BATH - Village Trustee Mike Sweet, who is expected to become Bath’s new mayor Sept. 15, calls the village a great "product" to work with.
"It just needs to be redefined, re-marketed, repackaged," said Sweet, who is running unopposed for the village mayoral position in the Sept. 15 election.
The election is being held six months later than originally scheduled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sweet, in a interview with The Leader, said during the two-year mayoral term, one of his primary goals is to proactively seek to attract business to the downtown Bath area.
"My vision has always been to create a hub of tastings," said Sweet, who has been a village trustee for the past seven years. "The village is the gateway to Keuka Lake. I think we can set up multiple tasting rooms in the downtown area, where people will come, utilize our spaces and walk to these various locations.
"The trickle-down effect of these tasting hubs would help restaurants, gift shops and any other small businesses with just so many people being in the downtown."
Sweet said village officials are working with Hunt Engineers, of Horseheads, to put an economical strategy together.
"The consultants came back last week and said the tasting rooms and tasting spaces here in the Village of Bath would work," Sweet said. "There is a lot of open space in the downtown area and it is very affordable. We bring in tourists to the wineries and distilleries and breweries in the area. That’s what we do well. Why not take advantage of it?"
Sweet said he also believes officials should take a systematic look at all of the housing properties in the village.
"We have to look at our housing," Sweet said. "We have to look at all of the rental properties in the village. We have to find a way to work with landlords and we have to clean them up.
"To be poor is one thing, but to have a house that has junk on the porch and lawns that are not mowed, that’s another thing that you can completely control in life. So we want to work with the landlords. We want to make sure that we can clean the village up."
Sweet said improving the housing stock is critical, because a lot of families are currently moving away from metropolitan areas into smaller communities.
"I’ve actually physically seen these people," Sweet said. "They want security, they want high-speed internet, which Bath offers. So we are going to go out and we are going to be proactive. We are going to market Bath like you’ve never seen or anyone else has seen before."
Sweet said the village can no longer sit around and just expect positive things to happen in the community.
"You can't expect Walmart to come back to Bath, you can’t expect to have a Chick-fil-A come back or any of these businesses that we have lost," Sweet said. "You have to go out and you have to make a case for why they should come to Bath."
Sweet said one of the advantages the village has, and certainly not the only one, is that Interstate 86, Exit 38 has been deemed one of the busiest intersections and exits in all of Upstate New York.
"So if you're going into business, and you have something that attracts people that are traveling, it's certainly a great location," Sweet said. "But I think (the village’s) biggest opportunity is going to be taking advantage of the tourists, because it is our biggest growing market."
Sweet said the village has to take advantage of all of its assets.
"Our assets are tourists, cheap utilities, great parks and a tremendous school district here in Bath," Sweet said. "We are at the bottom -- there is only one way to go, and that’s up."
"sweet" - Google News
September 08, 2020 at 11:01AM
https://ift.tt/2R4CsuN
Sweet plans ahead - Hornell Evening Tribune
"sweet" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2PcPlld
https://ift.tt/2KSpWvj
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Sweet plans ahead - Hornell Evening Tribune"
Post a Comment