In this era of consolidation, it”™s good to see that two Hudson Valley chambers of commerce got it right recently when they decided to join forces for the common good of their respective memberships.
Perhaps the two business organizations in Westchester should sit up and pay attention and do the same.
The Greater Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce has lowered its flag and will now be recognized under the banner of The Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce.
No longer will there be a need for business owners to pay dues to two organizations doing the same work.
No need to attend two separate monthly meetings listening to essentially the same issues.
No need to pay for two monthly chamber breakfasts.
No need to attend separate expos and networking events.
No need to hire separate lobbyists to fight the same fight in Albany.
Thomas Weddell, chairman of the soon to be dissolved Southern Dutchess Chamber summed it up well when he told our reporter, “I truly believe this is in the best interest of our entire Dutchess business community, giving us one strong voice.”
Charles North, president of the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce said, “Depending on how many people rejoin the newly consolidated chamber, our membership could grow to as many as 1,900 businesses.”
That would be one large voice that would be hard to ignore in the state Legislature.
Orange County Chamber President John D”™Ambrosio recognized the strength in numbers concept 14 years ago when he merged the Eastern Orange Chamber of Commerce and the Orange County Chamber of Commerce. Today he has nearly 2,400 members.
The separate Putnam County chambers have also made a move in the right direction by creating a countywide alliance with a member from each chamber sitting on the board. They haven”™t consolidated yet; but who knows what the future will bring for them.
Now let”™s contrast this great sea change with what is occurring in Westchester.
In one corner you have the Westchester County Association and in the other, The Business Council of Westchester.
The Business Council has around 1,200 members and the WCA has about 600 members. We don”™t need to do the math to show that a combined effort would do in Westchester what Dutchess expects it will do for its newfound solidified voice.
An additional problem or advantage depending on how you look at it for Westchester is that it is splintered further by 22 local chambers, from Mount Kisco in the North to Mount Vernon to the south, as well as the Hispanic chamber and the African-American Chamber of Commerce of Westchester and Rockland Counties.
Create a cohesive unified group from all these and imagine what that “voice” could tell Albany.
But for the two 800-pound gorillas in the room, getting on the same team appears to be an insurmountable issue for some reason.
The two recently announced in separate press releases that they have created panels that will address similar economic development issues.
How wrong is that?
A more intelligent approach would be to combine their efforts for a more unified front in gaining attention in Albany.
Let us postulate that in several months one of the two groups is responsible for coming up with a way to attract more business to the Hudson Valley and create jobs. They will beat their chests and claim victory like some gladiator.
But the victory will be ephemeral. It will be but a blip on the news media cycle; dust in the wind.
All that taxpayers are going to remember down the road is that there”™s more jobs and lower taxes in their backyard, not that a specific business group was responsible.
These turf wars need to end.
Competition is good unless you”™re working against the overall common good of the people.
