Chamber of Commerce.
BY TODD SHIMKUS
Last year in this column, I said there were
four trends that the Saratoga County Chamber
of Commerce believed would drive our
economy forward. So how’d we do in our prognostications?
1. We said small business growth would
continue to drive our economy. In 2014, we
had hosted 80 ribbon cuttings. We added 60 in
2015. The talented volunteers from our SCORE
program saw record-breaking numbers of local
entrepreneurs and business owners seeking out
their free and confidential advice. These two
facts combine to tell us that there are many
people among us willing to create jobs and
invest in Saratoga County.
2. We said that the supply of available hotel
rooms would continue to increase. We added
that the appropriation of even more money for
our tourism promotion effort by the Saratoga
County Board of Supervisors would help to
drive up demand to fill many of these new
rooms.
Through the first 10 months, demand for
rooms in Saratoga County has perhaps never
been higher. We've now seen 10 consecutive
quarters of record-breaking hotel occupancy
taxes collected by Saratoga County, which
speaks to the still growing popularity of visiting
the county.
3. We said our health and wellness sector
would continue to grow and that establishing
Saratoga County as one of the healthiest places
to live would be a focal point of the Chamber's
efforts in 2015. This was the year we created several
new signature events designed to help our
members and their employees to improve their
health and wellness including: a Health & Wellness
Week, a HORSE Basketball Tournament, a
celebration of Employee Wellness in June, and
a Silent Disco. We now see the #healthysaratoga
hashtag on thousands of posts online, on water
bottles, restaurant menus, running shirts, basketballs,
and banners at area running events.
Many of the ribbon cuttings we've held over
the past year have been for new health and
wellness related businesses and we hope this
trend continues.
4. We said that we expected to see the growth
of our local creative economy and we did. From
the artists attracted to Saratoga by the Orchard
Project and the more than 300 people who attended
the first ever #startupsaratoga event in
October, the emergence of this sector is gaining
more and more attention every day.
We know the Saratoga Tech Out and Sharatoga
Tech Talks continue to grow in popularity
and that the Chamber's Saratoga Tech
Executives meetings are also seeing increased
participation.
As we look to 2016, what is the next new
thing likely to drive our economy forward? How
about these three offerings:
1. We need to attract more talent to Saratoga
County. We hear from employers in all sectors at
companies large and small that it is becoming
harder and harder to fill job openings. When it
comes to solving this challenge, we believe the
Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce's Human
Resources Council is the logical organization
to convene the creative ideas and positive
partnerships we will need. Let us know if you'd
like to be a part of this discussion and effort.
2. We're thankful that both SEDC and the
Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership have
launched successful new efforts to retain existing
employers and to recruit new ones to come
to Saratoga County. With more feet on the street
selling Saratoga County, we hope to be a part
of even more groundbreaking events in 2016.
The changes approved by the Town of Malta
relative to the attraction of new investments
to the Luther Forest Tech Park will help too as
this key area seeks to find tenants to join GlobalFoundries
in growing our economy.
3. We hope 2016 is the year when NYRA will
be reprivatized as a nonprofit corporation. We
hope this is the year when the Saratoga Springs
City Center will be able to break ground on a
new parking structure. We hope Amtrak will
finally allow cyclists from New York City and
Montreal to bring their bikes on the train to
visit Saratoga.
4. We know this will be a special year as we
all celebrate SPAC's 50th anniversary and hosting
of the 175th Saratoga County Fair. We hope
2016 will see many of the new fans excited by
American Pharoah's historic performance come
to Saratoga to see the best horse racing in the
world. We hope the new quarter from the U.S.
Mint showcasing the Battle of Saratoga as the
Turning Point of the American Revolution will
help to promote our historic sites to more and
more people.
Lastly, we hope that everyone will look at
Monday, Feb. 29, like never before. Because if
our plans work out, this will be a really special
day and one we might be talking about for
some time.