During my 12 years on the Board of Trustees, my 15 years serving on the Planning Commission, Site Committee and serving on the Board of Directors of Redford Township Chamber of Commerce as their Vice President, I know that local business is very important to Redford Township. We need to work hard to help them grown and bring in new business to our community.
There are many ways we can do this. We need to have a better working relationship with the Redford Township Chamber of Commerce and its over 70 years worth of experience. Finding ways to collaborate on projects and also sharing lists of businesses in the Township. This will help build a strong bridge between the Chamber and the Township and give businesses support.
Taxes are a concern to many of our business owners in our Township. I would want to have a forum inviting all the businesses to better understand the taxes they are charged and explore the possibility of how to increase their property values. I would also want to set up a meeting with our local realtors to get their input on the current market values. Discuss what we need to do to increase property values for not only our businesses but for residential property as well. This along with ongoing better communication with business owners should help with their concerns.
The Downtown Development Authority (DDA) area in our Township is also very important to our community. We need to increase awareness of development opportunities and business resources. Parking for businesses is necessary in this DDA and needs to be addressed by developing more parking areas as well as increasing awareness of parking options in the township. To make the DDA even more appealing, we should look at places to park bikes and continue to build on current events as well as new events such as; Taste Fests, Art Walks and more which could be held in the DDA area.
I will work to help develop Business Pocket Associations that could be several businesses on a main street or group of businesses in a Pocket area. They could present ideas on how to improve their area and present any concerns they might have. The other plus would be businesses could work together on common goals that would benefit their business and the Township.