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Posted on Thu, Jul 1, 2010 : 6:25 a.m.

A conversation about local currency, local buying and a party with Think Local First of Washtenaw County

By Corinna Borden

Borden - Think Local First Logo
Last Thursday, I took the opportunity to sit down and chat with Ingrid Ault, Executive Director of Think Local First of Washtenaw County, at her Even Thursday coffee hour. Every Thursday that falls on an even numbered-day, Ault is at Zingerman's Next Door Café from 7-9 a.m. to connect with members of the community and talk about Think Local First. We spoke about local currency, the group's effort to push 10 percent of our buying to local businesses, and its 3rd annual Ann Arbor Summer Festival party happening tonight.


Before I sat down with Ault, I did some web due diligence, and this is what I learned. Think Local First of Washtenaw County is one of the approximately 80 community networks under the auspices of BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies). BALLE’s mission is to “catalyze, strengthen and connect networks of locally owned independent businesses dedicated to building strong Local Living Economies.” BALLE grew out of Judy Wick’s work with the White Dog Café in Philadelphia. The Café's menu was “based on local and fair trade, with only humanely raised meat and poultry.” The impetus to source local food for one cafe has grown into a national organization with global ambitions.

Ault was raised in Ann Arbor and knows a lot of the history of the town. She feels her status as a native helps her connect with local businesses — the members of Think Local First. As her job is to facilitate introductions and communication, her knowing the players involved is very helpful.

As AnnArbor.com reported in February, Think Local First received a $6,000 grant from the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority to research different kinds of local currency, including paper currency (or the wooden nickels for Bridge Cards at farmers markets), time banking, bartering and a coupon system.

According to Ault, “the outcome of the grant was to introduce a lot of people in the community who have already been working on this for a very long time, and now they all collectively know of one another. That was one of the best parts of the grant. If the community wants to make this happen, then the community is the one who is going to have to rally behind it and move it forward.” 

There will be a panel discussion hosted by Sustainable Michigan on July 11 at 1 pm about this ongoing issue for our community with Ault, Stephanie Mills from Baybucks and Stephen Ranzini of University Bank; check the website for more details about the talk at the Mallet’s Creek Library Branch.

We next spoke about Think Local First’s push to shift 10 percent of our purchases to local sources. As it is very similar to the 10% Washtenaw discussion we had at the HomeGrown Food Summit, I asked Ault about food.

“Since everyone has to eat, this is an obvious first beginning. People ask me, “So if I were to do two things, two small changes in my life — what would be they be?” And my first one is food. Look at your local vendors, your local stores. The other thing I want to say is that at lot of the times people get lost in the, “wow, it is so much more money to shop local.” And, in fact, that’s a myth. If you shop in season and you don’t try to find the item that came from Argentina or Peru or whatever you are not paying for the transportation costs. So it is better for the environment, it is better for you, and the food hasn’t been genetically modified for travel. So you are getting a fresher product.”

Here is Ault discussing the statistics that show the monetary impact of shifting your purchases to locally owned businesses, whether it be food or otherwise.

Finally we talked about the informal party that is taking place tonight at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, which is set to include chair massages, a dessert table, and face painting. What a great way to meet new people!

Corinna volunteers with the Westside Farmers Market and wrote a book about many things.

Comments

Jennifer Shikes Haines

Thu, Jul 1, 2010 : 4:38 p.m.

It was great to see Think Local First highlighted! Very nice article. The flip side of Mr. Goldberg's argument is that if he buys from someone else's "local" store, he's still not adding to the economy in our area. His point is well-taken, though. But it seems that's more an attitude than pricing issue in the case that he described. I think even among local stores, there are many we choose to patronize because we have a relationship with the owners and they do meet our needs (in terms of pricing and in terms of other things, etc.) Meeting the pricing of a similar business in another state would be courtesy, when Mr. Goldberg is making an offer to buy from the local store first.

Joel Goldberg

Thu, Jul 1, 2010 : 8:30 a.m.

Thanks, Corinna, for your ongoing reminders of the value of buying locally. But there's a flip side, too: the responsibility of local dealers of widely available merchandise to stay competitive in the marketplace, knowing that their customers have other options. Last week, I had to replace a burnt-out oven baking element. Since appliance parts can carry hefty markups, I checked online and found a number of stores selling it in the $15 to $25 range, plus shipping. Preferring to buy locally, I phoned a well-known Ann Arbor appliance parts / service business, who said that their price for the identical element was $45. When I pointed out that I could buy it for half that, they offered to lower their price to $32 - "this one time". I bought the product online -- not from some massive warehouse operation, but a very similar, locally-owned parts store in another state that simply had a more reasonable markup policy. Total cost, delivered (in 3 days): $23. And no time or gas wasted driving to and from a store. Non-commodity items (like locally grown foods) clearly entail a different calculus that takes into account quality, freshness, and the like. But local dealers of widely available brands need to realize that they don't automatically deserve our business simply by waving a "Buy Local!" flag -- they have to earn it through their pricing, service, and selection.