The Sporting Life: Local businesses in need of Christmas gifts

Brent Lawrence is copy editor and columnist for the Springfield Business Journal.

Christmas wishes for Springfield.

To local businesses: More support.

One local company gives out $15 Wal-Mart gift cards as a Christmas bonus to its about 7,000 employees. It would be nice if that $105,000 would be spent with locally owned businesses, thus keeping all the money circulating in the Springfield economy.

A coalition of locally owned businesses would be a great way to use that money.

A $15 gift card that would include Cartoons Oyster Bar & Grill, Express Lane Convenience Stores, Grove Pharmacy, Harter House and Webb's Wallcovering would be just as useful as one to Wal-Mart and that money would turn over several times in the local economy.

Springfield's Best would be a likely organization for this type of plan. Janelle Durington, executive director, said the group is considering a gift card promotion next year.

To Springfield-Greene County Park Board and Dickerson Park Zoo: New revenue sources.

The public voted Nov. 4 against alcohol sales at select events. The ability to sell beer would have made a big difference for many cash-strapped facilities.

Simply raising user fees is not a wise way to make up for missed revenues. All that will do is drive users to other golf courses and softball complexes, which will further hurt revenues.

The whole alcohol vote bothered me. I live in Greene County and my property taxes go into a general fund which is used to fund the Springfield-Greene County Park Board.

However, I was not allowed to vote on the issue because it was "a city issue," according to the County Clerk's office.

If my tax dollars are going to the Park Board, and alcohol sales would have had an impact on its revenues, then I should have been allowed a vote.

To John Q. Hammons: A baseball team to go with his park.

A really special gift would be a St. Louis Cardinals Double-A affiliate. Having a St. Louis-affiliated minor-league team will make all the difference between having good turnouts and having great turnouts.

To Wonders of Wildlife: Repeat customers.

I don't know anybody who has been to Wonders of Wildlife more than once.

I hope Wonders of Wildlife succeeds, as any establishment that brings more tourists and tax dollars into Springfield is welcome.

It's hard not to be cynical when the Wonders of Wildlife and Jordan Valley Ice Park come in well short of first-year budget projections. It isn't a stretch to wonder if projections were intentionally high just to get public support and financing. Now that we've got the facilities, there's no going back.

To business owners: Some sort of stability in insurance costs.

Seeing insurance rates careen out of control is a bad sign for everybody. Benefits get cut, employees are let go or open positions are never filled, and budgets are scaled back. It all adds up to less money available for the community.

To the Missouri Department of Transportation and Springfield Public Schools: Credibility and funding increases.

These are two of the most important organizations for all of us. Without good roads and educated people, we are in deep trouble.

Both are in dire need of additional funding, but they seem to stub their toes every so often, causing the voting public to nix tax increase proposals. Hopefully, they can earn the trust of the public and get their much-needed funding increases.

The fine job at Highway 65 and Sunshine Street was a good start for MoDOT.

To everybody. A Merry Christmas and a healthy, successful new year.