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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Local Scene Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us April 1, 2006 City’s ‘fun’ is new focus The Ashland Chamber of Commerce is promoting Ashland as a kid-friendly town to visitors as well as business owners who might relocate here. Daily Tidings file photo The Economy Of Ashland Chamber looks beyond tourism By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings The Ashland Chamber of Commerce has increased its efforts to attract businesses and families to town in order to help balance Ashland’s tourist-oriented economy and reputation as a haven for wealthy retirees, according to a packet of information the chamber recently provided to the Ashland City Council. Business As Usual? “Business as usual?” is a two-part series on the city’s recent efforts to attract new businesses, new jobs and new families to Ashland. Friday: Many businesses find much about Ashland attractive, but home prices, the lack of land or buildings and a difficult planning process can discourage even the more interested of companies. Today: The Chamber of Commerce has shifted its focus from tourism to appealing to business owners and families to consider making Ashland their home. “I’ve definitely seen a move toward more family-friendly advertising,” said Councilor Cate Hartzell. “I’m hoping we can enhance that. They have made good strides on diversification.” Hartzell and Councilors Jack Hardesty and David Chapman asked chamber officials to provide detailed information in December on how the organization spends its share of the city’s hotel-motel tax to support economic development and the chamber’s Visitor & Convention Bureau. The chamber and Oregon Shakespeare Festival receive one-third of the tax. In February, chamber officials responded with a thick packet of line-item budget information with descriptions of how it is spending $247,500; numerous brochures; copies of ads; and other information about its activities. Councilors said they have now had time to go through the material. Hardesty said the information was better than what the chamber has provided in the past. Chapman said he wanted information about how the chamber was spending money to promote economic development and whether those efforts were effective. “They’ve probably been doing fine. It was just hard for me to tell,” he said. The chamber began an expanded economic development program for the 2004 fiscal year after it and the City of Ashland signed an agreement to provide those services. Councilor Kate Jackson, who had not requested the detailed information from the chamber, said she hated to see chamber staff members have to spend so much time putting together the packet in response to the request. “We need conversations instead of a demand letter and a big package,” she said. Jackson, who attends some of the chamber’s Economic Sustainability Committee meetings, said the package would be helpful to any councilors who were not familiar with the chamber’s activities. Among those activities, the chamber published a “Kid’s Guide to Ashland” brochure with photos by local photographer Christopher Briscoe. The brochure lists parks, family attractions such as the ScienceWorks Museum, family-friendly restaurants and hotels, outdoor activities and free events like the summer Ballet in the Park series. Community concerns about the lack of families moving to Ashland have increased in the wake of two elementary school closures and rising housing prices that have put home ownership out of reach for even two-income families. Ashland Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sandra Slattery said the chamber ran an ad in Oregon Business Magazine featuring photos of kids and the slogan “Raise Your Family, Grow Your Business, Really Live Your Life.” The ad directs people to the chamber’s revamped Web site, which features a section about kids and includes photos of local business owners with their children. “We know we’ve done a really good job promoting tourism,” Slattery said. “We wanted them to recognize we’re also a good destination for their business and their life.” The chamber has long been successful in cultivating relationships with travel writers, but is reaching out to business writers as well, she said. Hartzell said it was helpful to see how the chamber is spending its marketing budget. “The coverage we’ve had in the last five to eight years has emphasized retirement, especially for people with a great deal of wealth,” she said. “One of the challenges we have now is to balance our attractiveness and the flow of people we have established with emphasizing we are a desirable place to visit and move to for families who are early in their careers and have children.” The chamber helps businesses hoping to relocate here as well as existing businesses that want to expand through its Rapid Response Team. It also publishes “Destination Ashland: Living & Doing Business Guide.” The guide has information on land availability, demographics, cultural amenities and outdoor activities, housing, the Ashland Fiber Network and steps for opening a business. The chamber continues to encourage tourism. But it also is promoting Ashland’s slower seasons with Sunset magazine ads featuring dining and shopping in the fall, the Festival of Light, skiing and the opening of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the winter and the Ashland Independent Film Festival and Ashland Gallery Association’s A Taste of Ashland event in the spring. The chamber also has ads in other magazines and on television. Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 479-8199 or [email protected]. 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