Promoting Community for Retirement
by Lucille
(New York)
Our tiny Village in west New York state has much to offer. However the employment opportunities are not available.
What we do have to offer are very affordable homes, low taxes, private police department, Fire department, EMS, medical facility in walking distance, hunting, fishing and small village shopping area including bank, post office, grocery store,movie theater, senior center, places of worship etc. all in walking distance.
Many of our newest residents are of the retiring age group and can no longer financially afford living in the suburbs of New York City, due to rents and taxes. Those baby boomers that were fortunate enough to plan for retirement would find living in this area a most wonderful experience.
We are 2 hours from New York City. Homes could be purchased as low as $100,000, and taxes average $4,000. Winters are cold, but with this savings a second home could be purchased in one of our southern states. Snowbirds are common in this area.
How does a person convince members of the board that this is a positive marketing idea for our area?
Editors' Reply: Your logic is very sound. We are a little surprised that your board requires any convincing on this subject. Maybe they feel that they cannot afford to do any paid advertising.
However, if you have any younger people in the community at all, or some not-so-young folks who would like to learn something new, a very nice social media campaign could be mounted to get your point across for a reasonable sum of money.
Maybe your board is just not seeing the benefits of your idea, so therefore it does not seem worth the effort. But look at what retirees bring to a small community: disposable income that can help bring prosperity for the bank, grocery store, theater, and medical facility; a source of volunteers; and possible source of entrepreneurs that might open new businesses for you.
Sometimes retirees even lead indirectly to new residents of other ages, as family members come to visit and decide that the hunting, fishing, and slow pace are mighty attractive.
Some communities want to put all their faith in attracting or keeping young people. That's a worthy goal, since the younger crowd tends to bring a certain liveliness and keep a steady stream of children moving through the school system.
But young families are not the only sources of wealth and new ideas. People retiring from a nearby hectic city are potential recruits to repopulate many rural villages in our country. Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention.
Good luck to you in this important rural development initiative.
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