By Brandon Dietert
2017 Chair of the Board
Still the Economy, Past and Present
May is a great time to enjoy the change in weather from Spring to Summer but it also a great time to look toward the future as well as remembering the past. New Braunfels has always been good at doing this over the years and we have benefitted from this with a City and County that are growing at a very aggressive clip. At the same time, we are looking at our past issues and opportunities to grow with some responsibility to protect and enhance the area that we live in to the betterment of all our citizenry.
This past week we celebrated Economic Development Week here in New Braunfels and Comal County. It is very beneficial to our community that the Chamber of Commerce, City of New Braunfels, Comal County, NBU, and both school districts all see that working together with the business community is a positive and required component of our quality of life successes here in New Braunfels.
The contribution of the business community to the overall tax base is one of the reasons New Braunfels has been able to increase its level of services and also improve our basic infrastructure while the city is growing aggressively. It also allows are youth to stay in the area once they graduate school with many varied options for careers.
Being able to enjoy a diversified economy also helps us work through the hard times and really enjoy and prosper in the good times. Whether we are importing new wealth via tourism, expanding new and existing industry, or via those that chose to retire here, New Braunfels has all the successful strategies covered. Citizens agree based on the release of the latest survey by the City via the National Research Center. More on that next month.
The month of May is also Historic Preservation Month here in New Braunfels and it is a month to celebrate our successes in preserving our past and also get the word out to our citizens that there are still ways to improve. As a fast growing city and county we need to be very aware of the history of our community that could disappear over time without our efforts to preserve the key aspects. Remember that there are many organizations in our community that are working very hard to preserve our past and would love to add items to their collections.
People are finding out that Historic Preservation doesn’t always need to be buildings or areas but can include more personal items like stories, personal items and items that aren’t necessarily old. Many stories need to be preserved and told from the more contemporary time period.
New Braunfels has done a great job at telling our story over the years and there are still many more stories to tell that will further connect people to our past and move us toward our future. We hope the efforts the Chamber of Commerce is making on presenting the 175th Celebration in 2020 will do just that. Now that’s an effort worth undertaking!