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September 2005 • Volume 2, Issue 9 This issue home | Past issues | Chamber home Chamber Board Hits The Road
Last month, the Richardson Board of Director's meeting went on the road, literally. Almost the entire Board of Directors, Advisory Board, as well as available members of Richardson City Council, plus selected members of City and Chamber staff, took a 90-minute bus tour of the City of Richardson. "We were taking a look at our economic development growth opportunities and our challenges," said Board Chairman Charles Eisemann. "Our goal was to provide the board with a common visual recollection so that when we discuss future ED issues related to various areas, we will have a common basis for discussion. "There wasn't time on the bus for extensive discussion or debate on any particular issue," said Eisemann, "but we had an opportunity to get a brief overview of a great deal of information about different areas and features of our city." Tour guides for the bus ride were John Jacobs, senior vice president of Economic Development for the Chamber, and Monica Heid, director of Development Services for the City of Richardson. Heid talked about new retail, transit-oriented and residential developments while Jacobs focused largely on commercial office and tech opportunities, including some of the larger "green field" sites which are available for construction projects. Sue Walker, Eva Demarest, Chuck Eisemann, as well as other City and Chamber staff, coordinated the tour route, air-conditioned 57-seat bus rental, box lunches and other arrangements. The tour passed by some 22 highlighted points of interest, including, for example, the Spring Valley transit station, Villas of Buckingham patio home project, Richardson Square Mall, Galatyn Park, Richardson Regional Medical Center's Bush/Renner campus, Texas Instruments Richardson Fab, UTD, II Creeks residential/retail redevelopment, southwest Richardson neighborhoods, among others. The tour touched north-south-west-and-east borders and many parts in between. "I was pleased with the number of people who got to go on the tour, which shows the continued strong working relationship between the Chamber, city management, city government and our elected officials," said Board of Director member Paul Voelker of HP. "In addition, I was excited to see the diversity in businesses that are making Richardson their home; I was also impressed with the amount of open space still available to do development projects. We should be a terrific option for any company looking for a place to do business . "Since I do live and work here, I am glad to see the investment that the city is making to ensure that the integrity of our neighborhoods is maintained to keep Richardson a great place to work and live," Voelker noted. "I thought the bus tour was a very good way to help strengthen the already strong relationship between the COR Staff, RCC Board and City Council," said Executive Committee Member Scott Jessen of Colliers International. "It's very important that there is a clear understanding and awareness between the volunteers of each organization as to what exactly is happening in the community we are serving. "To my knowledge, there has never been a joint meeting of the staff and volunteers for both organizations together to collectively look at the victories and issues happening in the community. We owe a lot to Chuck Eisemann and Bill Sproull for their fresh and open approach to developing a strong business environment for our members," added Jessen. "The Chamber Board bus tour showcased the successes and opportunities in our business and residential community. Our business diversification efforts as a result of the downturn in the telecom industry have definitely paid off," remarked City Council Member Steve Mitchell." From the new TI manufacturing plant to The Shire development to the recent corporate relocations to a strong and redeveloping housing stock, we saw how evident it is that Richardson is a great city to live and conduct business." "I learned a great deal about the names of the occupants of some of our office buildings that I wasn't aware of before the tour," said City Council Member Rhea Allison. "Seeing potential developments & redevelopment areas was also very informative. I hope future tours will continue, as it was time well spent." "After the ride, several people commented they saw areas they'd never seen before," said Eisemann. "Others said we should do such a tour periodically. Another Board member said he had heard that Richardson was 'all built out' so was pleased after looking at some of the large available tracts of land that it was clear to him Richardson can continue to grow well into the future." "I believe that the tour met its objectives and we'll see the benefits as we discuss various economic development initiatives in future Board meetings," concluded Eisemann. |
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