Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Comprehensive Plan

Yesterday, at a place that shall remain nameless, I may or may not have been bored out of my mind and took advantage of unauthorized access to a high-speed internet computer to download and print off part of the Mathews County Comprehensive Plan, specifically pages 1:1 -1:15.

(I need to pause to catch my breath. While we're taking this brief respite from sentences which stretch from here to Tallahassee, I'd like to clarify to my boss anyone reading that I was on a break and had some other business to tend to on that particular computer. Ahem.)

This particular document is chock full of facts and figures, some of which are fascinating, some of which are like reading an instruction manual on how to set up a Barbie Townhouse--in Japanese.

Anywho, since time was of the essence and this particular document is about 140 pages long, I only sent the first 15 pages to the printer, because I heard footsteps approaching they seemed to be most relevant to what I am researching at home, on my own time, after hours.

What I didn't realize was that page 15 ends mid-sentence, and it's a very important part of the previous paragraph. Take a look for yourself:

Table 1.10
Comparison of Income and Sales

1997 Personal Income ($ millions)

Virginia: 175,911
Mathews Co: 227

1998 Taxable Sales ($ millions)
Virginia: 60,114
Mathews Co: 24

Sales as Percent of Income
Virginia: 34.2
Mathews: 10.5


(i.e. We only spent 10-ish% of our income on stuff in Mathews. The rest went to Wal-Mutant in Gloucester. p.s. This is not the comprehensive plan talking, it's an imcomprehensible CBW, fyi.)

The plan goes on to say, "A comparison of sales as a percentage of personal income for the state as a whole with Mathews County indicates the weakness of the County's retail sector.

Statewide, people spent about one-third of their personal income on retail sales.

Mathews County residents probably do too, but only 10.5 percent is spent within the County. The rest goes to outside market areas such as Wal-Mutant, Bangkok Noi Restaurant, Dollar Tree and Peebles Department Store. p.s. The Comprehensive Plan didn't say this particular part.

One reason for this is that Mathews County is at the end of the "highway" rather than at a "crossroads" location and not likely to_______."


(Continued on page 16, which CBW neglected to print.)

So for those of you still awake, please take a stab at filling in that blank.

Here are my guesses
:

"Mathews is at the end of the 'highway' rather than at a 'crossroads' location (except for the intersection at Get N Zip)and not likely to draw additional dollars from people passing through, because you don't pass through Mathews, you come here and you drive until you hit a dead end, the water, the Food Lion parking lot or sometimes all of the above.

"Mathews is at the end of the 'highway' rather than at a 'crossroads' location and not likely to
convince me that we couldn't sustain a Golden Corral all-you-can-eat buffet, because I'm here to tell you the Chesapeake Bay Family (CB Parents in particular) would spend every discretionary cent to their name for the fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, clam chowder, collard greens, yeast rolls, krab (with a k) salad, and soft serve ice cream machine.

I could keep going but will stop for now. You're very welcome.

What do you think the rest of that sentence is?

12 comments:

Unknown said...

"Mathews is at the end of the 'highway' rather than at a 'crossroads' location and not likely to......

Approve a Wal Mutant of their own. Which is the reason why all the sales tax goes to benefit a neighboring county, which is why some people don't have a regular mailman, which is why you probably won't get a Census Form to fill out (let alone a pre-census letter). Therefore future generations won't ever know what happened at Blog Fest.

Is it July yet?

Perry said...

I second the Golden Corral idea, I'm sadly addicted to the place!

Occasional Kate said...

I have GOT to stop reading this blog in Google Reader... it really cut back on the immediate desire to leave a comment. Boo!

Moving on....

"Mathews is at the end of the 'highway' rather than at a 'crossroads' location and not likely to..."

Ever have a stoplight?

I think it's sad that money can't stay in town, but the fact is, a mom dragging her kids around doing shopping isn't going to want to go to both grocery stores and the dollar store when they can just take one trip to WM. Especially those who live closer to Gloucester.

I don't doubt that "new shiny, pretty" is also a factor in not spending $ in town. Younger people, weekenders and come heres would rather buy "made in china" than grandma's china.

All I can really say is I hope that comprehensive plan doesn't include a WM or anything like it for Mathews. It's close enough already.

Ann Marie said...

Mathews is at the end of the 'highway' rather than at a 'crossroads' location and not likely to... ever show up on a mapquest search unless you specifically enter Mathews.

I have many more... but they are inappropriate.

Bayman said...

An alternative to Golden Corral is "Ginny's Place" at Gloucester Point. It is in the shopping center across the road from Taco Bell in Guinea Mall. Not as big as Golden Corral, but has great fried chicken, fish, hush puppies, bbq, veggies, salad, ice cream, ect. It beats driving across the river.

I would rather have a root canal than go to Wallmutant, but sometimes you need something that you just can't buy in Mathews.

wv: hunli. I know some Hunleys here in the county.

Bayman said...

Kate, a little known fact is there are two stoplights in Mathews. There is one on each end of the Gwynn's Island bridge.

Occasional Kate said...

Bayman those stoplights are a technicality and you know it! LOL

Mental P Mama said...

I would like to think there is a little blip upwards in liquor tax revenue in mid-July;)

Country Girl said...

I second MPM's notion.

Daryl said...

One reason for this is that Mathews County is at the end of the "highway" rather than at a "crossroads" location and not likely to fall off into the Bay anytime soon

VW: bermunce ... I was completely bermunced by this error ..

nativedevil said...

The county always fights new businesses, unless it is a small shop-keeper. And, unfortunately, too many of the small shops that open in Mathews charge high prices based on what they could have (maybe) gotten in Richmond or Northern Virginia. We see the same thing sometimes with little shops that open here in Salem. Way over-priced.
People will shop in Mathews over Wal-Mutant if the prices are competitive. I know WalMart is bigger and will be cheaper, but if it is withiin a couple of dollars for an item, why drive 30 miinutes away? The problem is, too often the price gap has been too big, much more than a couple of dollars difference.
And, just a shout-out to your dad and grandfather--they did great work and charged very fair rates. I think of them often when I go to get my car fixed somewhere.

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

GJ-WE're getting a mailman on our lane! It's true. But no, I did not get the pre-Census/the Census is Coming letter. And we don't want them to know what happens at Blog Fest...it's sort of like Vegas.

Perry-Amen.

Kate-I absolutely 100% agree about the mother toting kids/babies not able to go 5 different places. When I had my first I often thought how profitable a drive-thru anything (not necessarily fast food--anything) would be because of the hassle of toting a baby inside a store.

AM-The Onstar Lady goes wonky around here too.

Bayman-I've heard about that Ginny's Place and will have to remember to tell my parental units. Your reference to the Guinea Mall (York River Crossing) as well as Guinea General (Walter Reed, no offense to those lovely people who work there) and the Guinea Dome (the church on the right near Salsa) have me in absolute hysterics. NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTYHING FUNNY ABOUT GUINEA, mind you. I LOVE Guineamen, including and especially those who spontaneously tapdance in the lobby at Guinea General, a story for another day.

Kate-I don't include those either.

MPM & CG-The Mathews County Visitor Center also noticed a blip upwards in their retail sales that weekend.

Daryl-Most days I wake up burmunced and stay that way until about a pot of coffee has been consumed.

Nativedevil-Thank you for saying that about my father, I'll pass that along. You're right about a lot of things that Wal-Mutant offers for way cheaper than we can possibly get here locally.

For anyone still reading at this hour, Nativedevil, who is from Mathews, now has a blog and it's up and running. Click on his name to get to the link or go to www.nativedevil.blogspot.com.