Newsroom

Fargo aims to keep businesses open

By: Craig McEwen, INFORUM

Fargo city leaders said Tuesday that they will do their best to keep businesses open during this year’s flood fight.

“We’re going to be a little more sophisticated,” Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker said during a morning flood briefing.

Walaker said businesses may be asked to stagger their hours, if necessary, to accommodate flood-fighting needs.

But “if worse comes to worse, we will shut the town down,” reminded Walaker.

The business community is poised to do whatever is necessary, said Brian Walters, president of the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corp.

“If we need 25th Street to be clear between 5 and 8 p.m., we just need to get that message out,” Walters said. “I think the business community and the public as a whole would be happy to respond to those things. At the same time, we have to digest all the outcomes of these potential decisions and make sure we have good information going both ways.”

Tuesday’s comments came on the heels of a meeting Walaker and Walters had Monday to discuss flood issues affecting the local business community.

“The tone of our conversation was that there are a number of measures that we can put in place as alternatives to the idea of closing all businesses down, that would have the same desired impact without the economic damage that would result from business closures,” Walters said.

He said it was a “very healthy” conversation that addressed the importance current and permanent flood efforts have on job preservation, maintaining a good business climate, sustained sales and employment growth without unnecessarily disrupting supply chains and things that can have long-term ramifications.

The business community’s contributions to fighting local floods have been underestimated, Walters said.

Read the entire article here.