Economic development group says '06 a banner year
According to an article in the Oshkosh Northwestern, the Oshkosh Area Economic Development Corp., the commercial development group connected to the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, says 2006 was a banner year for them.
It assisted businesses like Miles Kimball and J.J. Keller secure a quarter of a million dollars in tax credits for expansion projects and helped Cranky Pat's Pizza and Stella & Finn open their doors in downtown Oshkosh through more than $86,000 in loans and grants.
This is surely good news, especially for the employees of those larger companies that have been around for a long time. OAEDC is to be congratulated for its efforts. But I would again raise the same issues and concerns about downtown businesses as I did earlier this week in this article. Why aren't OAEDC and the downtown Business Improvement District doing more to promote the businesses downtown - both new and old? I understand the businesses have to be responsible for much of their own advertising and self-promotion, but it seems reasonable to expect that these two groups should be playing some role, and taking an interest, in helping these businesses - and downtown as a whole - sustain themselves. Other communities have solid, well-organized efforts to draw people downtown, by creating and/or organizing events centered around downtown. We hear of precious few efforts like that in Oshkosh.
For example, OAEDC brags about Stella & Finn. No disrespect intended toward the business, but how many of us have heard of or actually knows what Stella & Finn is or does? How many of us have been to Cranky Pat's? When I think about pizza I, for one, rarely even remember it's there. Again, part of keeping in front of prospective customers is the business's responsibility, but if you've got an economic or commercial development organization and a business improvement district group, as we do, shouldn't they be taking on part of this role? It seems like if they did more, everyone would win, including downtown as a whole.
It assisted businesses like Miles Kimball and J.J. Keller secure a quarter of a million dollars in tax credits for expansion projects and helped Cranky Pat's Pizza and Stella & Finn open their doors in downtown Oshkosh through more than $86,000 in loans and grants.
This is surely good news, especially for the employees of those larger companies that have been around for a long time. OAEDC is to be congratulated for its efforts. But I would again raise the same issues and concerns about downtown businesses as I did earlier this week in this article. Why aren't OAEDC and the downtown Business Improvement District doing more to promote the businesses downtown - both new and old? I understand the businesses have to be responsible for much of their own advertising and self-promotion, but it seems reasonable to expect that these two groups should be playing some role, and taking an interest, in helping these businesses - and downtown as a whole - sustain themselves. Other communities have solid, well-organized efforts to draw people downtown, by creating and/or organizing events centered around downtown. We hear of precious few efforts like that in Oshkosh.
For example, OAEDC brags about Stella & Finn. No disrespect intended toward the business, but how many of us have heard of or actually knows what Stella & Finn is or does? How many of us have been to Cranky Pat's? When I think about pizza I, for one, rarely even remember it's there. Again, part of keeping in front of prospective customers is the business's responsibility, but if you've got an economic or commercial development organization and a business improvement district group, as we do, shouldn't they be taking on part of this role? It seems like if they did more, everyone would win, including downtown as a whole.
posted by Cheryl Hentz at 8:01 AM
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