By LAUREN MCDANIEL
Executive Director
LACDC
With the start of the new year, I would like to take the opportunity to highlight Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation (LACDC) and the role of some of its programs – namely the Chamber of Commerce and Los Alamos MainStreet and Creative District (LAMSCD) – in the community.
LACDC actively engages on a variety of key small business issues, meets with local small businesses, County staff, regional economic development organizations and legislators, and serves as the overarching voice for small business in Los Alamos County.
Collectively LACDC has more than 40 years of experience in the Los Alamos community, has engaged hundreds of entrepreneurs, and today hosts a variety of programs aimed at helping small businesses. Some of our programs, like the Chamber of Commerce, bring its members additional benefits through shared networking, training, and resources. Others, like the MainStreet and Creative District, offer businesses and non-profits access to tools and resources as a direct result of their physical location within our designated MainStreet districts in Los Alamos and White Rock.
LACDC is committed to doing everything we can to help our businesses succeed, regardless of location within the County or Chamber membership status. We welcome business owners to engage with our leadership, and our offices are located in the Small Business Center downtown just behind the Post Office.
Like any good business or nonprofit, LACDC has diversified its operations and business lines; today we are a property owner through the Los Alamos Research Park, a leasee by way of projectY cowork and the Small Business Center (SBC), and a lessor with subleases in the SBC facility and Research Park. We also serve as a contractor for the County by providing services to the community that likewise advance our own mission: through MainStreet and Creative District, as well as Discover Los Alamos, the management of our two visitor centers. We feel these varied engagements in the community also give us greater awareness of the perspectives and challenges within each of these business sectors.
Over the years, there has understandably been some confusion distinguishing LACDC and the County, for the ways in which our efforts are synergistic and complementary. While collaborators, LACDC is not synonymous with Los Alamos County, and we operate as an independent nonprofit with a singular mission of strengthening the Los Alamos and White Rock business communities. The County, on the other hand, must address the overall welfare of our town, provide community services, and create an environment that encourages and supports economic diversity. It is charged with responsibly allocating tax dollars across a variety of departments and initiatives, and thus ultimately reporting to Los Alamos County taxpayers. While supporting a thriving business community is distinguished as an important priority for the County, the County must balance that desire with the rest of its community obligations.
A municipality and a nonprofit partnership driven by economic development can be an ideal match, as municipalities can undertake certain efforts that a nonprofit can’t, and likewise a nonprofit like LACDC can often be more agile without the government’s legal and anti-donation constraints.
LACDC operates with a Board of 13 individuals from across various industry sectors – including business, hospitality, development, finance, healthcare, education and more. As a result of its connections locally, regionally, statewide and federally, it has built a trusted network of advisors, consultants and business advocates. It’s through, and because of, these deep connections and regular engagement with the local business community that LACDC does not always agree with County staff or Council. LACDC will respectively voice its dissent if it feels it is warranted, or provide quantitative and/or qualitative data to the County on how the business community is feeling on a certain topic. For instance, this was the case with the proposed downtown first floor office ban a few years ago, the proposed minimum wage increase, and most recently, a possible land purchase on Diamond Drive. LACDC will conduct business surveys, host in-person business forums, reach out to industry consultants and rely on its Board to weigh in on critical topics. It will typically not voice a public opinion on a matter unless it feels like it is a largely representative consensus among its key stakeholders and will either have an overwhelmingly positive or negative affect on the small business community.
What follows are factors to keep in mind when analyzing the health of the business ecosystem and ways we are working on addressing and solving key business challenges in the community.
First, we must acknowledge some legacy hurt and mistrust surrounding the circumstances wherein some beloved local businesses ultimately decided to move away, and also others that have struggled to stay open, or even closed. If we better understand where certain processes, systems and infrastructure are inefficient, we can enable pathways that will lead to more success.
Unfortunately, if the default tends to deflect blame to “the County” or “landlord” when business ventures go awry, it only further perpetuates division and misperceptions. We must look at the root cause of these situations. At the end of the day, it is important to remember that the County alone is not responsible for the success or failure of individual businesses. There are many reasons a business might ultimately close its doors and much of this does not, and often should not, play out publicly.
There will also always be individual businesses that have issues with municipal governments but that doesn’t mean all businesses (or even a majority) do. There are great examples of small businesses succeeding here, with several celebrating decade-plus anniversaries and milestones.
LACDC regularly meets with Los Alamos County staff to share challenges and frustrations on behalf of the business community, propose solutions, and highlight collective wins. LACDC has already presented successful economic development strategies from other counties to inspire new approaches here in our community and will continue to do so.
We must proactively encourage small business owners, and then work collaboratively to ensure clear communications about when, why and how they may need to engage with County staff, commercial property owners, and others. This crucial step has historically been overlooked, leading to frustrations, delays in opening and, in some cases, costly engagement with architects and other professional services providers. Some changes with County staff, paired with enhanced processes like the business pre-application meetings, and a series of educational sessions that will launch soon, give us confidence the County seeks to be partners in helping to set up small businesses to succeed here.
Most of the community would agree that we want a robust and vibrant downtown, affordable lease rates for our small businesses, and move-in-ready spaces for our entrepreneurs. The need for more retail and restaurants, however, is also dependent on demand and the willingness of individuals to invest in those activities. The LACDC, Chamber of Commerce and MainStreet are committed to supporting, mentoring, and giving entrepreneurs tools and incentives to help them start, grow and expand. It’s why we started the Business Accelerator several years ago, which has helped lead to the opening of Samizdat Bookstore & Teahouse, Little Studio on the Mesa, Inspired Jewelers, Wheeed, Wolf & Mermaid, Hungry Bear Cafe, Pi Pizzeria, Encanto Bistro, the food and beverage expansion of Mesa Top Games and Toys, and others still to come.
LACDC, through the Los Alamos MainStreet and Creative District (LAMSCD) program, brought the Metropolitan Redevelopment Area (MRA) concept to the County to incentivize public-private development in key areas that have needed redevelopment and reinvestment for more than a decade. LACDC also encouraged County staff to consider adopting the C-PACE program, which offers fixed-rate financing options to help incentivize property owners to make building energy efficiency improvements; this is currently being considered and has passed the Board of Public Utilities and the Environmental Sustainability Board.
We always encourage business owners to proactively engage and speak with LACDC, sign-up for LAMSCD communications, participate in relevant public meetings, as well as consider joining the Chamber of Commerce. We keep membership rates very affordable, so we encourage as many small businesses to join as possible.
LACDC is already in the process of updating our strategic plan and will consult with the greater business community on what it sees as strategic priorities that should be incorporated. After collaborating with the MainStreet Futures Committee and the New Mexico MainStreet state program, the annual LAMSCD Work Plan and Economic Transformation Strategies will also be finalized in February 2025, published on the LAMSCD website and shared out with the community.
In 2025 our goal is to increase awareness of the activities and priorities LACDC and its programs are pursuing on behalf of the small business community. We are at a critical juncture for Los Alamos. The current business environment is far from perfect, but now is the time to define what we want our small business community to be and come together as collaborative partners working to achieve that goal.