Food and Beverage

Reactions:

The survey data give an extensive summary of spending patterns for Pope County. Many economic sectors have extensive local spending, but others do not. Hopefully the comments and the data presented here can strengthen the economic relationships between local businesses and residents. It is our goal to educate the citizens of Pope County about the potential benefits of increased local spending, and also work with local businesses to indentify needs or changes to business practices that might bring about increases in local spending. There are some characteristics that the survey has highlighted and probably need to be addressed:

Residents from outside the Glenwood and Starbuck areas tend to spend more outside the county. Some of this spending difference is certainly due to travel distances, but perhaps some evaluation of advertising or dissemination of what opportunities are available in the county should be re-evaluated.
County residents that work outside the county, (probably in either Douglas County or in Stevens County) spend substantially more outside Pope County. The magnitude of the spending difference has great implications for the economic health of Pope County because of losing the economic multiplier effects discussed earlier in this report.

From analyzing this survey it seems clear to us that a comprehensive local spending initiative needs to be a part of an overall economic development plan for Pope County and the local communities. A particularly strong example of this kind of comprehensive plan was created for Starbuck by the Minnesota Design Team. The plan for Starbuck can be viewed on the World Wide Web at URL http://www.minnesotadesignteam.org. The recommendations for Starbuck seem to apply to Pope County as a whole. It would be wise to incorporate these recommendations or build extensions as a countywide initiative. It is important to note that supporting local business or local spending was a primary suggestion in the Starbuck plan. It is very important to regional economic health.

Local spending initiatives may also extend to agriculture and food production. The Pride of the Prairie Food producers already produce and market food from their farms. Direct purchasing of food and agricultural products directly from local farms is extremely helpful to the regional economy because most/all of the purchase amount is captured by the local economy to derive further multiplier effects. For further information visit the website http://www.landstewardshipproject.org.

It is also important to realize that the economic situation in Pope County is also the same as in many other places in Minnesota. To be successful a county must also cooperate and participate within this region. Perhaps instead of thinking about what could be done to improve Pope County, we should think about how to improve our region, and that will lead to improvement for us all. We need to be realistic and strategic with our county neighbors in mind. For example, it is probably not realistic to expect a Target or Wal-Mart will succeed or ever exist in Pope County when Alexandria stores effectively serve us at the moment. Perhaps focusing on basics or things not already available in Alexandria would be a more viable strategy. A recent Minneapolis Star-Tribune article about small-town retailing in the presence of Wal-Mart or Target, (April 29, 2002), suggested some tips for success:

A downtown should see themselves as a shopping center with a common purpose, not a collection of independent businesses that won’t work together.
Carry merchandise that is different from the big stores. This might mean more upscale merchandise or more varieties than the big stores.
Know customers by name, identify several price-sensitive items to price competitively with the big stores, focus advertising on your competitive advantage. Learn about your customers and their needs.
Emphasize expert technical advice, delivery service, or on-site installation.
Always greet customers when they enter the store, solicit complaints from customers, try to improve service, and avoid negative word-of-mouth.
Invest in technology to improve business efficiency.

The frequent survey comments about friendly service and competitive pricing give evidence that these tips that have been successful elsewhere, may also be effective in Pope county.

As for cooperation with neighbors, it is important to realize that Pope county has great recreational opportunities with golf, lakes, and a state park. Further development of these assets and better marketing of them could provide great benefits to residents of Pope and other counties, like Stevens for example. In return, the assets of Stevens county, like educational and cultural opportunities should be made widely known to Pope County residents. The University of Minnesota, Morris campus has extensive film showings, cultural events and performances that are available to area residents that could compensate for fewer cultural opportunities available in Pope County. If we all cooperate and utilize our strengths, we become much stronger than simply the sum of our parts.

Economic Impact Analysis:

To give the community more insight on the impact of economic activity, we present some background information on economic impact analysis, and an example of such an analysis on tourist spending. We conclude with a similar analysis using Pope County food spending data.

Background Information and Definitions:

Initial spending in a local economy creates an amount of total sales or spending. A portion of this spending leaves the local economy. For example if $50 of fishing equipment is purchased locally, perhaps the cost of the equipment was $25, so that $25 or 50 percent was captured by the local economy, which yields $25 in direct sales. That is, the direct impact of the sale. Direct effects are in general the changes in economic activity during the first round of spending.

The initial or direct effects are important, but the subsequent spending and re-spending of the original dollars are particularly important to understanding the impact of spending locally. These secondary effects are the changes in economic activiy from subsequent rounds of re-spending of the dollars captured by the local economy. In our fishing equipment example, the captured spending might be re-spent by paying employees or spending the income on groceries or other goods/services in the local economy. This secondary or second-level spending are called indirect or induced effects. To measure the amount of indirect or induced spending, economists use multipliers to describe the extent to which a dollar of initial spending is subsequently re-spent. For example in the case study given below the multiplier was 1.325 meaning that a dollar retained in direct spending results in about 1.325 dollars of subsequent spending.

The final summary of economic activity is measured in terms of:

Sales: The final dollar volume of goods or services produced or sold.
Income: The money earned within the region from production and sales including wage and salary income and proprietor’s income, rents, and profits.
Jobs is measure of the number of jobs required to produce a given volume of sales/production. Usually expressed as full-time equivalents.
Value Added: The sum of total income and indirect business taxes. Value added is the most commonly used measure of contribution to an economy.

A Tourism Case Study:

The following results were obtained from an economic analysis impact model for the Michigan Tourism Industry. The results of this economic analysis model should be similar to those that would be experienced in Pope County. The more important feature is to notice the impact of the secondary effects on the local economy.

The economic analysis model used for this illustration can be found on the World Wide Web at URL: http://www.msu.edu/course/prr/840/econimpact/michigan/ecimpest.html. The settings used were a two-night stay in a camper or RV for a small party.

Analysis Worksheet Results: Two visitor nights in the area resulted in $140 total spending. 68% of this spending was captured by the local economy yielding $95 in direct sales to tourism-related firms. These sales generated $35 in direct personal income, $53 direct value added and supported 0 direct jobs. Every dollar of direct sales yielded 1.325 in total sales effects including indirect and induced effects. With multiplier effects tourist spending resulted in $126 total sales, $46 in total personal income, $72 total value added and supported 0 jobs.

This analysis illustrates that the original spending is important because the dollars captured by the local economy are subsequently spent in the local economy, and thus increase the total value added to the region.

Economic Impact Analysis Case Study for Pope County:

In this section we describe the potential impact of an increase in local spending on Groceries, and Food and Beverage Services in Pope County. In this analysis we used the household disposable income distribution obtained in our survey, modified slightly by official income statistics from the US Census bureau. From this income distribution, we estimated the percentage of disposable income spent on food and beverages. We approximated these data from the 1993 Consumer Expenditure Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other sources. This gave us estimates of how much is spent on food and beverages for each income level. From our survey results we estimated the percentage of food and beverage spending within Pope County (roughly 60 percent). We then assumed that approximately 50 percent of food and beverage spending is captured by the local economy, and that the multiplier for such captured spending was 1.25. This multiplier is a conservative estimate of the impact when compared to other published sources of multiplier values. Our findings are that a 10 percent spending increase on groceries, food, and beverages will result in approximately a 2 million dollar increase in direct and secondary effects.

This simple example for only the grocery, food, and beverage sector illustrates the tremendous impact a modest change in spending habits can have on the local economy. If such spending changes simultaneously take place in other sectors of the economy the impact will be tremendous.

References:

Broomhall, D. The Use of Multipliers in Economic Impact Estimates. EC-686. Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service. URL: http://www.agcom.purdue.edu/AgCom/Pubs/EC/EC-686.html.

Bureau of Economic Analysis. URL: http://www.bea.doc.gov/.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey Results. Ohio State University. URL: http://www.hec.ohio-state.edu/hanna/360/spend.htm.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Website. URL: http://www.bls.gov/data/.

Burress, D. Economic Impact Multipliers for Kansas. Kansas Business Review, Vol 12, No 3, Spring 1989. URL: http://www.ku.edu/pri/publicat/multipliers/multipliers.htm.

Michigan Tourism Economic Impact Calculator. URL: http://www.msu.edu/course/prr/840/econimpact/michigan/ecimpest.html.

Miller, W., and Armbruster, T. Economic Multipliers: How Communities Can Use Them for Planning. University of Arkansas Website. URL: http://www2.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/HTML/FSCDD-6.asp.

Minnesota Design Team Website: URL http://www.minnesotadesignteam.org

Pankow, D. (1995). Taking Charge of Family Finances: How Much Should We Spend?. HE-440. North Dakota State Extension Service.

Stynes, D. Recreation and Tourism Spending and Economic Impact. Michigan State University Website. URL: http://www.msu.edu/user/stynes/mirec/.

United States Census Bureau Website. URL: http://www.census.gov.

Appendix:

Summary of General Comments:

The survey asked respondents about comments or ideas to increase spending in Pope County, and also any other comments. The detailed comments are given an appendix, but a summary is given here. The main recurring themes of the comments were:

· More jobs will provide more amenities, concentrate on job creation and economic development.

· Friendly service is important in buying locally, could be improved in some local businesses.

· Better advertising.

· Competitive pricing.

· More fast food restaurants.

· A healthy choice adult or family restaurant.

· A place for youth to gather.

· More options for entertainment.

· Clothing stores or opportunities for purchasing clothing were mentioned often.

· Lake development options like a marina or fishing pier.

· General satisfaction with Pope County as a place to live.

· Concerns about law enforcement.

Recreation Comments:

* there could be more for teens to do

*A theatre was tried but people didn't patronize. Karoke is planned at Ballroom, worth a try

*There should be a lot more things for the young kids and teenagers to do around here. Don't close the bowling Alley in the Summer.

*Pope Co. does not have a skate park. We would use a skate park if available. Could possible have a movie theatre, could have more plays, live music.

*another bowling alley, mini golf, and movie theater. during day-light for older people.

*I give advertising a very low importance only because we don't have any ads from Pope Co.

*We are not active enough and should join more recreational activities

*It's hard for small towns to compete with larger towns for movies and dining, etc.

*I think they should have an outdoor/indoor movie theater, bowling alley,

roller rink, an arcade in Glenwood, also they should bring back teen

dances at lakeside every Saturday,or at least once a month. Also, an old

fifties restaurant.

*If they got a movie theater and a big Rec Hall and a bowling alley in glenwood, and an outdoor theater

*Up to date movie theater

*Good boat docking

*Not enough to do

*More variety

*Walking path, bike lanes

*Can not judge fairly, do not have time to take advantage of this service!

*Offer more recreational services.

*Outdoor swimming pool-maybe a club subsidize the maint. Costs. The movies

or films should be advertised on radio. Need better radio broadcasts. Need to cover a lot more sporting events. Why can Morris cover almost all of their games but we can't. Could we get some kind of teen center for kids to play pool, cards, etc? They really need a hang out.

*More variety for all ages.

*water park located in Barsness Park to go along with summer activities

*Don't drop the limit on fish you can take and don't put anymore muskie in the lake

*We need more for the children to do

*Maybe build a fitness center in Starbuck

*More stuff for local kids - movie house

*movie theatre, mini golf, canoes and paddleboats

*More stuff for kids and young people

*need more for kids to go to

*wider variety of options

*outdoor pool - drive up docks by the lakeside

*There could be more for the young kids to do.

*Better selection

*I hope the Central Square can open their movie theater again. I hope our state park continues to remain open and accessable to all.

*have a variety of things to do for all kids and adults

*develop more walking/biking trails

*More variety, especially for the age group 14-20. There is not too much to do for this age group. We love to bowl, no bowling alley here anymore.

*More camping sites for Waterama

*Bowling Alley-Supported by Glenwood Businesses, Not just villard! More Central movies

*More stuff for kids to do

*We don't need drunks all around but the law is ruining more than the county wants to see.

*Management of chamber. Better Advertizing the area to towns in the state and out of state. People in Park Rapids havent even heard of Lake Minnewaska.

*more shooting activities

*movie house

*open more-better selection for hunting and fishing and prices are too high-fitness center needs to update and be open longer and I wish bowling alley was open.

*if you could compete in one way and one way only it would be in the area of exceptional service.

*pope county is increasing its recreational activities already perhaps more outdoor sponsored activities (?)

*More dances at Lakeside. It would being in more visitor to pope counry as well as camping.

*Need more for teens in Glenwood. Teen dance, bowling. Must have some businesses open late nights on weekends.

*Fix bike path at Villard

*more activities to do

*complete bike trails

*(Love tennis courts)-bike trails could be a goal to connect our towns - snowmobile trails

*get the roller-rink back

*having a place to rent ice skates, roller blades, boats, jet skiis, etc

*Movie theater, year round dairy queen, fast food restaurant(Hardees), lakeside ballroom(promotion, bands, etc.), central square(more cultural or community realted programs)

*more variety , flexible hours

*miniature golf - movie theatre 6-8 screen

*increase distance between speed boats and fishing boats on lakes

*to have more variety for own kids to have things to do

*have a local movie theatre

*Pope County is beautiful - could be a great summer retreat! We need more advertising and specialty shops for visitors!

*Don't use it, but transportation could be better

*Fitness center in Starbuck

*We might offer rental services for bicycles, tennis raquets and balls, boats and motors to tourists vacationing here

*more for young families and young children - especially indoors when weather is uncooperative

*Recreational services available to all age groups. Fitness center greatly needed in Starbuck area

*more in glenwood/villard area

*Spend more to make better fishing and hunting

*Glenwood is one of the most boring towns on weekends. If we want to go to the movies, we have to drive up to Alex. The only thing open after 11pm is Franklin and that's really gross.

*Fitness Program

*more things to do for entertainment. Gwood definitely lacks in this department.

*Recreation is great, could use more things for teens to use a nice mini-golf course would be a plus.

*we do not have enough for the children to do in the summer time

*more of them

*Well, since there is no recreationalservices in Pope County that interest me, with the exception of the lake and golf courses, we might want to start with some better options.

*Pope county needs more things/activities for the young people in our community.

*More Variety

*Greater variety of recreation opportunity.

*would like to have a smooth path for roller blading. Perhaps around Barsness Park. Bike Path

*bike path - roller blading around lake - Nicer Beach House

Please list any comments or ideas you might have to increase spending in Pope County.

*we need more in the fast food maybe by the school. More clothing stores. Maybe a mini mall close to the H.S.

*More enthusiasm and appreciation by all clerks, representatives, schools, administration, employees as well as employers. Friendliness goes along way. Attitudes in all businesses and schools, clinics and hospitals need to be improved. We are here to serve others and not the other way around. Thankfulness and graciousness are necessary for people to want to be in the area.

*More selection of clothing stores. More recreation for the kids in the town.

*school should get more money

*The Culligan Bldg in Glenwood, mainstreet, a disaster. Top part of bakery is very attractive, but bottom part needs attention. Seen from 2 busy streets. These 2 businesses "pay rent." Resorters even comment. The family must go out of town for clothing, some can be bought at Pamida.

*More industry - brings more people for shopping - better

*there needs to be more selection in the Glenwood area. For clothing and personal items there is very little. Pamida is the only clothing selection.We could use more to keep people from going to Alexandria.

*open a Taco John's

*Bring in more recreation

*Make it more convenient, possibly cheaper, more selection of businesses.

*I think the main reason I don't shop or spend in Pope county is because of the lack of variety and choices. As a cyrus resident, I don't think Cyrus in particualar promotes new building, business, or residents.

*Get different people on council to encourage more business in county. Need more clothing stores,competitive grocery stores.

*Encourage new businesses (ag and non-ag) to start up in Pope County – not discourage them!

*competitive price

*We live on the very western edge of Pope Co. There is no communication with the rest of the county. Pope Co. could do more advertising in that area of the county. We really don't hear of much going on at the other end. Douglas Co. does a lot more advertising here.

*We do as much of our shopping in Morris as possible - almost all. We should start traveling more to Starbuck and Glenwood. We truly believe in shopping locally. With the price of gas - maybe people will learn how important the local stores are to them.

*stores could honor advertised prices in Alexandria area stores. Be competitive.

*need more clothing selection for family and shoe selection men clothing for dress clothing.

*a fast food restaurant

*Lower prices, more variety of supplies, more kid entertainment,more sitdown restaurants, more walking and bike trails, more educational funding, and more community improvement projects.

*I would bring back Saturday night teen dances at Lakeside

*We need to work on getting more industry and better paying jobs. All the rest will follow if we have people and money to support it.

*Need cheaper prices on groceries and home supplies

*Fast food eating places

*The main reasons I shop out of town is pricing and availability of products. When I take a shopping trip, I want to be able to get everything on my list in the same town. I would also like to have a restaurant with nice atmosphere, good food and reasonable prices. I think the Pizza Ranch and A&W are nuce family restaurants. We also need a restaurant that caters to adults.

*Better store selection on main street. D.Q. should be a Brazier D.Q. Increase in "larger chain stores" like target, wal-mart. That give a wide selection at low prices. And speciality stores that serve specific needs or wants that you cannot find anywhere else!

*More variety of stores

*Business people need to remember that good service and willing helpful employees will out sell any Walmart etc. Tom needs to clean the grocery store and have a smiling face at the cash register.

*Tom's-Save Rite Needs to be cleaned really good.

*more competive in pricing with in all areas

*Get a better sewer system in town so you don't have it backed up in basement destroying things instead of spending on parks and ballroom. People could buy homes spend money here instead of fear back up when rains are heavy and man holes aren't cleaned out.

*More availability and competitive prices

*Need some clothing stores in Glenwood

*Better prices in all services

*Get the bowling alley back open

*Increase advertisement for tourism. Make the area moe attractive for tourists. (bike path, more camping, a marina)

*fast food restaurant

*Focus time and energy on making the Lakeside Ballroom busier. It is too nice of a place to sit empty. Advertise dances more. Dock similar to Water's Edge. Create a bar and grill. Sand volleyball. Extend the deck. Could be fun in the wintertime too!

*Create more places for teenage kids to spend time together. Fast food variety-bowling places-arcade-movie theater

*clothing store, more sporting goods

*new baseball stadium

*Have a wider variety of things to buy - like conveniences

*Pamida is so expensive - I'd go to Alexandria anyways

*I do wish we had another competitive grocery store in Pope County. I really feel we do not have very fair grocery prices in butter and milk in our grocery stores and this is a hard thing not to buy. Butter was $3.23/Ibs today at Tom's and $1.59/lbs at Peter's County Market. I bought butter at Tom's for convenience, but for how long will I do that I don't know.

*I've been in the retail business for 15 years - it's a lot harder now than then. Wouldn't get into it today as I did 15 years ago. I don't like to wine or complain - it's a fact of life - MAYBE I wouldn't want to turn over my business to my kids - I would want something better for them. I know that sounds awful (and it is) but I'm just being honest with you. Can or will the outlook in Pope County change? I don't know. I think it could, but won't bet it will. I guess that's why I'm still here for a better tomorrow - maybe it's just a pipe dream, but I'm here good or bad. I don't think it's just Pope County's problems but rural MN problems also. Some are better than others!! We're not bad. We do have lakes here in Pope County. That's better than a lot of them. I've talked with a lot of people and they say how do we keep our young people here to raise their families?? Billion dollar question?? I don't think there's an easy answer

to that one, but one topic would be JOBS!!! Jobs so they could raise their families on it. How do we go about this? Another billion dollar question?? It's not easy but I think we ALL cold work at it for a better Pope County!!! This may sound silly but higher gas prices just might help Pope County on the long run. I think the farm economy of Pope County is related to its problems, less farms, bigger farms, equipment and soon. Schools enrollment taking a big hit-I know we're not along on this one- but what can we do to stop or at least slow this big train down some? I would like to think we've bottomed out. But that's just another pipe dream at best. I've seen people come to our county every weekend of the year-there's got to be something pretty damn special about it!!! I said for years if only Pope County residents spend 1/2 of their money in the county it would be a different place. Just think 1/2 and no outside money at all. Cars, clothes, equipment, gas, groceries, and on and on just 1/2. It would be a different main street in Glenwood. I 'm open for any solutions or ideas as well as many other counties in MN. We will continue

to work and hope for that rainbow in the sky. Good Luck!!

*more diverse selection of retail stores

*availability of product !!

*1. We would use the medical facility here if it was more private. Everyone talks about so and so, who just was in at the Dr. 2. More variety in store seleciton. It's very hard to buy clothing in Glenwood. Pamida does not

carry clothing for everyone. No variety, no name brands. 3. I would spend my grocery store money in Glenwood if the prices were better and more variety.

*Cater too much to the farmer. No one else seems to exist. Pope county doesn't want new business or people to come in. It will disrupt their nice quiet little towns. You have to grow & supply people with the same things

you can get in your bigger cities such as St. Cloud, Alexandria, Fargo for the same prices or better.

*Open later in Summer

*McDonalds, Walmart

*Selection & Pricing "5"

If we travel out of Pope County for a commodity such as clothes, we tend to purchase groceries, hardware items, and sporting and recreational equip. Most consumers won't leave the county if we have better than fair selections due to convenience! Also takes Advertising

*Price Competition, Needs a little more competition- mainly groceries.

*Longer hours/ more competitive prices. Spend less on advertising, more on quality service

*Have more clothing stores

*more competitive-more antique/specialty stores-some good shoes or clothing stores.

*More opppurtunities for kids to fish from shore on area lakes.

*Some activities for the teenagers

*Pope county court house leaves bad taste especially in seasonal property owners. I know people that absolutely will not shop in glenwood because of negative experiences Assesor-especially. The Glenwood business people need to shop in Glenwood just for the sake of community leadership. Even the city of Glenwood shop out of town (grop shop morten bldg.) (sr.citizen center, Brooten) (windows in court house MPLS) (Annex building Alexandria)

*Need to be competitive with Alex.

*To make people more aware of why it is so important to support local businesses- not only money for business but also saves them money in services- and taxes- a business goes down- more taxes for you to pay in the long run- people don't really figure that

*1) Pope County is still very conservative. 2) Bus. People may want to consider getting more bus. To enter the county to attract more people.

*Clothing is not available in Pope County

*coffee shop in Glenwoos - healthy sandwiches and salads NO DEEP FRYING

*Lower your prices especially gas and groceries. When you can drive to another town and fill up with gas and buy groceries, who wouldn't go for it? Brooten is always cheaper on gas! With Tom's getting all the business

in Pope County, he could afford a few lower prices!!

*Keep doing a great job on service and convenience and customer relations. I'm proud to shop in Glenwood and I love seeing my friends and neighbors when I do my business.

*Prices and selection need to rival WalMart, Target and Fleet Farm in Alex on clothing, personal care/toiletries and gift items

*increasing the amount of low income housing is a great need in this county. If we had more low income affordable housing, those people may have a little more money to share in the community

*Appreciate when businesses have VISA, etc. Fee supplies are cheaper elsewhere and won't take VISA without a charge. Chemicals and fertilizer bills can not be charged. They should be.

*Try to increase the amount of retirement living in the county for more than the summer. Could also try to attract more commercial living like reahabilitation center. Encourage young people to take risk and start in

retail business ventures.

*see 28 and more competitve pricing as easier to just go out of county if can't get it.

*be competitive on gas, get a fast food place to eat, theatre and mini golf

*advertised sale items many times are not available or sold out (Pamida)

*to have a fast food place besides A&W and Subway - to have a clothing store with more variety

*I buy almost all my groceries in Pope county, but I know a lot of people go to Alex because of pricing. Some competition in town would be healthy.

*A nice clothing store, shoe store. New playground equip in (Park - Barsness)

*We must remind our friends who look for bargains in bigger cities that the cost of travel and loss of obtainig local service should be considered. Also if we do not support our local merchants we may lose them and we may become another ghost town through our short - sighted actions. Public restrooms in downtown Glenwood would be nice. Discount store pricing would be nice. More competitive with Alexandria's pricing. more stores where good or services are available (more selection"

Get more business in town. More stores ie. clothing shoes

Overall advertising of what is available, competitive pricing,

good/hometown/personable service, fresh (not outdated) products - especially in grocery stores

*not enough parts carried on hand at the businesses so increase of on hand parts

*Not possible- Kmart, Walmart, Fleet Farm, Target in Alex No Way No how

*a better looking town. A more giant looking town w/ smaller streets

*more competitive grocery pricing

*compete with the other counties surrounding Pope

*farming is going to hell. Farmers do not have enough money to spend in Pope County

*The people make the business or break the business

*Restaurants with later serving hours, fast food service, clothing stores, and sporting good stores.

*Less consolidation of product lines-wider variety of products and services.

*more clothing stores

*Make Glenwood more tourist attraction (Like Nisswa) Special stores – bike path

*some activiites for the teenagers

Please write any other comments you have about Pope County:

*safe-clean environment-great

*Several Owners of businesses which are thriving are not friendly. Health care a big plus. Clerks are helpful and friendly--appreciated! Glenwoods grocery store outside coloring very unattractive.

*taxes are getting too high

*It's a great place,but should be thinking more of the kids and not just the senior citizens.

*Pope Co., Starbuck and Glenwood is a beautiful place to live, the Starbuck beach could be cleaned up a little more, from the beach to what used to be a boat landing.

*Pope county is o.k.

*Pope County needs to understand the importance of agriculture to its economic well-being

*should have more super market competition

*Good park and library facilities. Great to have a fitness center. We need to make sure we protect our air and water quality.

*Pope Co. does fine if you live in starbuck, Glenwood, Lowry, Villard, Westport. Cyrus is a bedroom community mostly for Morris. Most residents of Cyrus work and shop in Morris. I live in town and work in town but I on

average go to Morris about three times/week. Therefore most goods and services are done outside Pope Co.

*I feel that Pope county is a nice place to live and there are a lot of nice people here.

*It’s a wonderful place to live and raise children if you can afford it.

*friendlier people

*Other than Farming, we also work in the Alexandria Area so it is natural

that we do more business there because it is convienent.

*I think we are very fortunate to have all the offerings we have. We have a great community.

*New businesses should not be brought in that causes other businesses to close.

*Have business people tell you they don't want to work for you instead of beating around the bush, don't call or show up for a job when they look at it then you have to go out of town for help. The truth is the best way.

*Appreciate the competitive grocery prices

*There is a need for affordable housing in Pope County

*We should fund the arts more, especially the visual so the teachers do not have too operate a full time department with budgets 1/2 the size of the previous year.

*Many people avoid our town because of the large number of petty tickets which are served on travelers.(speeding, stop sign etc…) A friendly warning would be more helpful.

*not enough stuff to keep the kids out of trouble

*we love Gelnwood! The lakes, friendly people, and clean hometown living!

*Revive the town- Its becoming a ghost town

*beautiful area. I would still choose to live here w/o some things

*There are too many wellfare people in our county. This I feel makes it harder for those of us that have to work two jobs and the people on wellfare can afford more extra things than we can-because they don't buy lunches at school, they get free medicare, fuel assistance and many more things all of which we pay for. This brings our income to less than what they got and a the end of the year they get money back on taxes and we pay in. They never paid in any to get back!

*Nice area, beautiful lake

*Pope county needs to allow more businesses and food places in. Our entertainment money goes to Alexandria. A&W gets boring. No theatre, No bowling. We need more jobs in Pope county, not just $5.00 an hour one's

either. A living wage job. All of the young people leave Pope County because there is no future for them here. The businesses in Glenwood are not friendly, they are nice to money, not to people. If you have a NAME in Glenwood, you get all the perks and respect. If I wasn't here looking after my folks, I would never have moved back here.

*Law enforcement to be friendly to out of towners.

*I (we) love Pope County and the friendly hometown service we receive EVERYWHERE! We moved here from Chanhassen and love it here.

*We complain about our small grocery stores not having fresh produce, therefore spending outside, which doesn't allows enough business and income for the small stores to do so.

*Has a great deal of Recreational potential. But the law has to loosen up because it is chasing everyone out of the county.

*too liberal politics

*Good county to live in.

*Needs more culture.

*Schools and recreation are top notch.

*Farm families are struggling in our area and our towns aren't doing anything to encourage and support them. It seems that city govrnment cares more about tourism and our senior citizens. Lose your farms, you lose your cities.

*there seems to be almost like racial tensions between townspeople, farmers, lake people. Really shows up at schools favorite groups of people.

*Radical Environmentlists are having an economic impact on the agriculture sector of this county. This has caused the "family farm" to become something of the past. In turn, this interference has reduced the county economic conditions. Tourists do not support a county/community, the local citizens do in a limited tourist area.

*In general a good place so much better if everyone would cooperate in cleaning up their property- let's get rid of old junk old cars, etc. eye sores make for a don't care attitude about where we live and don't care

about our neighbor or our towns or area

*Pope county is a very alienated place. The schools beomce a large part of the county and communtity and keep us all together. I truly believe we keep quite a bit of business locally but some times local is closer to another county line.

*I think Pope County has many positive things. I have lived in many counties and I am glad I live in Pope County

*Pope County needs a bowling alley or activity center

*It's an expensive place to live

*I'm loyal to my country and love to contribute to its growth. We all need to be accepting and open to change and coolaborate and communicate.

*Price is probably the most important reason if we do buy elsewhere. Selection is #2. We do like Pamida and are happy to see the Family Dollar Store.

*Quiet place to live Safe from crime. Good place to raise a family, vacation or visit. It will be difficult to increase the business area unless there is a return to small farms and a lot of retirement living more than in the summer.

*nice county to live in and raise children, health ins. Costs high but come with choice to live in rural/remote area, miss theater and lack of activities at lakeside ballroom with sat nite dances weekly and teen hops advertised ongoing.

*have more shops, lower taxes in Glenwood by spending less on the ballroom

*Tougher drug enforcement, harsher fines, more pride in home appearance city and county

*A beautiful place to live and raise a family. A marina on the Glenwood end of Lake Minnewaska would be nice.

*They need a better law enforcement center so we could have law enforcement work 24 hours a day instead of 20 hours and having someone on call the other 4 hours

*Agriculture is our biggest industry and we must do what we can to keep it so. We must also keep attempting to encourage small businesses to locate here. Keeping our towns neat and friendly is important as we strive for

higher goals.

*It is a good place to live and raise children. Many people purchase groceries etc in Pope County because of convenience (not necessarily better prices) Variety is important. Could use more of that.

*Nice place To live

*this is an awsome area - we should enhance it more

*What are you spending our tax dollars on?

*wonderful place to live. 89 years in Pope County

*Need to be more farmer friendly as a community.

*great place to live. Have great kids here, could be cut a little more slack.