I would love to tell you that the 30,000 or so residents in Copperas Cove really don't care about the bickering and in-fighting among the inner circle.
So, I am.
They really don't care.
Because residents care about what they can SEE. They want to see some tangible progress. It's where they "see" changes without knowing the reasoning behind them. Like literally crappy bathrooms in City Park yet there are sidewalks on Avenue D, so wide that one curb had to be cut back. People don't get it. Totally understandable. People go on what they can see, and appearances can be deceiving, or at the very least, misunderstood.
Here's a few tangibles -
1. City Park bathrooms. One word: EWWW. "Everyone" knows about how nasty they are, inner circle or not. So why hasn't a group (hello city council) specifically directed that gets put in the budget? Yes, I hear there is work on the parks coming, but c'mon. Replacing bathrooms NOW instead of waiting two more years would be chump change compared to the overall budget.
(After all council, you authorized the bid for the Avenue D sidewalks to allow the contractor to purchase $3000 trash cans and benches downtown, so, there's that. Look at the original quote from the contractor, the same one that built the curb too wide! Seriously. Every one of those trash cans and benches on Avenue D were 3-grand apiece. Then do the math. Adding bathrooms now is adding NOTHING to the renovation budget.)
2. Sidewalks. About five years ago (or more) the city did a sidewalk study and survey. It noted all the areas without sidewalks, especially those close to schools and in older neighborhoods. Everybody wants sidewalks, but nobody wants to pay for them. Figure it out.
3. Fix up the streets. Like Constitution Drive. As one of the access points to The Narrows, that would be money well spent to show prospective companies that Copperas Cove takes care of its stuff, and thus, will take care of its families, i.e., employees for the future companies that will bring operation or distribution here. Not to mention, it is a high-traffic area for locals to begin with. Watch your front-end suspension on the car heading down that street. I'm sure there are more in the same condition. But for years the city has put off any real work on streets.
Don't get so caught up in a love affair with the Chamber of Commerce or another group that you ignore the much LARGER issues going on in our city that a far larger group - called CITIZENS - must deal with, not a "MEMBERS-ONLY" club (Chamber of Commerce) within the city.
Our chamber has been floundering and less than effective over the past few years and it is largely their fault. The success of businesses in the local area has less to do with the success of two annual festivals, the quality of which has gone down in recent years, less to do with bicycle races or running races. It has MORE to do with what the chamber SHOULD be doing and that is promoting and networking its business partners. It needs to SEEK OUT new businesses and welcome them to the community. Instead it is more focused on keeping a festival alive, one that needs freshening up if not a total extreme makeover.
Help them, council, if you will, but strongly encourage them to help themselves first instead of allowing them to remain in the rut they've fallen into. Good people, but they are stuck on the same things they have always been stuck on.
Back to tangibles. The biggest tangible in the last year happened last fall, when EVERYONE in the city and beyond saw the newest section of Five Hills Shopping Center open.
Do you know why that happened? It was not the Chamber of Commerce's doing or any other sacred cow.
"She who shall not be named" brought the council a proposal from Endeavor Real Estate, which basically went like this: "Hey, y'all, we really want to get started on this next section but we need some funds. Can the City loan us $3 million? We'll pay ya back, with interest."
Andrea Gardner has done more in the last year to help make that happen than the chamber of commerce. She did her job. Did any of you come up with this solution? This project had stalled, it seemed, until this came up. Good thing she knows how to negotiate. So with the council's ok (thanks), the city loaned Endeavor Real Estate the $3 million from the city's Water & Sewer Fund and here we are today. McAlister's for lunch, a real shoe store, Ross, Bealls, etc.
But she's just been so awful for Copperas Cove (snort) that you were happy to show her the door because of your own PERSONAL biases. At least she gave us something we can see, before she leaves.
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