The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Flin Flon's big box stores have turned a community that was commercially dying into a lively hub filled with optimism, Mayor Dennis Ballard said yesterday. As guest speaker at the Chamber of Commerce meeting at the Friendship Centre, the mayor made several positive observations about the impact of the Flintoba Shopping Centre. "It is a different community today," he told the crowd of 35 business people. "From what I see, it's a bustling community that's moving ahead. There's a different attitude. I'm learning that economic development appears to me not to be so much about business as it is about attitude. It's about the thinking that goes along with it." The new attitude the mayor perceives is a far cry from what he saw before Wal-Mart, the first store at the site, opened in November 2002. "I think it's fair to say that before any of this happened, and I'll defend this, this community, business-wise at least, was dying," he told the group. "I felt that we reached the point where businesses on Main Street . . . were opening and closing so fast that, from City Hall, we couldn't even get the taxes collected. And this didn't happen once or twice. It was happening a lot." The mayor said the Flintoba Shopping Centre gave the majority of residents what they wanted in terms of shopping, but added the economic benefits should not be overlooked. "I think we're keeping millions of dollars in this town now that we weren't keeping before," he said. "I think that we're attracting business from out of town. I think that's obvious. I like to think I know most people in town, and half the people in those (big box) stores I don't know." Another economic advantage Mayor Ballard pointed out is that the development has given the City a much-needed source of new tax revenue, about $195,000 thus far. "There will be, eventually, a little more money to play with to do some things around town," he said. Mayor Ballard said that Council, prior to the shopping development, had unsuccessfully tried different ways to diversify the local economy "so that we weren't always totally dependent on HBMS for everything and anything we were." "I think now we do have a new industry in town," he said. "And I think if you're watching and you see what's going on, you'll see that that's happened." The flip side of the Flintoba Shopping Centre is that sales are said to have dropped at some other businesses, particularly on Main Street. Management at the now-closed Super Thrifty Pharmacy on Main Street, for instance, said the "abrupt changes in buying habits" made their store unviable. The mayor did not ignore this reality and told the business people several times that he and Council want to work with the business community to help out where they can. "The bottom line is, are there some people out there now, because of what's happening, that are hurting? I'm sure there are," he said. "Can something be done about that? I hope so." See 'Concerns' P.# Con't from P.# City Council recently met with Chamber representatives to discuss business concerns, particularly the Main Street issue. Mayor Ballard said he hopes the meeting will be the first of many constructive talks. "I hope that out of that meeting that we're going to end up with a working group or a task force, whatever you want to call it," he said. "I hope that group then will start to deal with some of the tough questions." As he has on previous occasions, Mayor Ballard said that he and Council have been asked to help the uptown businesses but haven't been presented with a plan on how to do so. "At this point, this group's got to be able to tell us what they want. There's got to be a plan," he said. "We're not at all opposed to helping out wherever we can. We want to do that." During his speech, Mayor Ballard took the opportunity to dismiss speculation that he and Council aren't concerned about Main Street and its future. "I've heard it said out there that the mayor doesn't care about our businesses," he said. "And my first reaction to that was, 'That's really dumb.' What mayor wouldn't care about the businesses? "I assure you mayor and Council worry a lot about the uptown businesses." A close working relationship between the businesses and Council is one of several ways the mayor said he hopes to strengthen the community. Mayor Ballard also spoke of wanting to work with the proper authorities to enhance local health care services. "I think our major health concerns are probably the same as most other communities," he said. "It's the shortage and supply of doctors. It's the access to specialist facilities that everybody's experiencing. The northern areas always experience it worse because of the isolation factor. "If you're going to have people stay in your community, then you better have good health services." It's also important to the mayor that the people of Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach start to see themselves as part of a single community. He said it's a waste of money to unnecessarily duplicate services for area residents. Mayor Ballard also mentioned his desire to improve local roads, continue with aesthetic projects such as the demolition of derelict buildings, and ensure "sound management" at City Hall. The mayor's perfect vision of Flin Flon is many steps away from reality, but he feels the new shopping development is a good start. "I think we're getting into a position where we can get ahead and prosper," he told the Chamber members. "I firmly believe our population, in the end, is going to be at least stable and possibly grow. I think our people retiring, and that's quite a few of them now, aren't going to want to leave the community." In other news from the Chamber meeting, President Doug O'Brien encouraged business owners who haven't joined the Chamber this year to fill out their application forms in the next couple of weeks. "There's strength in numbers," he said. The Chamber currently has 70 members.
