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Business & Tech

3 Issues Facing the Geneva Chamber of Commerce

PART 1 OF A SERIES: Geneva Patch visited the community's movers and shakers and asked them to name their top challenges. Here's what Chamber of Commerce President Jean Gaines had to say.

Jean Gaines has served as president of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce for more than two decades. She has seen the halcyon days and the dog days, but she has always been a relentless, avid cheerleader for Geneva and especially the downtown business district.

Over the past several weeks, Geneva Patch visited with many or most of Geneva's civic leaders and asked them to describe in their own words some of the top challenges they face.

We didn't offer Gaines or any of the interviewees for this series advance time to gather their thoughts or plan their responses. So the "Big 3" selections you see here are spontaneous, unrehearsed and authentic. The words are hers, the subtitles are ours.

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(1) It's the economy, stupid

"Like everyone else, it's the economy right now," Gaines said. "The state Department of Tourism used to help with matching grants, but a lot of that is drying up, understandably. One of our biggest challenges in a tough economy is keeping energy levels high.

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"We're proud we didn't have to cut any festivals. There were about 100 festivals canceled across the country this year, including Downers Grove and others close to home."

(2) A little more Chamber music

"(Second is) just getting the word out about how we're doing and how important it is to shop locally. A lot of folks don't realize we had 50 new businesses move in recently. Sometimes we just don't toot our own horn enough.

"We've always been a city of festivals, and we need to do a little education on why that's important to the community. About 20 percent of the city's operating budget comes from sales taxes, and we see a big jump in the sales-tax numbers with every festival."

(3) Infinity and beyond

Gaines is one of the 15-member citizen committee that's looking at the future of Geneva's downtown and development throughout the city.

"This is going to be  very exciting project, and it will be open to the public. One of the major goals is to figure out how to maintain the city's history and integrity but add (residential and business) space to the downtown."

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