Chamber of Commerce: Gazing Out Our Front Window

Gina

Fitzpatrick

President/CEO Paso Robles Chamber Gazing Out Our Front Window

Spring in Paso is always such a beautiful time of year. We enjoy the blooming almond trees and the last glimpses of green hills before the summer heat sets in. Grapevines are starting to bud, and as the evenings grow warmer, we smile at the hustle and bustle of locals and visitors dining, tasting, and shopping downtown. As we peer through our front window, we see new businesses opening up and established ones thriving. But gazing out the window is not all we’ve been doing these days! We are continuing to work hard to help local businesses.

Many of you have heard of or applied for the grant offered by the County of San Luis Obispo being overseen by the Workforce Development Board of San Luis Obispo County. Record applications were submitted, and your chamber has been at the forefront of helping navigate the application process.

Our final meeting of the Unhoused Population Futures Study has occurred, and a full report was given at the May 17 City Council meeting. We look forward to spearheading additional communications concerning this important topic and will keep the community informed on the progress.

It has been a pleasure to get to know some of our new Templeton businesses as we navigate the merger between the chambers. Fostering these relationships and representing both communities is exciting, and we look forward to officially becoming one organization.

Women in Business, Wake Up Paso, and our Membership Mixers are all in full force now. And if you didn’t get to join us for the Annual Gala, you really missed out on an amazing evening! In honor of our merger with Templeton, we adopted their Business of the Year award, which was presented to McPhee’s Grill. The Beautification Award was awarded to Cal Coast Beer Co. And because we postponed our 2021 Gala, we recognized our 2020 Roblan, Patricia Bland, as well as our 2021 Roblan, Brian Thorndyke. All, respectively, so well deserved, and we feel fortunate to have an share such a strong sense of community.

We’ve also attended several meetings on behalf of our members, including the ECHO Ad-Hoc Committee and City Council meetings, where we have kept a close eye on issues such as additional revenue streams for the city, a potential increase to the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) and a new district map following the redistricting process. We’ve also attended Downtown Parking Commission and J20 Oversight Committee Meetings. It was also our pleasure to meet with Congressman Jimmy Panetta, who represents the 20th District of California.

So while we might take a minute to daydream and enjoy the last few days of spring, don’t worry; we have plenty to keep us busy as we fulfill the Chamber’s mission to promote economic vitality, empower leaders, champion businesses, foster civic engagement and honor our history.