Small Businesses and Glenview

I am going to say something controversial - large corporations suck. You can usually tell
you are in a suburb when you drive down its main roads and see your staple large corporate
restaurants and shops lining the streets. Now I am not saying these places don’t have decent food
and retail, they are the same wherever you go. Filling strip-malls and shopping centers with these
corporate staples relegates Glenview to just another suburban town. After all, who from any
other community is going to come to Glenview to eat at restaurant that could be found anywhere
one might live? Glenview does have some exceptional small businesses - Glenview Grind,
Goode and Fresh Pizza, and La Taquiza, to name a few. If we want to make Glenview an
exceptional place that people will want to visit, we need more of these quality businesses and must support the ones we already have.

My idea is tested and true. Glenview should create an economic development
department. Unlike the numerous communities around us that already have such a department,
ours would be focused on small business development and growth instead of enticing large
corporations. Small businesses are a win-win for our community and our residents. They can be
a differentiator and attract visitors and provide opportunities for our residents.

The first point is fairly simple. People like to go where there is something unique such a
specialty restaurant or quaint cafe. Having a community built with scattered corporate franchises
provides nothing that you cannot find in any community across the Country. Glenview residents
will go to Chicago or other communities to find those quaint coffee shops, little pizzerias, and a
whole host of other ma and pa shops. They are different, new, and special. They create a sense of
community and a place where others want to visit, usually because their own community is filled
with the large corporate chains. These smaller businesses attract outsiders to come and try out the
hospitality of these small shops, to venture outside of the norm that corporations push upon us.
By growing our small business community, we can increase revenue from new visitors and build
a stronger sense of community.

Finally, the opportunities that small businesses provide to our community are noteworthy.
If there is a small business in town, there is a good chance it is owned by a local family. This
means it is a Glenview resident earning a living from the business whilst employing other
Glenview residents or nearby ones. So instead of profits leaving Glenview to go to some large
corporation headquartered in New York, those profits are more likely to be invested in Glenview
and more of it spent locally in the community. So while our economy is growing from new
visitors to our local shops, we are also increasing the wealth within the community.

This should also not be a partisan issue. When only 5% of all businesses in the U.S. make over 60% of all business revenue, you do not have a free market- but instead a market failure. Obviously large corporate businesses are here to stay and will be located no more than a short driving distance from your home. However, we should take a good look at ourselves and ask if we really just want to be a corporate campus community. Through the creation of a small business office and reforms to our zoning code we can encourage small business growth and provide our residents opportunities to both own and work for their own small businesses.

- Benjamin Polony, Candidate for Glenview Trustee