Business Landscape of Sullivan County

It wasn’t long ago when I guess an old business acquaintance who I had a falling out with a decade ago and hadn’t spoken to since, must have bought two $100k Telsa’s.  He’s a contractor, so clearly he had some good pandemic years, or maybe just needed the accelerated depreciation, but whatever.  

So I guess he was having real issues with these 2 expensive cars, so much so that he made a rudimentary TikTok outside one of them after I guess causing a scene with his dissatisfaction and almost getting arrested.  I’ve heard some similar reports of Tesla’s being a pain and having issues, and most significantly, the service departments being quite arrogant, dismissive and rude. He then must have selected ‘send to all contacts’, hence how I got on the receiving end of it.

All this to say, even though there is zero love lost between me and him, and I hadn’t thought about him for years, I felt bad for him that he had been pushed to this point of frustration - we all work way too hard, deal with way to much bullshit, that when it’s time to do a self-reward, it’s hard earned and I wish anyone well in the exercise.   And as builders, we are so constantly going way over and above just to keep everyone happy or in a good place, when you see treatment like the landscaping to me, or Tesla to this guy, or I could name a dozen others, I take it personally, since I know it’s literally the last thing this guy needed while trying to enjoy the spoils of his hardwork.

I read a ton of newspapers - everywhere I go, I read newspapers.  Most Sundays I sit around reading the London Financial Times.   Local newspapers are good too, and I’m lucky enough to not live in a news desert which is impacting so many communities - the areas I roam most frequently - Sullivan County, NY, Ulster Cty NY, Pike County PA- have literally a half dozen or more small papers, keeping track of planning boards, town boards, sports, courts, letters to the editors, etc…  The existence of a local paper, or inversely, a lack of one, has big consequences.

A few weeks ago, I was reading the Sullivan County Democrat, which has been around I believe 125+ years and in it I saw 3 interesting tidbits, that relate to me indirectly.

First one is that I was reading a paper at all, and that it was the Democrat, which has been around for a century plus. I read, write letters to the editors, and even write for them on occasion.

The 2nd was the announcement of our community bank, Jeff Bank, had what I believe was reported to be its highest earnings per year on record, and they’ve been around 100+ years as well.  The relationship I have with Jeff Bank, and I have wrote about this in the past, is one of those relationships that go back to the very beginning of Catskill Farms, back in 2002 or 2003, when I approached this local bank with a request for funding for Farmhouse 1, in Narrowsburg NY.  I asked for $300k, they lent me $100k, and off we went.  Then my credit line went to $300k, then the bank offered a $1,000,000, which was big money back then.  I remember standing by my phone/fax thermal paper machine, watching the approval come through in 2004 in my 400 sq ft shack I was squatting in.  From there, each idea or incremental advance I wanted to make I spoke with Jeff Bank, who I don’t think has turned me down for a loan in 20 years - they loan, I pay, on time.  It’s a simple agreement, a simple bargain.  CEO George Kinne was my commercial loan lender when he started with the bank, then rose through the ranks to what I believe was the youngest bank president.  You think about all the storms you had to weather to be in business 100+ years - wars, depressions, the heyday of the Catskills, the decline of the Catskills, big bank competition in the 2000’s.  Their business plan reminds me of mine - stick to what you know, and don’t be tempted by the flashy gold coin idea of the day.

The other was a short story about the Heron Restaurant - been in business 11 years now.  When they first opened, Sullivan County didn’t have many good restaurants, and so this crew came into to town, opened everyday, had a great menu and bar, and not only revitalized the town of Narrowsburg, but showed, once again, like I have said for 20 years - there are profitable niches and lanes of business in Sullivan County - you just have to identify them, and then stick to them, get better and stay in your lane.  I remember early on at the Heron, I would go in there on a Saturday morning for brunch, and every table was filled by a Catskill Farms homeowner,  because when I started building up here, there were literally zero amenities to support my idea of country living - people came for my homes, and then figured it out from there.  The Heron has been around forever now it seems, and just sticking around is cause for celebration, but sticking around and killing it, and improving the whole dining scene in the county by doing it well, that’s worth any and all accolades they get.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - the economic cross-multiplier of our efforts over 20 years, has literally generated out of thin air, hundreds of millions of dollars of spending in Sullivan County, helping schools, towns, restaurants, libraries, ambulance corps, hardware stores, real estate agents exist and even thrive.  And you can't overstate how the bold actions of one, embolden and empower others to envision taking the risk and plunge.  So part of the wonder of this whole capitalism system, is how my idea, and a bank’s credit, and a lot of hard work, generated hundreds of millions of dollars of economic activity.  Poof - 

It’s different now - with a much established business group, a lot of restaurants and hotels, a lot of neat small businesses.   But I remember when…

Some times it's just easier to measure our progress by keys of houses and binders of past jobs - that's when it really hits home the extent of our efforts.