The layout of the community and the focus on the success of the Quarry has resulted in a perceived rift between our growing business community and our Historic Downtown businesses. How will you, as a mayor or councillor, foster a business community that is more cohesive?
This is a matter of communication and acknowledgment; the town has been so focused on new growth that they have pushed those who were already here to the side. It’s time for the town to re-engage with Historic Downtown and ask those businesses what they think needs to be improved down there. We can’t just continue to expand and bring new businesses to town and ignore the old. Those businesses that are already established in Cochrane are providing the town a revenue base and we need to support them both by fostering growth and through community engagement with them.
We need to make sure that their voices are heard at the table as well as those of the new businesses. It’s time to start focusing on Cochrane’s business community as a whole and not just “new businesses versus historic businesses,” because at the end of the day, all businesses pay taxes so all businesses should have a voice at the table.
