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Ted Wright -- last update 9/6/2009 (& 9/14) (ChamberOstrander.html)
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Copyright 2009 -- Collinsville, Oklahoma
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Collinsville
Chamber of Commerce September 3, 2009 Small Business Involvement In City Policies |
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| 2009 Chamber Officers |
Pres:
Ernie Davis Directors
(2009-2011): Directors
(2008-2010): President-Appointed
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Phil Ostrander addressed a large crowd at the Collinsville Chamber of Commerce on a variety of topics from a variety of perspectives (former legislator, former firefighter, current small business owner & lobbyist). Following a brief civics lesson including distinctions between policies and politics was an introduction to Collinsville's style of city government and individual city leaders.
Ostrander's main question poised was: "What role should the business community play in local city government?". Ostrander stated "currently there is no unified voice for the business community." He said the business owners should lobby for "business friendly" policies. In addition to reminding that the needs of small businesses are different than those of large businesses, Ostrander discussd the following specific topics:
*
Sign & frontage/sidewalk ordinances
* Utility policies
* Parking &
business access
* Community image
* The chamber should ask for city funding
support
Another Ostrander topics was opposition to the city's proposed annexation of the Highway 169 corridor.
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Editorial: From what I consider a unique perspective of only a handful of people that routinely attend and participate in local city (& school) government by attending a majority of public meetings ... I can easily state that the roughly 5000 citizens in our local community are under represented by the lack of their own participation. And as I have often stated on this web site, the "system" is very unfriendly to encouraging public involvement. Legally, public notice via agendas with minimal information and even attendance at meetings gives just a glimpse at the actual dollars being spent and policies being set. I encourage the city (& school) to provide additional insight into upcoming meeting topics. I encourage the citizens (& businesses) to get more involved and ask more question ... before the policies are set. I will also cite one specific example from the chamber meet above which Phil Ostrander described as "a disaster averted": the possibility of the city keeping merchants from putting any display merchandise on the downtown sidewalks. There has apparently been some recent compromise which I've heard of 2nd or 3rd? hand details. As a downtown business owner and one that tracks agenda and meetings I have no first hand information on what that compromise may be nor how "official" it may be. Just another example of lack of communication between businesses (& citizens) and the city. -- Ted Wright 9/6/2009 |
| 9/14/2009 update: I had a visit today from Steve Tinker (code enforcement) & Jim Dunlap (planner) from the city to followup on my "communication" comment above. They indicated that an informal meeting with city administration and the mayor has decided to just enforce the existing sidewalk ordinance which allows up to 4 feet of sidewalk merchandise. This is clearer than the versions I had previously heard. They also said they had already spoken to merchants that typically had sidewalk merchandise.-- Ted |