Vacancy Tax?

 Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang has put forward a number of compelling ideas in his new run for mayor of New York City. Some, I think, could be considered for Healdsburg.

We all know how crippling high rents are in downtown Healdsburg. They reduce profitability. lower wages and stifle entrepreneurship. Some properties downtown have been empty and unused for decades (the corner of Piper and Healdsburg Ave. The old orange machine shop on Healdsburg Ave.). Healdsburg suffers these eyesores while the landowners refuse to lower prices, circumventing the law of supply and demand that should keep values and rents in check.

Yang's proposal of a 'vacancy tax' could help address this. On his website he describes it this way, "A Yang administration would advocate New York State for a vacancy tax, determining an amount of
time for which a storefront can be vacant, after which the landlord must pay a tax to the state as a penalty. This will create an incentive for them not to leave retail spaces empty in the hopes of waiting for a tenant who will pay higher rent. The money could also go towards minority- and women-owned enterprise development. In 2020, San Francisco passed a vacancy tax with 70% of the vote and the Council passed a bill requiring the city to build a database of vacancies."

Enhancing entrepreneurial opportunities should help address another issue vexing Healdsburg residents; the fact that the ratio of businesses serving them (as opposed to those serving mainly visitors) is askew. This imbalance engenders a feeling that our downtown is no longer for us!

I like Yang;'s idea of supporting minority and women-owned start-ups, but there are other uses for the money that I think should be considered.

1) Paying for an increase 'buy local' advertising.
2) Send vouchers to local residents to use at local stores.
3) Fund an 'emergency fund' to assist businesses that suffer due to disasters (fire, pandemic, etc).
4) Fund a detailed economic study of what types of businesses are successful downtown. We can, and should, end the debate about whether new businesses must court the tourist dollar to survive downtown or
not. This would be invaluable information for future entrepreneurs.

What do you think?