According to Tom Pickering and Sue Doylen, spokespersons for our Town, business failures in Estes Park have to do with stupid people moving here without enough money, no business plan and no dedication to hard work. Gosh, thanks for that.
So, for those 87 businesses that closed out of the 92 that opened last year you should feel consoled that it is your entire fault. You had the wrong expectations, according to Mayor Baudek. For those of you that live here and don’t have a business, you are another root of the problem. You shop out of town. As Pickering says; “that’s killing us.” He’d surely know, his own business went broke so he jumped on the Town payroll and tells the rest of us what we’re doing wrong. His failures at marketing the Conference Center earned him a promotion. That’s the way it’s done in this Town.
The reality is that when we have a huge influx of visitors they have no place to park, so they can’t spend money. In addition, the Town allows craft fairs to compete with local businesses on heavy traffic weekends with no control over collecting sales tax. Unfortunately, those vendors take up all of the parking spaces around Bond Park, further exacerbating the parking problem.
Is it possible that people don’t come here because the downtown streets are filthy? Or, that there is no marketing in the off-season? Or, that there is no parking?
It should be obvious by now that it is just the stupid people in this Town.
