Thursday night the steering committee working on the development of a Strategic Economic Development Plan met to hear presentations on the key focus areas of retail and manufacturing. Presenting to the committee were Steve Johnson, Johnson & Associates; Kelly Graham, Graham & Associates; Jim Street, J.A. Street; Art Ramey, Royal Mouldings; and Raj Venkataraman, Seaman Corporation. The session was extremely informative and generated a great amount of discussion about opportunities in the retail, dining, entertainment, and manufacturing areas. Our thanks are extended to the presenters who thoughtfully presented information of great value to the committee.
The committee will meet again in two weeks to hear presentations on the hospitality and tourism industries.
The planning process is now at the half-way point with several meetings with the steering committee yet to take place; interviews with members of City Council to solicit their thoughts, ideas, and vision; and a meeting with a 10-person citizen focus group to garner their thoughts and perceptions, including analysis of a community survey with over 400 respondents.
I think it's fair to say that the process, information, and energy at each of the meeting is exceeding expectations which portends great things to come in the development and implementation of the plan.
