To the editor:
I just finished rereading the July 28th Council Corner article titled “CCC&I reorganization” by Mary Kate Barbosa. The article purports to explain the CCC&I Executive Board vote by a 7-2 margin, that discontinues the Chamber economic development function. I found the article by Councilor Barbosa to be hilarious.
My wife and I have attempted to start a few businesses over the years. We worked day jobs, thus needed help and guidance in the evenings or weekends. Most small business startups follow the same path as an ambitious person working long long hours receives help from other ambitious people working long, long hours.
Councilor Barbosa advised the reader, I quote, “The Council has no predetermination towards these service provisions …” Translation, the Caribou City Council doesn’t have an economic development plan, they just wanted the power.
I make these points to illustrate the problems contained in the “CCC&I reorganization” article: First and very discouraging to a budding business owner, in my experience, is that a government entity wants massive amounts of paperwork completed, much of it personal information that does not pertain to the business under review, before starting the cycle; government offices are open 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, so people with ambition, who have jobs, cannot work with the government unless they are stealing from their day-job employer or taking vacation time away from their employer; governments take no risk and have no idea how to assess the risk of a new business venture, while the budding entrepreneur is risking his “day job.”
I find it completely laugh-out-loud funny that the Caribou Council thinks it can do better economic development than the Caribou Chamber of Commerce has done the last nine years as documented on the website Cariboumaine.blogspot.com.
Theodore P. Nykreim
Stockholm
