Los Alamos Local Business Coalition holds its fourth community forum May 29 at SALA Event Center. Courtesy photo

Scene from Los Alamos Local Business Coalition’s fourth community forum on May 29. Courtesy photo

Scene from Los Alamos Local Business Coalition’s fourth community forum on May 29. Courtesy photo

LALBC NEWS RELEASE

The Los Alamos Local Business Coalition convened its fourth community forum on May 29, 2025, at 5:30 PM at SALA Event Center to focus on identifying and leveraging “Tools and Strategies” to cultivate a more robust local business environment.  Multiple ideas for specific initiatives were discussed by attendees in small group breakouts, and the entire group voted on priorities following report-outs from the small groups.

The ideas were presented in the form of one-page concept papers, each headed by a vision statement of what could be accomplished.  These are actionable ideas, some relatively easy to accomplish versus others. The concept papers can be reviewed at the Coalition website at coalition.losalamos.com. The vision statements are things like:

• Imagine exposing nearly every visitor to the Los Alamos area attractions to marketing messaging from local businesses.
• Imagine Central Avenue continuously lined with retail, dining, and treat businesses in all storefronts.
• Imagine steadily increasing awareness and purchases by major community organizations and businesses from local businesses.
• Imagine local businesses being able to save time and effort to engage vetted, capable professional resources responsive to their needs.
• Imagine effective grant-getting resources that bring a steady stream of funding into the community to support local businesses and organizations.
• Imagine Local Businesses having opportunities to own their business space.

This was the fourth in a series of forums held by the Coalition.  Emcee Leslie Linke kicked off the meeting with the Coalition’s mission: “The Los Alamos Local Business Coalition is a collaborative organization encompassing local business owners and community members, united in their dedication to fostering a thriving business environment in Los Alamos and White Rock”. She reviewed the work that the Coalition has undertaken since forming in November 2024:

• Outreach and offer to collaborate with the County and LACDC on improving the local business environment
• Advocacy opposing ill-fated County commercial property purchase
• Survey to prioritize issues and provide input to the County’s drafting of an MRA plan
• Advocacy for local business priorities and transparency in drafting the East Downtown MRA plan
• Requested that the County Council to engage a project with Cities Work, an independent non-profit experienced with assessing the business friendliness of communities and providing recommendations for improvements
• Forum series focused on improving the local business environment, beginning in February
• Advocating for local businesses to address a variety of problems, including DP Road construction disruptions and the lack of local business inclusion  in visitor and tourism promotion

Coalition member Anna Dillane spoke to the group about the need for improving visitor and tourism marketing efforts to increase the economic benefits of visitors and tourists to local businesses.  Coalition member Shannon C de Baca spoke about the desire to get the County to take the impact on local businesses and potential opportunities for local businesses in their project planning and in every significant decision that is made.

The first forum identified key challenges affecting local businesses. These include difficulties with Affordable Commercial Space & Vacancies due to high rents and underutilized properties, a Complex and Opaque Regulatory & Accountability Environment characterized by confusing and time-consuming processes, Workforce Shortages & Housing Costs stemming from a lack of affordable workforce housing, a perceived Lack of Support & Access to Funding for small businesses, and Poor Communication & Underdeveloped Tourism resulting in a disconnect between stakeholders and a need for better communication and tourism focus.

The second forum reviewed multiple County plans that are already in place, which, if enacted, would address the key challenges.  The plans are generally good, but the County doesn’t proactively pursue many parts of them, and there is inadequate accountability for and measurement of progress.  There is a mismatch between rhetoric about priorities and County actions.

The third forum highlighted how a lack of defined processes and overly risk-averse interpretations of tools such as the State Local Economic Development Act (L.E.D.A) preventeffective use of available tools.. Tools like LEDA and the Arts & Cultural District Act provide an exemption to what is called the “anti-donation clause” for counties and cities in New Mexico to make public investments in private sector projects that demonstrate a public benefit. The County often claims the inability to help, pointing to the anti-donation clause, while clear exemptions exist if the County were willing to use them in effective ways.

Looking ahead, the Coalition plans to hold a fifth forum focused on “Summary and Action Planning”. Following the conclusion of the forum series, the Coalition intends to review the outcomes from all forums, form working groups, and publish a final report detailing their findings, recommendations, and proposed actions to support local businesses and contribute to the thriving of Los Alamos.The Coalition encourages those who support their mission and wish to stay informed and involved to join the Coalition at coalition.losalamos.com.