There is absolutely no sense of urgency or problem-solving for locally owned, small businesses in the City Council packet going to the Council tonight.
It’s as if small businesses, other than Ace Hardware, do not exist in the City’s mindset. These are left to the whim of Regency, the absentee landlord who has made it clear our locally owned small businesses can go to hell.
Despite the loss of several small businesses at the Sammamish Highlands center, and the doomsday countdown for Civilized Nature now started, there is nothing in the council packet to suggest the Administration is looking for solutions and alternatives to help small business.
I find this lack of foresight to be appalling. The Administration last week pretty much said everything can wait to the 2015 Comp Plan rewrite, three years away. Implementation of a rewrite would not happen until the following year, four years away. This leaves small businesses entirely at the mercy of Regency.
Our City Council must step in and fix this. But will it? It’s hardly shown much foresight, either.
Sammamish Comment 
Yes, I agree. Petco? Verizon? Do we really need these businesses in Sammamish? Not that I am anti Petco or Verizon, but driving to Redmond or Issaquah for the services of these businesses, which we don’t need on a weekly basis, is just fine. We need businesses we frequent on a regular basis; like restaurants. The council needs to take charge on this subject.
One of the goals I heard expressed during the town center debate was that big box stores were not wanted. Now here they come at the expense of our small businesses.