As the Homer Chamber of Commerce celebrates its 60th anniversary, you can look back to its beginnings in 1948 and see ourselves.
That "can-do" spirit is still here.
Look back at 1948: dirt trails, no electricity, definitely no water, no sewer, no paved roads, no sidewalks, mostly just hardy souls who believed they could build a better life and build the community of Homer.
Each step has required a leap of faith and a community that believed in itself.
The first hospital was built with volunteers. That's what you had to do in the 1950s. It was built for economic development reasons. Expectant mothers had to travel to Seldovia. If we had a hospital in Homer those dollars would stay in our community.
In 1964, we incorporated as a city and gave those jobs to the city. We don't have to carry those bricks like we did in the 1940s and '50s; our job has been to choose the right people to work for us.
But since we don't carry those bricks anymore, it is easy to feel out of the loop.
The business community does support town square. The business community has reinvested your dollars over and over to help make a better community with better services and choices.
We see creating a town center and encouraging new businesses to locate inside the city limits as positive economic development. There will be more businesses inside the city limits collecting and paying taxes.
We are being asked to take a big step, and it does requires a leap of faith.
With that "yes" vote, we will receive an expanded Kachemak Bay College, a positive economic development step.
Our town will build its first city hall, not a make-do, hand-me-down building. Our city government has been making do for 45 years now, and a new city hall will create that civic anchor for the town square development that will, in the future, make Homer a better place to live and do business.
This project will be paid for with sales tax revenues collected by businesses inside the city limits.
Homer is the supply center and market town for the lower Kenai Peninsula. People from all over come to shop in our stores and those sales tax dollars will help make our community a better place.
Kate Mitchell is a 30-year Homer resident. Her family owns NOMAR and Main Street Mercantile. She is a board member of Homer Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Economic Development Committee and a member of the chamber's 60th anniversary committee. She also has been a member of the Town Square committee off and on since 1998.
