The meetings are a way for citizens to share their input on how to improve Radford.
Liz Kirchner
communitynews@ourvalley.org
People who have constructive ideas about city and business improvement can be uncomfortable voicing those ideas in formal assemblies, council meetings or economic development venues, but because those ideas are critical to a city’s vigor and sustainable development, the Radford Chamber of Commerce is hosting the first of several, informal “Community Conversations” from 6:30–8 p.m. tomorrow evening at the Radford Public Library (30 W Main St, Radford).
Asking for ideas, insight, and concerns from businesses and the larger community the agenda guides the Conversation through the city’s strengths, impediments to advancement, and possibilities — helping identify hidden problems as well as recognize the city’s progress.
“At a conversation like this we might discover there’s a regulation in the city that causes businesses to not want to be here,” David Horton, President of the Radford Chamber of Commerce said. “We can advocate on behalf of our city and our members to figure out how to remove that barrier. Sometimes the answer is ‘no’ – sometimes, though there are barriers that can be removed. People can explain ‘this is a problem for my business, and this is what would help me.’”
The event was timed to support attendance by business people, falling after the holiday season, on a weeknight, in a public space.
“It’s hard to come up with action items specific enough without community input. We hope for a standing-room only crowd with to share ideas,” Horton said.
Horton and the Chamber, the Economic Development Authority, and city representatives will be there.
Nationally, community conversations are tools used by groups wrestling with difficult or complicated issues as different as public health, town planning, natural resources management, and economic development, throwing open the public planning processes for community insight and advice.
“We’ll talk about barriers to business. We want people to talk about what other towns and communities are doing. Micro breweries, river walks, athletics, entertainment and recreation…our goal is to explore all options,” Horton said.
Radford citizens, especially those who remember a greater prosperity and full downtown storefronts, voice frustration at the decline in downtown economic vitality. In addition to gathering community insight, the Chamber and the EDA want to use the Conversations as opportunities to describe progress such as streetscape and infrastructure improvements, economic zone delineation, and economic incentive grants that encourage small-scale businesses to invest in the community.
“Let’s make things happen for everyone,” Horton said, “Business friendly, but best quality of life for all people. We’ve benefitted from a clean and healthy river, we wouldn’t want to decimate that beautiful resources. Make sure the growth is beneficial and move things forward,” he said.
The Chamber’s goal is to host Conversations several times a year, modifying each according to input from the one before.
“One of our goals to create a list of actions items that we can move forward, investigate explore,”
“Come share your thoughts about the opportunities, assistance, challenges and barriers in our business community. Please bring your ideas, questions and concerns as we engage in a conversation designed to bring the best concepts to the table!” the Chamber said.
