August 2006

A summer of promise in a year of uncertainty

I read somewhere that aging ultimately takes a toll on a person’s ability to maintain a healthy perspective on time and space. I guess, as I screech to the end of my 51 st year, that oblivion is no longer just at the doorstep.

One of the first clues was that I overheard on three separate occasions just last week, people remarking that they had a hard time believing that “it’s August already.”

Already? I’m ready to put my Christmas lights up. To me, 2006 has been one of the longest years I can ever remember. And it’s only two-thirds of the way done.

What has made 2006 seem like the rerun of a bad movie for me is the number of high profile events that have clogged the calendar in the first eight months and the accelerated level of emotion that many of those events have generated. I’m not just talking about the Super Bowl.

For instance, doesn’t the Spring Primary seem like an awful long time ago? For that matter, doesn’t Spring? The Primary, from a business point of view, wasn’t the disaster that those outside the business community may have predicted. I had two local television stations contact me about the results of the State Senatorial race and ask that I speculate about how devastating the election results would be to future economic development.

Without question, Senator Bob Jubelirer impacted the business climate of Blair County in ways that no one ever has or likely ever will again. But his eventual successor will at least be someone who understands business, has a reputation for supporting it and is open to discussing ways that business can stay on the radar screen statewide until some semblance of senatorial tenure is re-established.

John Eichelberger and Greg Morris each own businesses and have been active supporters of The Chamber. To think that Blair County business as a whole will fold-up with either of them representing us in Harrisburg is folly and we should regard it as such.

So what other significant events have made this year seem longer? Perhaps it’s just been the proliferation of drug-related violence, a sporadic murder or two and other assorted criminal activities that are splashed throughout the various media outlets. These are harbingers of an impairment that drags-down even the best communities and they seldom have a quick resolution to them.

To put into context the gravity of our situation, I can recall attending the dedication of the new Altoona playground built by the 2006 Leadership Blair County class just a few months ago and sharing podium time with Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio and regional Drug Task Force head Randy Feathers. It’s a safe bet that when you have to include your D.A. and your drug czar on the agenda for a playground dedication, you’re not living in Shangri-La.

There are, however, some positive signs. In recent weeks, arrests have been made by the Drug Task Force in close proximity to the new playground and the City of Altoona has agreed to tear-down a blighted building across the street that is reputed to spawn illegal drug activity. Small gains in a war where any forward movement is considered a step in the right direction.

Another example of a year on Geritol? Logan Town Centre. Is it my imagination or was Boscov’s the only building sitting on what looked like an undeveloped prairie as recently as March? Now sizeable buildings envelope it and most of the tenants are setting dates for ribbon-cuttings. That’s good news for a local economy that has flattened quite a bit over the past eighteen months. Forget what you’ve heard about a retail job market being unable to stabilize a community where manufacturing once had a large influence. Logan Town Centre is a boon for our area and carries residual benefits that will offset other industry losses.

So the last four months of 2006 have the potential to take some of the summer upside and craft at least some semblance of momentum. From a Chamber standpoint, the summer’s biggest announcement has been the formulation of multi-chamber consortium whose initial project will be to encourage local buying once it’s determined just how much money our business community is spending in places far from home.

Maybe a rash of good things will make the rest of the year go faster. So fast, in fact, that the year and the money that I allocated for it will both run out at the same time. Otherwise, stop-in a see me at Halloween.

I’ll be the one with the white beard and the red suit.

Past Chamber Notes

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