Monday, April 27, 2009

Some People Don’t Know Where Their Bread Is Buttered

DCVB sends out a weekly eCalendar of events to thousands of civic, business, university and neighborhood leaders.

I received a terse note from an individual unsubscribing because he “takes his family to Raleigh for events.” We wish Raleigh the best and trust that people who live or work in Durham have reason to visit that fine city from time to time.

But I wonder if this particular person has a clue his salary comes from taxable spending and investment in Durham, not Raleigh. And exclusively spending his money in Raleigh, certainly doesn’t help fund his employer or his salary.

In fact I’ll surmise he is misses several points:
  • The calendar is a simple public service. How will a little awareness hurt him?

  • It isn’t always about “him.” His stakeholders obviously live in Durham and he’s in a position to use information gleaned from the calendar to answer questions or make suggestions.

  • Durham hosts a wide range of events that can only be found in Durham so he may want to broaden his horizons or at the very least not stunt his family’s opportunities.

  • If he has a little “tude” about Durham, he should get a job down in Raleigh. Better for him. Better for Durham. Better for traffic.

  • If he wants to remain working in Durham, he needs to come to grips with one simple economic reality.
Leisure spending is a significant source of local tax revenue here. He owes it to the community that employs him to help spend some of that payroll back with the events and facilities and organizations that help fuel the taxes from which he feeds his family.

2 comments:

Lisa said...

Did he get opted into that email unsolicited? Because that could definitely spur a more aggressive email than not. If he signed up for it, and then sent that message, well then good riddance ;-)

Reyn said...

Simple unsubscribe then would have been sufficient, vs. distrespecting Durham and the businesses and consumers that geneterate his paycheck.

But his position warrants receiving and using the information...if he cared about his stakeholders, this is information he'd request to have....

So the dots just didn't connect....