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Community Connections -- Company's coming!Posted Thursday, July 12, 2007, at 12:32 PM
Company's coming! There are those folks out there who, like some of my relatives, keep things neat and tidy every single day of the year. Unlike me, they're never caught with dishes in the sink, or clothes on the floor or dust on the furniture. But, boy, if we know company's coming, no matter the condition of our homes, it's the rare one of us who doesn't scramble to put at least a few things away or swipe the top of the T.V. one more time.
We can look at our community the same way - we've always got company coming. What a pleasure it is to drive around town and see those homes and businesses with pretty flowers or fresh paint or neat yards or storefronts. Unfortunately, there's some not-so-good in the mix. And our "company" sees it all. The opening of the last section of the Governor John M. Dalton Memorial Highway, or Hwy 412 as we keeping calling it, is bringing more traffic to Kennett than ever. Every single vehicle that comes through Kennett carries potential customers, business owners and industrial prospects. What do they see? Let's be "company" in our own town -- check it out this weekend and report back on the good, the bad and the ugly. Please keep comments from being too personal or nasty -- this is meant to encourage positive change. And always remember - company can read about us, too. Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
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Jan, your comments are well-made. The ugly is very obvious. I have to think there would be something that might be done about these areas even without a tax increase. What do you think?
WELL JAN IF I WERE A COMPANY WHO TRANSPORTED GLASS OR FRAGILE EQUIPTMENT I WOULD STAY CLEAR OF KENNETT. I HAVE TO TAKE MY DENTURES OUT WHEN I TRAVEL THROUGH TOWN TO KEEP FROM SWALLOWING THEM. I WOULD ALSO RECONSIDER MOVING HERE WITH THE PRICES OF THE HOMES LISTED IN THIS AREA, EXAMPLE - 3 BR 2 BATH HOUSE 1200 SQ FT CORNER LOT NEWLY REMODELED MUST SEE TO APPRICIATE, ASKING 475,000, SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY.
I have to agree. The roads through town, Washington , St.Francis,St.are very bumpy. Some must be in original condition.
That price for the house mentioned by polebarnbuilder IS a sky high price. I live in a bigger town near Kennett, and that would be considered a high price here.
What is a pole barn builder?
YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS DARTH?
I know my favorite part is when I drive into Kennett and see:
"Birthplace of Sheryl Crow"
Inspiring!
Maybe I could get some of that million bucks to start me a "Sheryl Crow Celebrity-ish tour" like those fancy ones they got in Hollywood.
I just know that would rake in some serious cash for the community.
Kennett, I report to the City Council and to the Chamber Board each time we respond to a request for information from an industrial prospect or the State. Council meetings are open to the public, so if you attended you would hear it live and in person. The DDD also covers the Council meetings, so it is in the paper the next day. The last information I sent to the State to be included on a proposal was June 26, 2007, and included both the spec building and the former Emerson building. I haven't reported that to the Council yet because I was attending a function sponsored by Manac last Tuesday night and the Chamber Board hasn't heard it because the Chamber does not meet until next Tuesday. So now you can spread the word. Confidentiality is a huge part of the process - I often do not know the name of the company involved in the search, usually just the type of business, the number and wage rates of the jobs they plan to create and the services they require (building, land, utilities, transportation, workforce, etc). Companies insist on confidentiality for various reasons -they don't necessarily want their competitors knowing what they're doing and they sure don't want a bunch of communities throwing their name around. Another factor is state incentives. The State works on a "but for" basis - "but for" these incentives, a company would locate somewhere else. No public announcement of any kind can be made until all of the incentives are approved at the local and State level, otherwise the incentives are out the window and the company goes to a community where confidentiality is a priority.
Sometimes company representatives tell someone in the community, or a consultant may share the name, but if a company asks me to keep a confidentiality, I do so. As I've said before, it's like your banker - your friends may know that you would like to buy a new house, they may see you looking at houses, they may see you talking to a loan officer, and they may see you move into a new house, but if your banker started telling everyone how much you borrowed and what interest rate you got and what your credit rating is, you wouldn't be too happy. If YOU tell it, it's one thing, but if your banker tells it, it's a huge breach of confidentiality and more than likely you'd be on a blog site telling everyone to change banks.
It takes a lot of looking and a lot of time for a company to make the decision to expand in any community. If you feel that money has been washed down the drain, then you evidently do not appreciate ARI or Custom Steel, which together employ about 150 people and are still growing. Neither would be here if not for the City's investment in a spec building and the Chamber's support of that investment.
Jack -
The Council has discussed everything from grants to fines to volunteer demolition and there is no easy answer.
Individual responsibilty and pride would go a long way...
polebarnbuilder -
We all know what you mean - the reality is that $$$$ have much to do with many things.
semobrat -
The real estate market has slowed a bit, but like everything else prices are driven by supply and demand.
obediah -
We honored Sheryl on the Welcome signs not only because of her fame, but because of her continuing support of community causes. That tour might not be a bad idea, and it could just keep growing to include all the other talented people from Kennett like Trent Tomlinson and the McGruders.
Great comments, everyone. Please stay involved!
Well, as I drove around yesterday afternoon enjoying the many properties with beautiful flowers, fresh paint and nice awnings, I noticed that a very visible property had trash, beer bottles and beer cans thrown around on the parking lot and grass. Unfortunately, it was the Chamber - more than likely the result of an event at the Legion building on Saturday night. I did pick up the stuff, but probably not before everyone driving by our corner got a good look. Like many residential and business property owners, we pick up lots of other people's trash. Anyone have any ideas how to make this better?
Jan, I know how you feel! Living where I do along the highway, picking up someone else's trash is almost a daily practice.
Try living in the country where people think the gravels are an open invitation to dump off our little bridges.
As for companies and small business' that come to our town, its hard to see why they would want to be here. There is no place that I know of that would be called a "Prime Location" for a small business. Maybe if Billboard RD was paved the rest of the way out and then to HWY 25 it would open a new route into the city and bring more to the north side of the N. Bypass
Just a thought! But what do I know, I'm just a music promoter. Too bad we have a music park that cost to much to use. Lower the cost and more shows come in and when more shows come, so will our neighboring towns people. And that brings more dollars to our city
One of the biggest eye sores through town is located just when you pass the first baptist church and on down on st. francis is a hotel and then a grocery store. i know several other places that has been warned in the past, but these seem to escape warnings and fines.
The trash will be around as long as the mosquitos are around. There is obviously no answer for either one of these dilemmas.
As I posted on Jacks blog, MODOT spent a lot of time and money on new highway...I drove over westbound floodway bridges tonight for the first time and was not impressed. Pretty bummpy. However, eastbound bridges are great! Wish they would have done a little nicer on westbound bridge...
Badbones, I do live in the country so I know what you mean. People have dumped whole loads of trash in fencerows and ditch banks and it's a real shame. Billboard Road is in the Independence Township district, so maybe they would consider paving it the rest of the way to Hwy 25 - that would definitely draw traffic, especially as Independence gets busier. It's tough for any business, but it has been especially tough the last couple of years beginning with the announcement of the closure of the Emerson plant, then the Federal Mogul plant. We will feel that negative effect until we get more jobs back into the area.
How much is the rent on the park? You are exactly right about bringing more people to town. We need more activities and we have a lot of local musical talent, as well as being halfway between Nashville and Branson. Seems that we could do some mid-week stuff - "Tuesday Night Music Club" - although that name is taken - especially during the summer. Keep that train of thought.
On some of those properties - the Mayor is visiting with a few folks to give them the opportunity to clean up on their own before other measures are taken. A couple of properties were recently purchased by a responsible person, so we should see positive change on those before too much longer.
Again, the City needs to know how voters feel about these issues.
And I haven't driven on the westbound lanes except for the day we had the ribbon cutting. I was so excited to know that this project was finally happening that I didn't even notice any bumps.
Jan, I work with most of the rock bands around here and I can bet that we can put our heads together and make something work. If you are interested in working together I would love to chat with you about what we could do.
I'm the owner and admin of a free website for musicians to better themselves with free promotions. As well as music news and a place for music lovers to chat about the bands that they see or would like to see. It's also the official forum for Z95.5 The Bone. A radio station in Poplar Bluff that supports local music 100%. So if you are truely interested in helping bring in some great bands to our town and are willing to work with me, you can visit me in TheBoneYard @ http://theboneyard.wasteland-inc.com/por... or just let me know where I can contact you and I'll give you a call.
THX
Bones..
Kennett - I live in Friendship, well, in the suburbs of Friendship, next door to my parents, where I've lived for almost 30 years. We lived across the road before that. I grew up around my grandparents grocery store in Friendship, Farmer's Supply, at a time when there were two cotton gins, a grocery store and Madden's Goose Farm. Since Friendship even in its boom times offers limited shopping and dining, Kennett has been my main spending place. My sales tax dollars work here just like everyone else's does. I have also worked in Kennett for more than 30 years, so I not only buy the product, I help repackage it and sell it on the open market.
Jan,
Please don't let these people run you down. You do a great job. Blogging is a lot like communism in the fact it sounds like a great idea, but in reality is a horrible concept. It simply gives cowards a chance to trash people without signing their names.
Love that last comment from "thekid" and, Jan, yours was great too.
Hey, thekid, thank you kindly! We do our best to earn our keep. Love the blogging analogy!
Vickie, just saw your post - we appreciate your informational and positive comments - we need more of that!
Kennett -
Helloooo? Check out July 17th, 6:52p.m.
even though we live just outside of Kennett dont mean we dont belong to the community. We need more people like Jan on the outside to sometimes see what we need on the inside.
Jan, keep up the good work, no matter where you live..hehe
Kennett - Public building, private companies. Please review my post on Fri, July 13, 12:53 p.m.
What barn? A million dollars? WHAT? and no road! I must see this barn, where is it?
Jan, In response to the person who ask why you live in Friendship and work in Kennett. Take my situation. I live in Paradise, Tx, vote in Boonesville, Cottondale is closer and pay my property and school tax in Bridgeport and work at Dallas-Ft. Worth AIrport, 50 miles away. So where should I show my support? Well, I shop and buy my gas at all the towns and communites listed above and still work 50 miles away. The way i see it, you live where you are the happiest and work where you are needed. I have a good friend who also lives in Friendship and when she was working for the city of Kennett. They actually checked the milage from the city limits of kennett to her house to see if whe was elligable to work for the city of Kennett and she was just inside the required boundries of the Kennett Community. If I recall, her address was Kennett. Is your's Kennett also. If it is? Problem solved.
You are right, ktgivie, my address does end with Kennett, MO.
My living in the city limits was not a requirement for the Chamber, especially since we have members outside of the city limits. It takes all of us to keep things rolling in the right direction. Thanks for your comments!
There is one thing that I would love to see that is more restaurants.Places such as Applebees,ect...(main chain restaurants)Are we going to see those anytime soon?
Kennett, wouldn't be the first time, doubt it's the last.
dossman, so many large franchises like Applebees require that the town or trade area meet certain demographics, such as minimum 50,000 population (or retail draw, or location on interstate or major highway), average incomes, ages, etc. This is where having a four lane connection to I-55 will help us - when we can show a marked increase in traffic we will have a much better opportunity to draw companies like Applebees.
Ruth, we all enjoy your comments and appreciate your vast knowledge of our area. I like that cotton picking contest, although I am a little rusty.
I never had to pick much cotton, but I do remember when we picked the cotton off the turn rows that the picker missed. Now I see that much cotton on the ground after the module is picked up. The DDD folks do read these blogs, so maybe they'll add that COTTON site yet.
badbones - I have registered on your website, but haven't heard back from the site administrator yet. You may already have the scoop on this, but the SEMO Little Theater is having a Battle of the Bands. More info from their website www.semolittletheater.com.
This could be a start. More later!
Sorry about that, I've been away, You should be active now Jan, and anyone that has trouble logging on, please contact me at vnr_69@yahoo.com and I will do my best to help you get activated.