Mayor Rob Marlowe
When a climber gets ready to start a climb, he calls out “On Belay?” and his safety man, or Belayer, responds “Belay On” to indicate that he is ready do his job to protect the climber. These commands are followed by “Climbing” and “Climb On”.
The same thing is supposed to happen when a new business gets ready to open. They visit the development department for a plans review and the city staff are supposed to respond with telling them it is okay to move forward.
Climbing requires a partnership and so does opening a new business. The business owner and the city staff need to work closely together to get the business open.
Communication is the key. If that communication breaks down, delays ensue and everyone involved tend to get frustrated.
Back in the bad old days, there were folks in the development department who seemed to enjoy making life a living hell for anyone wanting to open a business. There were some good reasons that quite a few storefronts stayed empty for years and some of those reasons worked at City Hall.
Mercifully, that is no longer the case. Delays still occur and things aren’t as seamless as they could be, but we’re making progress and all the key players are working hard to guide new business owners through the process. I can think of two examples just in the last week where business owners and city staff have been working to solve problems together.
Belay On!
Even after a business opens, city staff is there to assist the business owner.
I’ve talked about the city’s business incubator in the past. It isn’t just for startups. The incubator has a regular series of free classes available to business owners.
The city has a matching grant program available to assist businesses in growing. These grants include sign & facade grants as well as grants for renovations. These grants help reduce the cost of changes like adding a bathroom or changing out doors.
The key is to create an environment where businesses can flourish and create good paying jobs.
Now that we’ve set the stage and new business owners are telling us that they are “climbing”, it is time for the city to respond:
Climb On!
Rob Marlowe, Mayor
Hello Rob,
Good blog as usual. I was wondering how the process was working with the ongoing project at Grand and Main…John’s former Texaco station? It’s been looking like a mess (right in the heart of d/town) for more than a year. Any progress?
They are working on it, ever so slowly. There was someone over there today.
I have it on good authority that the ice cream place will open day after tomorrow….as if I needed ice cream!
I don’t know why, but quite a few people ask me what is going on downtown, as if I had some special insider knowledge.
I’m going to direct them to you.
John
The staff of the City of New Port Richey , (and our Mayor), continue to do a superior job in assisting the business owners in our ever growing historical downtown. THANK YOU ALL!