2008 Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce Plan of Action

Each year the Chamber and its affiliated organizations work together to improve the economic and job climate as well as the quality of life in Lycoming County. Each year the positives outweigh the negatives and Lycoming County moves forward. 2007 was no different than previous years in that regard. The Chamber and its affiliates worked on a myriad of issues and programs from as broad a range of subjects as the annual Little League Grand Slam Parade to whether or not the County should amend its ordinances to allow for the potential development of wind farms in Lycoming County.

There is never a year that does not hold surprises. Again, 2007 was no exception. While the downtown movie theater moved forward, the planned downtown conference center ran into unexpected opposition and is now off the boards for the foreseeable future.  However, in addition to the movie theater progress, downtown has seen a number of new businesses open and the addition of Main Street to our arsenal of programs has slowly begun to take shape.  We believe 2008 will be a banner year for the downtown and Main Street will begin to play a significant role in the future of downtown Williamsport and highly successful programs such as the ever growing First Fridays and College Town programs will continue to add to the attraction of downtown Williamsport.  Main Street is also a part of five other communities in Lycoming County – Hughesville, Muncy, Montgomery, Montoursville and Jersey Shore - and in each community the program is starting to take shape and have a positive impact.

We started a new alliance with the newly formed Williamsport Young Professionals organization. While an independent organization, we will be working with this group of energetic young professionals in finding ways in which they can have their impact in our community.  Similar in some ways is our continuation of our two highly successful Leadership programs. These programs continue to mature and play a vital role in shaping the future of Lycoming County by helping to train and educate its future leaders.

The Chamber was also active in the efforts to stop the planned tolling of Interstate 80. Our belief is that this will place an unfair burden on the more rural areas of the state and cost businesses and jobs. Pennsylvania is not an easy place to do business and we believe it is imperative that our elected and appointed leaders in Harrisburg begin to fully understand that fact. In addition, the Chamber continues to work with our area’s legislators to bring about pro-jobs legislation so everyone in Pennsylvania who wants a job can find one.

If you travel around America, especially the east coast, there is a good chance while you were in cities like New York, Baltimore, Buffalo or several others, you opened their local newspaper and came across an article about what a great place Williamsport and Lycoming County is to visit. During the course of the year, the region received some great publicity from newspapers much of which was the result of the hard work of our Visitors Bureau. Our proactive, aggressive tourism marketing campaign has been paying large dividends and we believe Williamsport and Lycoming County is beginning to be seen not only as a great place to visit because of Little League, but also a great place to visit because of many other attractions including our Historic District and our many outdoor activities.

Finally, job creation is a difficult task.  We continued our economic development efforts in 2007 and worked closely with many allies, most notably the Lycoming County Commissioners and their Planning Department. With their strong support, we are beginning to make headway on critical infrastructure developments that are necessary to maintain an ongoing and effective effort in creating and retaining jobs.

As 2008 unfolds, we will experience success as well as disappointments. That is the way our business is. One cannot predict the future except to say the Chamber of Commerce and its affiliated organizations will be working hard to improve your community.  2008 is a year where we should all

 “Say Yes to Progress”.

“Williamsport/Lycoming County: Pride, Promise and Progress.”