By ANNA DILLANE
Steering Committee
Los Alamos Local Business Coalition

I recently counted the number of brick and mortar businesses in Los Alamos that you could walk into and purchase an item. I counted 17. Seventeen! I excluded businesses that were subsidized by a non-profit, the county or part of a chain like Metzger’s because they have access to funds or support that the local guys don’t. For a town this size to only have 17 brick and mortar businesses is less than ideal .

The reasons for the lack are myriad. We’ve got lack of commercial space, high rents, overly restrictive County zoning, lack of staffing, outdated buildings that need to be upgraded, and so many more. 

Los Alamos County has listed improving and supporting local business access as one of their top priorities for many years running. But what is really being done? 

There are many organizations in town tasked in some way with working with and helping local business.

We’ve got the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce, the Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation (LACDC), Los Alamos MainStreet and Creative District, University of New Mexico-Los Alamos’s Small Business Development Center, and the Los Alamos Community Development Department. Did you ever wonder what all these organizations actually do? How are they improving and supporting local business?

Please join us this Thursday for a public forum to ask that very question of representatives of these organizations. The Los Alamos Local Business Coalition (the Coalition) has put together this forum to find out what is being done to improve our local business environment.

We’ve invited representatives from each organization and asked them to introduce themselves and their organization and answer questions about what they do every day to support local business. 

Please join us! Come and learn how your tax dollars are being spent. Come get your own questions answered. 

The Forum is 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13 at SALA Event Center, 2551 Central Ave.