I hope everyone had a fabulous and safe summer, and now that the kids are back to school and us parents back to work and hopefully well rested, I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about and encourage you to get involved in a couple of areas in our community.
First, I had the privilege as chair of our Economic Development committee to work side by side with Gregory Fischer, President of the Downtown Business Improvement Association (BIA), and Cinci Csere Executive Director to go and talk personally with business owners in both the Chieftain Plaza and the Squamish Station Mall to encourage them to join the BIA. We had a great response and I give out a big thank you to Gregory who volunteers a lot of his own time to give back to our community.
The Downtown Squamish Business Improvement Association was established in 2006 and is a formally structured business zone modeled on successful BIAs throughout North America.
Downtown Squamish Business Improvement Association's mandate is to stimulate and promote the downtown neighbourhood as a vibrant hub of the community.
The BIA is the collective voice of downtown businesses working together to establish downtown Squamish as a unique destination attraction and source of community pride through the creation of improvement and beautification projects, and entertainment, sports and cultural activities.
The BIA has, since its beginning three years ago, undertaken a number of projects designed to revitalize and promote the downtown neighbourhood as a vibrant hub of community activity.
Their events include Canada Day, Rumble to the Rock, Theatre in the Park and Happenin' Holidays.
Beautifying programs also include the new black paint on the light poles, updated street blades, the Heritage Project, artistic bike racks and a life size chessboard (in process).
They have also created a strong online presence with an updated website and the use of social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.
The BIA's next step is to join forces with connecting malls so that the organization can become a stronger voice in the business community. Currently they are working on outreach and introducing themselves to the businesses they see will benefit from their programs.
And finally, I know it's hard to believe but the 2010 Winter Games are just around the corner, and they offer an outstanding opportunity for the residents of Squamish if they wish to be involved. Volunteers with accommodation are still needed and you can sign up on the Vancouver2010.com website.
You can also consider being a homestay host, and offer accommodation to one or more of the many volunteers who will be in Squamish during the games. The best part of being a homestay host is you get tickets to Olympic events in the Callaghan and Whistler sliding centre. You can get more info on the Homestay program or sign up through the Vancouver 2010 website www.Vancouver2010.com/Homestay.
