Bennington debates econ. development
Toolbox
By PATRICK McARDLE STAFF WRITER - Published: November 18, 2009
BENNINGTON — About 45 people attended a meeting Monday about economic development in the town, and while no new initiatives were developed from the discussions, community leaders said they were happy to see strong interest.
The forum, which took place at the Bennington Fire Facility, was suggested by Bennington resident Michael Bethel and moderated by Bennington Town Manager Stuart Hurd.
"I was pleasantly surprised with the turnout. I wasn't certain, given everything else that was going on on a Monday night that we would see a substantial crowd. … I thought the panelists did a good job. I think it was a great opportunity for each of the individual organizations to highlight what they do and how they do it. We don't get that word out enough," Hurd said.
The forum opened with presentations from Gregory "Rex" Burke, executive director of Bennington County Regional Commission; Scott Murphy, community economic development director for the town of Bennington and Whitman's Feed Store owner Arthur Whitman, who is chairman of the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce's committee on economic development and government relations; John Shanahan, executive director of Better Bennington Corp.; and Peter Odierna, executive director of Bennington County Industrial Corp.
Each panel member explained what their organization does and talked about some recent projects that had been accomplished or were in progress.
Odierna talked about how the Bennington County Industrial Corp. is working to develop Bennington's Maneely Industrial Park at Shields Drive to be prepared for future tenants.
The forum was then opened to questions from the audience, which included members of Bennington's Select Board, the chamber's Executive Director Joann Erenhouse and several business owners.
Several topics mentioned by audience members were issues that have been frequently discussed in Bennington before. Charles Putney of Bennington suggested a "public-private partnership" to develop empty storefronts on the western end of Main Street. Bethel asked what could be done to retain young people.
Others discussed the possibility of freight or passenger railroad service returning to Bennington and the importance of Bennington's public schools in attracting and retaining business owners or industrial employers.
Robert "Bob" Matteson, a former Bennington town manager, urged people in the town to market to people in Massachusetts and New York.
"I think the problem of Bennington may be that we do not have an overarching vision of where we want to go. … My general feeling about Bennington is that we should wear our heart facing north, to the rest of Vermont and Montpelier, but we should wear our pocketbooks facing to the west and south," he said.
Erenhouse pointed out that she, on behalf of the Chamber, was already making regular visits to Montpelier to remind legislators of the needs in the southern part of Vermont.
On Tuesday, Odierna said he thought the forum was "very productive" and provided a good mix of information about existing programs with discussion of suggestions for future opportunities.
Whitman said he hoped the discussion assured people who had an interest in Bennington's economy that the various stakeholders were "all aware of what each other are doing" and maintained ongoing dialogue.
Hurd said he would welcome a future forum to look at new proposals after Monday's forum explained many of the efforts that were already under way.
"I 'threatened' the panelists with this question at the end, 'How can we better get this word out?' because … some of the people in the audience stood up and made the statements, 'We should be looking at rail.' 'We should be looking to the west and to the south.' We're already doing that. There are people working very hard at that. But for some reason there are people in this community that simply don't know it," he said.
patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com
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