Taking the most prime location left in downtown and turning it from a viable gallery and retail space into a spot for the Chamber of Commerce to house themselves has more than just those in the shadows riled up.
There has been talk for years of getting the Visitors Center away from the upper Grand Ave. location of the chamber and housing that information in kiosks downtown.
Spread it out a bit and put the whole thing in locations that aren't going to charge us $70,000 a year, are maintained by volunteers and the businesses who advertise in them and all in high visible locale where people can actually find our Visitors Center.
There has never been any real talk of bringing the chamber downtown. With the overall lukewarm relationship the chamber has always had with downtown merchants, the idea is not a hot one all of a sudden.
If the idea does fly, then the chamber needs to not take up viable retail space and instead lodge themselves somewhere that suits what they are. A business environment. Not a sales environment.
Again, a thank you to Cynthia for not only speaking up but doing so honestly and bluntly enough so that her voice gets heard above the corporate stranglehold:
"This letter is in regard to the Post Independent article of Oct. 20 about the chamber negotiating to move into the new CMC building.
I am all for our chamber having a presence downtown, but not at the expense of the CMC Gallery. There was to be a gallery in the new building, a rather nice one, but in these days of “corporate greed rules,” CMC has decided to rent that space to the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association.
Where would the gallery go? Maybe in the library in 2013 or 2014? If they build it and there is room.
There is a perfectly good space that CMC is vacating where the present gallery would make a wonderful chamber kiosk. The space is very visible downtown, right on the corner of Ninth and Grand where all of the tourists could see the chamber literature through that huge glass window.
Why sell that building and then take space away from the gallery to squeeze another business in, and then try to figure out where to put the gallery? It just doesn't make sense.
What is it that they are not telling us? Are they really planning to make this permanent? Why else would they rent the space out that they have already earmarked for the gallery?..."
(Cynthia Thomas)
(Read the entire letter? Click title and comment to start discussion)
"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."
3 comments:
It is 2 blocks.
From the corner of 11th and Grand to the corner of 9th and Grand.
2 blocks.
It is the visitors information and center that the people have cried out to be downtown for years.
Not the Chamber.
Let's see if I'm hearing this right.
The Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Assoc. who just went through only the first 25% of the mother of all scandals, who has had 3 sets of whistles trying to blow off the lid on all kinds of alleged corruption and suspect activities by one person. The same chamber who is the tourism marketing vendor that hasn't proved their performance in now going on the 3rd year in a row and who just put forward a presentation that most laughed at. The same marketing vendor who only swayed to their favor by less than a couple of percent because the visitors center that we pay upwards of $70K a year for is something nobody else wanted. **************************************************************************************************************(Redacted by blog moderator********************************************************************************* The same chamber tourism marketing that still has us aprx. 70% down in revenues. With no amazing performance in site. The same chamber who was just reported at a recent city council meeting as looking for grant money again to bring in some events.
This same chamber wants to take over our CMC Gallery, one of the most prime downtown locations, bump out a tradition of Glenwood Springs and hog retail generating space?
To move 2 blocks?
Here's an eyes wide open thought.
Just say no.
The folks want the information of the visitors center to be accessible in the heart of downtown.
They don't want the chamber downtown. It already is.
How much is this going to cost members? Those poor clueless shills. How much will it cost downtown merchants to lose one of the few, if not the only widely known art spot in town? What are you going to do about parking? What's going to happen to all the improvements at 11th and Grand that the folks and members have been paying through the nose for years on?
Cynthia is right.
If this is about moving all of 2 blocks.
Then go move into a heart of downtown space that is empty. On a side street.
The city needs to start looking at bringing our visitors center into the 21st century anyway. And save us $70K a year to boot. We need visitor kiosks that are digital and state of the art.
Just eliminate the problem instead of this ridiculous power grab by the chamber.
While eliminating the chamber visitor center problem please go ahead and do some house cleaning while you're there.
Actually, it's 1.5 blocks. Corner to corner.
For what?
So the chamberettes can be seen in the 2 block promenade?
Why?
With all the chamber has coming up you'd think they'd be looking for a dark alley instead of right on Grand.
Leave the chamber where it's at. Move the visitors information downtown into appropriate kiosks. State of the art sounds great. Money well spent. We'll have them paid for in less than a couple years with the money we save paying the chamber for not much of anything when it comes to those pamphlets everybody else provides.
I agree with Cynthia. Another example of corporate greed from the chamber.
How can an organization that is held to higher standards because they're non-profit and they're in business to be representative of making money for the community through promoting small businesses justify land-hog grabbing the most prime retail space downtown??
What is next besides the additional loss of the most loved art gallery we have?
Glenwood Springs required to hand them $70 large every year now that they're 'downtown' with storefront windows requiring no upkeep?
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