DC and the Snow Storms of 2010
The DC Chamber of Commerce is confirming what everyone likely already knew about the economic impact of the snow storms of 2010: There was a lot of money lost in the Washington metro business community. More than 100 local businesses responded to a survey the Chamber conducted, and all replied the impact of the storm was near disastrous, with the DC governments response inadequate to the task. Said one business owner, “We lost over $120,000 in sales in comparison to the same two weeks last year, and the lack of parking through the week put off a lot of customers who would have otherwise come into our restaurant. Said another, “We lost a half a million dollars in revenue for the basket of businesses we operate in DC. We continue to have sluggish sales, with a very slow President's Weekend and a reduction in travel to the city for the entire month of February. We have cut expenses that would have kept our business more active and look to work hard to make up some of the losses so that we can retain current staffing levels.”
And another, “We lost $200,000 plus that will never be re-couped. Were just moving on and hope that we don't have any more white stuff this season. Maybe to ensure that, I should move to Hawaii
The DC Chamber hopes to use the results of its survey to evaluate the effectiveness of the City's current snow removal operations and work with District leadership to develop sound solutions in the event of another halting snow season.
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