3-C Stop a Potential Win for Community

Back in the early to mid 1800s, a city’s growth and prosperity was determined by where the railroad decided to lay tracks. Springfield is an example of that and so is Yellow Springs. A legislator from Yellow Springs influenced the railroad to come through that fair city instead of the planned Clifton. Yellow Springs grew and Clifton didn’t. Same thing happened in Springfield and it may be about to happen again. Word in late January that Springfield is being strongly considered a stop on the 256-mile 3-C passenger train from Cincinnati to Columbus and Cleveland was good news for our community. Work on a passenger station near East Washington and Spring Street should begin this year. Property for a station has been purchased by the Port Authority of Springfield. This would spur other development downtown as trains are scheduled to pass through four times each way per day. What convinces me there’s a future in rail is Warren Buffet, who is one of the smartest men I know, invested heavily in Midwest passenger rail. He doesn’t make many investment mistakes. Have a great Chamber day.

Have you read your copy of the SpringfieldB2B magazine with the Chamber’s RegionView inserted? It’s a product of Cox Ohio Publishing and produced out of the Springfield News-Sun offices. What’s exciting is instead of RegionView being published only three or four times per year, it will now be coming out every other month. Future editions are scheduled for April, June, August, October and December. The Springfield B2B and RegionView are great additions to the local media lineup. It’s always been a marvel to me how cities in Ohio and other states much smaller than Springfield have their own television stations covering local news in addition to the print media. A business magazine helps fill a void. The Springfield B2B pages will be focused on a particular theme. The Chamber’s eight-page RegionView will contain a variety of stories that cover local businesses, Chamber activities and articles related to the Convention and Visitors Bureau. In addition to the RegionView being inserted in the SpringfieldB2B, there will be stand-along copies of the Chamber publication strategically placed around the county. We think you’ll enjoy it. Have a great Chamber day!

Chamber Annual Meeting & Business Expo

I hope you have registered to attend the Chamber’s annual meeting on Thursday, Feb. 25 at the Clark State Performing Arts Center. It’s not too late if you haven’t. We have changed things around this year. The Performing Arts Center is a new venue. We have added a Business Expo in which local companies will have booths to promote their product or service. Sorry, all space is sold. You can visit those booths from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. You’ll even have a chance to win a television. Our speaker will be Edward (Ned) Hill, Dean of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. We’ll also present the Richard L. Kuss Lifetime Achievement Award to Charles Brougher, long-time CEO and chairman of Eagle Tool. We’ve also added awards for Small Business of the Year (nominees are Springboard Group, Gillam’s Landscaping, Cerium Group, Littleton & Rue Funeral Home), Minority Business of the Year (nominees First Diversity Staffing, Springfield Flight Academy), Business of the Year (nominees Speedway, Woeber Mustard, Assurant Group). We’ll review past accomplishments and look ahead to what’s next on the agenda. You won’t want to miss it. Call the Chamber at 325-7621 for tickets or go to http://chamber.greaterspringfield.com. Have a great Chamber day!