Page 15 - BusinessWest November 24, 2021

Chambers
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Amherst BID’s proposal to build a new parking garage downtown to more global efforts to inspire people to buy local.
But the biggest issues, one that chambers are struggling to help with, are the supply-chain woes and the workforce crisis. And they have Pazmany worried because they are preventing businesses from fully bouncing back from the pandemic, and in some ways still threatening their existence.
“I’m worried that, though our business are per- forming and they’re still open ... they’re often just hanging on because of staffing and because of sup- ply-chain issues,” she said. “Look at restaurants; they can’t stay open and serve the same number of people they used to. Most restaurants are busy, but they have to close two days a week, and if a restaurant has to close two days a week, they’re not doing what they were doing before the pandemic.”
And because a chamber’s fortunes are tied to the relative health of the business community it serves, there is understandable cause for concern, she went on.
Ludlow
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game changer for the town,” Stefancik said. “It’s also where a lot of our major economic development will be going forward.”
Rosenblum concurred, adding that “the mills are a long-term investment for Ludlow, and we enjoy a great partnership with the developers.”
Like Mill 10, Mill 8 will also offer mixed-income housing. Considering the mills, the new single-family
“I’m a chamber, I’m a member-driven organiza- tion, all my support comes from my members and dues and sponsorships,” she explained. “I certainly have a right to worry; we’ve certainly proven our- selves in terms of our value, but if you’re not making the money, you’re going to cut somewhere. And what we don’t know is how long this staffing shortage and these other issues are going to go on.”
Barone agreed, but noted that one of the endur- ing lessons from the pandemic is that challenges can be met if groups and individuals work together and think outside the box.
“If we learned anything from this, it’s that the community comes together; if it weren’t for the resi- dents in our small towns, a lot of businesses, a lot of restaurants, would not have survived,” she said. “But the community rallied, and that’s the piece that we’ve got to take forward — not that we didn’t before, but we need to focus on that with chambers. If our busi- nesses are doing well and they’re successful, they give back to the communities they’re in, and everyone thrives.”
houses being built, and the condominiums that exist and are under construction, Stefancik said, Ludlow gives potential residents many options on where to live.
“Looking forward,” he added, “we’re a community that can offer a wide range of housing and provide a great place to live and do business.”
Bottom Line
As she walked and talked with BusinessWest during a visit to the space on High Street, Hart pointed to the desk positioned in the front lobby, the one she occu- pied when she started with the agency a decade or so ago.
When she became executive director, she recalled, she sat at that desk for some time, partly because
of the familiarity, but also, as a one-person show,
she wanted to be out front, greeting whoever came through the front door.
She has since settled into her office located behind the conference room, her “zen space,” as she called
it. The broad goal for 2022 is to rebuild the chamber’s finances and, hopefully, place another employee at that desk out front — or one of the other unoccupied workstations.
Getting Hart some company is just one of the many challenges to address, and hopefully overcome, as chambers — like the businesses they serve — move on from surviving the pandemic to life after it. u
George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]
Right Place, Right Time
As a selectman, Rosenblum enjoys his involve- ment in projects that make a positive impact on Lud- low, and he believes local politics is “where it’s at.”
“It’s easy to get hung up on what’s going on at the federal level, but people need to look in their own backyard,” he said. “The decisions that are made in town are the ones that affect people the most.”
Mr. Spock couldn’t have said it better. u
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NOVEMBER 24, 2021 15
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