Chamber board members encourage support of levy

Recently there has been a lot of discussion on the proposed two-year special levy for the track that will be appearing on the November ballot. The Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce’s main mission is to encourage growth for our current businesses as well as potential future businesses. As a chamber, we have heard nothing but positive things from several of our local businesses in regards to the potential large track meets that could happen after the track is completed. Currently the Undeberg Invitational, which was formerly called the Ritzville Invitational, brings over 500 people between athletes, coaches and fans to the community of Medical Lake. These people spend their money on concessions and other local restaurants during the typical eight plus hour track meet.

There are several local communities that host youth basketball tournaments, baseball and softball games and several other activities that bring people to their communities. Typically when a family goes to one of these events there is inevitably down time that leads people to wander through the local community. The chamber and several local businesses believe that there would be a great opportunity for those businesses. The businesses have a much better chance at attracting these people if they are in town versus being in another community.

Every city has things in it that they are proud of and things that they wish they could improve. While a new track may not be the top of everyone’s list of things to improve first, ultimately it usually takes money to make improvements. The upgrade of schools facilities in this modern era are more than just something to take pride in, it puts the school in a competitive advantage to attract new students and families. With more and more people being able to telecommute to work and thus having choices to live outside of a major city, families have the options. A top factor in where a family locates is going to be the quality of the education and the quality of the facilities. While a new track may not be the deciding factor it more than likely could help. More students require more teachers, which in turn hopefully provide more people to work and occupy some of the many empty houses in town. Every extra person in town who shops locally provides tax revenue to the city, which in turn lowers the burden on the current residents.

The chamber thus looks at this track as a way to not only help current businesses but also as a way to help the community grow. Hopefully people will vote yes and give our community another thing to be proud of and one more thing to help attract people to our town.

Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors