Social Networking?

Where do you get local news and new ideas? Where do you share information? Will you get involved in our public conversations? The use of social media has become an increasingly more effective way to communicate with people throughout a community. After conducting a brief search, I concluded that a number of cities are using social media outlets such as tweeter and facebook to communicate keep the citizens informed of the local events and changes that occurring within their community.  Since both of these sites are free, they provide a cost effective way to communicate with a large number of people at the click of a button.  Over the course of time information regarding the events that took place in a community were posted at the local post office, town newspaper, local radio advertisement, or on a flyer posted at the community center.  The idea is to get people talking, and to keep them informed about “What’s going on in Hillsboro”.  Purposeful conversations would be started all over town, and ideas would be shared with everyone.

Check out this link for more on the discussion:


http://buzzmaster.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/cities-adopting-social-media/

Here are a few sample Facebook pages:

Education On The Square?

So after I visited downtown Hillsboro, I began to think about what types of businesses could possibly open or relocate to the Main Street Historic District. There seemed to be a mixture of businesses there that are thriving, but I feel that there needs to be something else that could increase foot traffic. I know that over on I35 there is a Starbucks, McDonalds, and a number of the large national chain fast-food and casual dining restaurants (Black-eyed Pea, etc.) so the possibility of them relocating to downtown is slim to none.  Huh….so I began to brainstorm and I came up with possibly of creating a downtown education center that would allow students to complete a bachelor or masters degree right there in Hillsboro. I mentioned this to a resident and she instantly said “it would conflict with Hill”. My response was no, you create an agreement with Hill that would allow students to complete their first two years at Hill, and the last two at the University Center.

Texas tech @ Junction

Texas A&M-Commerce - Corsicana

 I suggested that maybe the city could partner with one the universities in the general vicinity such as Tarleton State, Texas A&M-Central Texas, or maybe one of the smaller private universities in the area.  My thought process is if you bring students to the area, they are going to need books, food, and other services that can be provided by one of the other local business located downtown. This would also allow the city to market itself as place where a company could possibly relocate and their workforce would have access to training programs and facilities.  Since companies now want a smarter and more highly skilled workforce, this could serve as a recruiting tool as well as catalyst for the development of other businesses in the area. In my opinion, the infrastructure is there and one of the existing vacant buildings on the square could easily be converted to serve as the education center.

Example University Center Elevation

Attracting Business

After having a conversation with local a resident, I realized that the success of any community  relies upon its ability to sustain itself. I’m not talking about a community recycling program, or some type of “go green” campaign. I’m talking about its ability to have and maintain industry, its ability to recruit business and create jobs. After looking around I noticed that the city has an economic development department, but the website does not have its own address and most of the information on the site is not recent. While driving around Hillsboro, I visited the industrial park which is located just north of town, and has access to I-35 and is rail served. To promote this park, there should be some type of billboard on 35 that has some type campaign such as “You belong here” or Hillsboro is open for Business”.

Example of Billboard advertising the City of Hillsboro 

A well thought out attraction plan examines all aspects of the community’s needs and seeks input from a myriad of sources, including economic development professionals, local leadership, existing businesses, and residents. Your ability to focus on the types of businesses (manufacturing, retail, wholesale, energy, call centers, services, etc.) you are looking for will be critical to the overall success of the attraction program. Next you will need to ascertain whether or not your community is positioned to compete in those industry sectors.

A great place to begin that process is to ask the right questions.  Does your community have:
• Sufficient housing and infrastructure to recruit businesses?
• Available buildings or a build to suit program?
• Ample workforce numbers that will meet the company’s requirements?
• Appropriate workforce skills that might give you a competitive advantage?
• Proximity/Access to transportation networks that will allow the company to get their product to market?
• Sufficient population numbers to support the business?
• A local incentive package?
• Available land or Industrial Park to meet the company’s needs?
• Available resources such as water, electricity, natural gas, rail access, etc?
• Local financing mechanisms?
• A web site or other marketing presence to showcase the community and provide information?
• Up to date telecommunications access?
• Access to local data?
• A quality of life (QOL) that would entice a company to locate in your community?
• Access to higher education or training to support the company’s needs in that area?

In some cases, effective business recruitment can position your existing businesses for growth through economies of scale.  Locating ancillary businesses in your community can benefit your existing businesses in several ways.  Attracting vendor companies can enhance the viability of those businesses as the goods and services they supply become cheaper due to proximity and friction of distance which will reduce transportation costs.

In most respects, it is easier to recruit to the community’s strengths, be it available buildings, specialized/skilled workforce, natural resources, low cost of doing business, or geography.
One of the best places to begin is to look at what you currently have in your community, and assess what you have to build on.  For instance, if you have more than one metal fabricator in your community, you may have a skilled workforce in your community which may allow you to compete for other businesses in that sector.

Regardless of your size or the amount of your resources, it is important to understand that it is expensive to recruit businesses vs. growing your own, or assisting your existing businesses to expand.

Here are a few links for some communities that can be used as an example:

www.mpedc.org

http://www.paristexas.com/economic_development.php?mid=2

www.dedc.org

Community visibility

How do I look? This is a question that is asked time and time again. For businesses, schools, and a number of other organizations, this is the most important question of all. Your web presence is just as important as being open during your posted hours of operation. Since I began this project, I have looked around at a number of communities that would be considered to comparable to Hillsboro, and what I found was that many of them had one central website geared towards providing  information about the city or community.Usually they were there to promote tourism for that particular town, city or region. I noticed that many of the city departments or organizations such as the chamber of commerce, school district, and the city all have websites, but they are not in one central location.  They don’t seem to be interconnected at all, and there is a limited amount of information about the vibrancy of the community.  I know that Hillsboro prides itself on having a large number of historic structures in the city, yet  its not out there for the web or the world to see.  To improve their web visibility, they should create a website that provides everything you want to know about Hillsboro in one place. For example the site could be named visithillsboro.com  which could serve as the main site for the community. I have attached some sample sites from other cities that have similar sites.

Jefferson, Texas (visitjeffeson.com)

Galveston, Texas (visitgalveston.com)

Corsicana, Texas (visitcorsicana.com)

Cedar Hill, Texas(visitcedarhill.com

A Walking Tour

City Library

So earlier this week, I decided to drive over to Hillsboro to get a first-hand look at the community as a whole.  When I arrived on the town square, the first building that I noticed was the county courthouse. It’s hard to miss, plus it’s included in/on every piece of marketing literature regarding Hillsboro or Hill County Texas.  After driving around for a few minutes I realized that the city is not doing itself any favors by just showing images of the courthouse, and not displaying some of the other buildings on the square.  There are some great buildings in downtown Hillsboro that would be great for marketing the image of the city.

City Hall

One of the first buildings that immediately caught my attention was City Hall, which was originally a fire station, the police station, and the home of a resident ghost name Harvey.  The building has been completely renovated and it seemed to be one of the coolest structures in downtown.  Another was the city library, which was a converted post office that seemed to have character that you don’t find in new construction in 2012.  A number of the buildings on the town square have been renovated, but they lack proper signage or the landscaping needs upgrading to enhance the curb appeal. I also noticed that many of the buildings that had been renovated were now retail shops at street level and apartments or offices on top.  I stopped in some of the local shops to talk with some of the residents and business owners, and I realized that the square was once a vibrant town center until a major manufacturer located north of downtown closed.  “When it left, so did many of the visitors to the square”.  After walking around for a few hours and taking photographs, I realized that downtown Hillsboro has the potential to be something really special.