Town Hall Turnout Improves – Was it the Food?

Thanks to everyone who came out last night to the quarterly Town Hall meeting held at the Civic Auditorium.  Absent meetings last summer during the discussions of a property tax increase, last nights meeting was one of the best attended so far.  Was it the meat and cheese trays from Family Market?  Maybe.  Was it the cookies from SC Bakery?  Probably!

But regardless of the reasons, thanks to everyone who came out.  While I can’t confirm the menu for December, Big R’s is a top contender!

Having said all that, the turnout was not what was typical in the past – past meaning prior to my election in 2009.  In February of 2009, the Neosho Daily reported that 101 people turned out for the first-ever “State of the City” address by then mayor Howard Birdsong.  Being in attendance at that meeting, the crowd makeup was much different.  There were a number of business owners there.  Chamber members.  Realtors and bankers too.  Not so last night.

But regardless of the makeup, it was a good time for all and I appreciate all who took the time to make it by and hear what’s happening in your city.

Durable Goods Orders Down in August

New orders for manufactured durable goods in August decreased 0.1 percent, to $201.8 billion. Excluding transportation new orders also declined 0.1 percent. Overall shipments fell 0.2 percent, while capital goods shipments increased 2.7 percent. Unfilled orders and inventories both rose 0.9 percent.

• Advance Report on Durable Goods (August 2011).pdf

Business Week Article Questions “Big Box” Subsidies

An on-line article from Business Week questions whether subsidizing Big Box retailers for development results in net gains in jobs and overall retail increases.

One paragraph reads as follows:

“A recent study, however, indicates that subsidizing retail development produces neither job gains nor new tax revenue. Earlier this year a consortium of local governments in the St. Louis metro area found that cities and counties in the region had diverted more than $5.8 billion in public tax dollars to finance private development. More than 80 percent of these funds supported the construction of new chain stores and shopping centers.

Yet the region has seen virtually no economic growth. “The number of retail jobs has increased only slightly and, in real dollars, retail sales per capita have not increased in years,” the authors of the study wrote, noting that many of the region’s municipalities are now broke. According to the study, more than 600 small retailers have closed in the St. Louis metro area. The resulting job losses have offset the job gains from the new development.”

The link to the entire article in here.

Neosho’s MAP Scores Continue Upward Trend

While some schools around the area were down a bit on MAP scores, Neosho continued to show improvement over their previous year’s numbers.

In 2011, math improved from 57.1% to 58.9% while Communication Arts went from 56.2% to 58.0%.  Those numbers represent the % of students scoring as proficient or better.

Neosho’s scores are higher than Carthage in both areas.  Neosho and Carl Junction are split with Neosho leading in Math while CJ leads in Comm Arts.  Both Webb City and Joplin remain higher than Neosho, but those two schools saw their there scores DROP vs. 2010. 

You can check out all of the scores at the DESE website.