September 2007

Decide, while the decision is still yours to make

We “Baby Boomers” have always had an authoritative sense of what is right and wrong in our society and we’ve never hesitated to share it.

From the time that our forefathers crafted the concept of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to the final hours of World War II when our sense of entitlement was officially secured, we’ve had that calm, satisfying feeling of being in control. Nothing much happened without our stamp of approval and for the most part that was okay. At least as far as we were concerned.

That element of control is up for grabs these days. From the standpoints of both businesses and individuals, the new world order has determined that all is not well and that no amount of wishful thinking will make the whole thing better.

This was a common theme at The Chamber three weeks ago as our staff embarked on the planning process for the final four months of 2007 and realized that most of our efforts were directed not so much to making businesses more successful but rather to keeping them from plummeting into the abyss.

Five of our six major events or programs this Fall have similar messages: What has been acceptable in the past will soon be unacceptable. What has been optional in the past will soon be without options. What has sustained you in the past will no longer provide sustenance for any appreciable period of time.

Overreaction? You be the judge.

By the time you read this column, The Chamber will have completed its first-ever Summit on Municipal Consolidation. Our Legislative Action Committee created this gathering of business leaders and elected officials to encourage more extensive dialogue aimed at reducing the number of municipal governments. Does anyone associated with these governmental entities want to consolidate? Of course they don’t. Will consolidation ultimately take place? Of course it will. With rising costs and no population growth projected for this region, something has to give. Discussions on this topic should not be based on “if” but rather on “when” and “how.”

While the sizzle of a hot-button item like municipal consolidation continues to dominate conversation, The Chamber attempts to take people in a different direction this Friday with a workshop dealing with third-party liability. It used to be that emphasizing safety in the workplace and at on-site locations where customers were likely to venture was a good idea. Now it’s a necessity. Attorney Jonathan Mack of the Law Firm of Marcus & Mack will spend an hour explaining why businesses are making him fabulously wealthy because they refuse to acknowledge that doing nothing from the standpoint of safety is not acceptable. He will be preaching to the choir. How unfortunate that those business people who are in the greatest danger of losing everything will be somewhere else.

The next event on our docket is called The Business Connection. It is primarily an attempt to get local businesses to understand what products and services are being sold in this region so that they will be more likely to keep their purchasing dollars here. Is it a big deal that there’s not the local allegiance to buying that there should be? Absolutely. With $7.4 million a day leaving our region in business spending, it stands to reason that we need to look a little harder at ways to prevent such a monetary exodus. If not, the economic viability of our communities will begin to erode and the businesses in those communities will struggle unnecessarily.

The other two programs that fall into the category of forced compliance will be a seminar on energy conservation and a series of Farm-City discussions. In the first, The Chamber and the Altoona-Blair County Development Corporation will collaborate to help businesses to adjust to the massive increases in electric costs that will assuredly take place within the next two years when the caps are removed. The second is an informational effort directed at the agricultural community, currently under siege from environmental agencies and looking for tangible ways to fight back.

Depressed yet? You really don’t need to be as long as you come to grips with the fact that much about business, government and life in general have changed and you can really do little about it. The message is not one of surrender, it’s one of practicality. And you can either watch from the sidelines or contribute your own valuable input while the new processes are taking shape.

Past Chamber Notes

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