I had the pleasure of attending the Texas Municipal League annual conference last week in Fort Worth with several members of our city staff. The discussion sessions I chose to attend related to economic development and more specifically, retail development and I came away with some great information. It's been said that it takes a village to raise a child, but one thing that became clear to me was that in the realm of economic development it takes a village to raise a village. Without community buy-in and some effort to be attractive any development that occurs will be accidental and slow.
I know most Joshua residents are interested in having more local shopping and dining options so we as a community need to make that apparent to those businesses that are shopping for locations to put their establishments. Location scouts will visit our town without our city staff or council ever knowing it. They'll decide based on what they see as to whether they want to get more information about Joshua and what we have to offer. Community pride and pride of ownership will be the things judged from a drive through town.
Whether you're in auto repair or dentistry, retail or a restaurant you can make your location look as nice as possible. Not only will it help Joshua overall, but it will probably increase your own business as well. It doesn't take a huge investment to keep the front of your home or business clean. A fresh coat of paint, some fence repair, a new sign or some landscaping can make a big difference. A question one speaker posed this week was "Would you invest $2 million in your town?"
Our new Joshua Station retail development is ready to begin. In our city council meeting two weeks ago we approved the final contract with the developer. Now he needs to find retailers and restaurants to fill all those locations. What will we do as a community to help?
A.J.
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