happens all the time. The city passes “feel good” regulations that do simple, uncontroversial things. These things often pass unnoticed. This time it’s a proposed regulation to clean up the newspaper boxes. What’s next?
It’s not the big companies that are hit hardest. It’s the small entrepreneurs, the people who start their businesses on shoestring budgets and live and die by razor-thin margins. Yet, it’s the small businesses that make our economy.
So maybe the debate over newspaper boxes isn’t the most exciting issue right now in Fort Collins. But in one way, it’s the most depressing. Did anyone on the city staff even consider that someone paid for those boxes they’re now effectively rendering illegal? Did anyone on the city staff consider that some of these small businesses built their marketing strategies around those boxes?
If you want to start a business in Fort Collins, beware. The City Council might change the rules on you after the fact. Actually, maybe you should just budget that into your startup and operating costs. Create a line item for “regulation” and get ready to pay.
