Chamber HQ Sale Meeting - July 30

The "potential sale" of the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce headquarters at 136 Cass Street will be the topic of an all-member meeting on July 30, 6:00PM, at Marian Central Catholic High School. How many of the 300+ members of the chambers will be there or be represented?

The precarious financial position of the chamber causes me to wonder what happened over the past few years. Why didn't past Boards act much sooner to head off the financial doom that now casts its pall over 136 Cass Street? Today's Board didn't watch the problems grow, but it gets stuck with the mess.

While that the Chamber was drifting into shallow water, the Woodstock Downtown Business Association (WDBA) was created and then Main Street Woodstock. WDBA has not been able to gain traction, and it looks like Main St. Woodstock could be sliding backwards into extinction. Initially, there was unnecessary friction between the Chamber and the WBDA. Some in the Chamber saw it as "competition", when it really wasn't. Chamber leadership at that time failed to educate itself and to curtail jealousies.

The result was back-biting and lack of respect, rather than coordinated efforts to promote the growth of business in Woodstock.

As you make your purchases from businesses during the next week, stop and talk to the owner of the business. Tell him or her that you care about Woodstock and care about that business staying in business and that you care about the Chamber's presence on the Square. Encourage the owner to attend the July 30 Chamber meeting, and then go back in a couple of weeks and ask it.