Chamber president wants to see Northeast sparkle
Chamber looks to have a busy 2009

(c) 2009 The Northeast News/Pinnacle Communications. All rights reserved.
from http://www.northeastnews.net/chamber.html

January 7, 2009
by Emily Randall

Bobbi Baker-Hughes, Northeast Chamber of Commerce president, says 2009 is the time for Northeast to “shine up our diamond.”

Although 2008 saw successes for the chamber, such as the updating of the three- to five-year strategic plan and redefinition of the committee structure, Baker-Hughes says she feels “a lot better” going into this New Year than the last one.

“The time couldn’t be better than what we have right now to start planning for our future,” she said.
She said the chamber is starting to focus on Independence Avenue — specifically in the health, safety and education components of businesses. The “mom and pop” type operations need help cross marketing and need education on programs through the city and state that they can take advantage of, she said.

“It’s different opening a business on Independence Avenue than in Oak Park Mall,” Baker-Hughes said.

One issue that combines health, safety and education is trash, she said — Independence Avenue needs to be cleaned up.

“The avenue is the gateway to all of our homes,” she said. “It is our front porch. I want to make it sparkle.”

And along with cleaning up, the community needs a branding change — something to move it even farther away from the old perception that it’s the place to go for sex and drugs.

“We’re trying to come up with a logo, a brand for the Northeast,” she said. “We want to … share the really positive things that go on.”

One strategy for accomplishing this, Baker-Hughes said, would be to create a better Web site with a master calendar and links to all the community organizations.

Other strategies Baker-Hughes said she’d like to see implemented in 2009 and beyond include creating a Community Improvement District for Independence Avenue for “growth and sustainability of the businesses.”

She also said she wants to bring back the Presidents Council in Northeast — a group of neighborhood association presidents who would share their knowledge and resources.

“We as a community have to be more accepting of advice and constructive criticism,” she said. “We have to have teamwork.”

Another element of the current strategic plan is to work with governments to empower the community.

“We have to package what is already out there,” Baker-Hughes said.

Additionally, the Northeast Chamber needs to increase visibility, she said, both inside and outside this community.

“No one knows where to find us,” she said.

With the Fall Festival, which had grown to a size the Chamber could no longer manage at 15,000 attendees, “dying a slow, natural death” in 2008, Baker-Hughes said she’d like the chamber fill that void by teaming up with other small, family-oriented events to help make them even more successful. She said the Mosaic Brain Chalk Walk in the spring is one example.

A new event she said could happen in the upcoming years would be an International Food Crawl.

“We could really share the wealth of the Northeast with the entire metropolitan,” she said. “That would just expose the rest of greater Kansas City what a jewel we have here in our midst.”

The international atmosphere of Independence Avenue, Baker-Hughes said, is something that could be harnessed for future marketing and cohesiveness. The “International Market” concept is the vision — but it’s a long-term implementation process, she said.

The 2009 Northeast Chamber kick-off meeting will be at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at St. Paul’s School of Theology. All business owners and residents are invited.

“We’ve got to get people to want to want to shop in the Northeast,” Baker-Hughes said. “This is the start of it Jan. 27.”

The Northeast Chamber of Commerce board members include: Baker-Hughes, Vice President Samuel Davis; Treasurer David Stadler, Secretary Scott Wagner, Jon Henderson, Nancy Cramer, Nancy Kwilas, Pastor Ray Mabion II, Michael Seward, Rick Murphy, Jean Ferrara and Dale Simmons. Rebecca Koop is the executive director of the group.