THE Home Hill Chamber of Commerce is looking for ideas from its members and the local community on ways to proceed with upgrading the town’s Central Business District.
The Chamber’s April Social Networking meeting, to be held on Wednesday, April 20, commencing at 5.30pm, is to focus on ways to add new life into the town centre to overcome the outlook brought on by the large number of empty shops and dilapidated buildings.
Chamber of Commerce president, David Jackson has urged all members, shop owners and employees and any-one interested in the future of the town, to attend the meeting to put forward their thoughts on the direction the town should take to make the CBD more inviting to the many visitors, who should start making stopovers in the vicinity of the Comfort Stop from this month.
“If members were ever to attend a Chamber meeting, this should be the one to add their point of view on what to do to upgrade the town,” he said.
“At the present time, it is so demoralising to see the mess that the town centre is in, with boarded up shop windows, dilapidated buildings in need of new paintwork and overgrown blocks of land.
“Imagine what the town would be like if we hadn’t had the developments undertaken by local businessman, Richard Bonato with the IGA and Car Wash projects?”
Mr Jackson said invitations were being extended to returning Home Hill business-man, Mr Ron Scott, who wrote to the Home Hill News in February with a critical response to his efforts to find suitable premises in Home Hill’s CBD to meet his needs and Mr Ross Tapiolas, who could not find a suitable premises in a town full of empty buildings for his My Pets business.
Mr Scott is upgrading a building at the southern end of the CBD for his business operations, while Mr Tapiolas is moving his business to Ayr, because he could not find suitable premises in Home Hill to replace his former shop, owned by land-lords who are reported to be in receiver-ship.
Councillors, current members of state and federal parliament and candidates in the forthcoming federal election are also invited to attend to have their say.
However, it is not intended for the meeting to be the subject of electioneering or at-tacks on politicians.
Mr Jackson said the meeting needs to stay positive and come up with much-needed ideas for improvement to the town centre.
He said the Chamber had already decided to add colour to boarded up windows in empty shops in the town.
However, that would need permission to be obtained from owners of the buildings.
The meeting is to take place at the Home Hill Community Sports Club from 5.30pm on Wednesday, April 20.
Please show an interest in the town and have your say on what should be done to take Home Hill forward in a positive way.