Petoskey State of the Community Luncheon

Looking forward was the theme of the fourth annual State of the Community luncheon that took place on Friday, at Staffords Perry Hotel in Petoskey.

Hosted by the Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by CHASE, the luncheon featured speakers addressing topics including the state of education, culture, tourism and the economy.

Fortunately, for the state of Petoskey, the economic outlook is not as dismal is it is for the rest of the state, but we have a lot of work to do, said event chairman, Dan Ledingham, to approximately 130 attendees. A sell out this afternoon in todays economy shows how much we are committed to our community.

Although Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced serious news with her plans to dismantle history, arts and libraries during her State of the State address on Feb. 3, Liz Ahrens, executive director of Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey, said the state of culture in the community is strong.

You really are all part of the arts and the arts are part of everyday life, whether you watch NASCAR or walk through an art fair in downtown Petoskey in the summertime, Ahrens said.

Ahrens said creativity is abundant in our region with events including art fairs, Blissfest, performances by the Northern Michigan Chorale and the Petoskey High School Steel Drum band, even just taking a walk through Bay View with its architecture and all the amazing musicians from around the world.

The arts are part of the whole economic package and are an important part of our community. Embrace what we have here, she said.

When speaking about the state of tourism, Bill Quiseng, general manager of the Inn at Bay Harbor, said, "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."

2008 has been a record-breaking year for Boyne, Quiseng said. The great snow has helped us tremendously and we have not seen what people have seen downstate.

Despite Boynes numbers, the general manager said the national forecast for 2009 is anything but good.

This is going to be the worst year since Sept. 11. If you always do what you did, you will always get what you got. If you dont feel a little pain, youre not going to change, he said.

Quiseng said the key to survival is wrapping yourself around your customers and not letting them go.

From a customer service standpoint, people are going to tell stories about your business. We want to create those stories for them to tell, he said.

Dianne Litzenburger, director of communications for Char-Em ISD said she gets to see acts of magic everyday in the schools but that climate is changing in this economy.

The economy is having a dramatic effect on whats happening in Northern Michigan and schools are not immune, she said.

Litzenburger said eleven school districts have trimmed $22 million from their budgets and next year doesnt look better with fewer academic offerings, bigger class sizes and fewer services.

Every time a teacher loses his or her job, a child loses an opportunity for a mentor who exposes them to the world of reading, writing and arithmetic, she said.

Despite the bad news, Litzenburger said every one of the schools in the Char-Em school district is exceeding state expectations. She invited attendees to challenge state leaders to make education priority No. 1 and to visit area schools and have a discussion about whats happening.

Andy Hayes, president of the Northern Lakes Economic Alliance, said while Northern Michigan is a collection of small rural areas, together the areas make us strong as a region.

Hayes said the Northern Lakes Economic Alliance has been working with local government and the stimulus package in our four-county area is already close to $150 million. He said there are four areas that will help Northern Michigan diversify auto industry offerings that will be very important as we move our economy forward — aeronautics, medical, government and wind and alternative energy.

Be ready for development when we get out of this slump because were going to be going gangbusters, Hayes said.

Hayes said what makes Northern Michigan special is the people who are invested in their communities.

There are a higher percentage of people invested in our communities and a lot of small companies. Small companies can make it happen. We must make it happen collectively. We can make a huge impact.

Read more Petoskey news at www.petoskeynews.com

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