Bensenville

Q. What signs of economic turnaround do you see in the communities your chamber serves?A. The turnaround of Bensenville started internally with the election of new village officials in April 2009. For a community that was labeled the "The Fastest Dying Town in America" in 2009, Bensenville is now the "Comeback Kid" in terms of economic development and growth. Business and community groups are now working together with the full support of Village President Frank Soto, trustees and Village Manager Mike Cassady to bring Bensenville back to being a viable community for families and businesses. This year with Liberty Fest, Bensenville, Elmhurst and Wood Dale will be coming together as partners for the first time in years. At a time when other communities are canceling similar types of civic events, we are providing a host of stellar events like Music in the Park, Halloween in the Park, Holiday Magic and an Inter Civic Charity Golf Outing. At a time when most businesses are cutting expenses, our business community last year helped us raise $45,000 at our 125th Anniversary Charity Gala to help restore Fisher Farm, the oldest homestead in DuPage County, fund scholarships through the Bensenville Community Foundation and allowed us to set up a fund for senior care projects. Memberships in local business and community groups continue to increase at a rapid pace. In 2009 our chamber grew from 22 members to 104 members. This year the chamber has added 27 new members to date. We did our first two grand openings and we are in the process of welcoming several more new businesses in to Bensenville. The support the chamber has received from the village president and village manager has gone a long way to help renew the relationship between the business community and government.Q. Please identify one project that is an example of that turnaround.A. The village hired The Lakota Group to work with residents, local businesses and community leaders. They formed a steering committee, which is utilizing grants from the FAA and the RTA to fund the initial planning process for the revitalization of our downtown and industrial corridors.Q. What type of new development will be most prevalent? Retail, residential, industrial, office or something else?A. We believe office and industrial development will be the focus of the future for Bensenville and will be our best-performing investment. The proximity to the Western Access at O' Hare and the extension of the Elgin-O' Hare expressway will be key to attracting this type of developmentQ. How optimistic are you that vacant storefronts and office buildings will be filled during this turnaround? Why or why not?A. We are very optimistic at this point in time due to the leadership demonstrated by the new administration. Their use of the financial tools available to them, of which the Tax Increment Financing District is the most crucial, is the key to the development of our downtown area. This is a high priority and is being addressed through the economic development planning process. We are actually in a unique position based on the amount and type of spaces we have available waiting for investment partners to come in as the economy starts to recover.Q. What do you think local, state and/or national government leaders could do to enhance the recovery?A. They can start to work together in an open and honest manner to regain the trust of the business community, therefore spurring development in communities such as ours.Q. Do you agree that this will be a jobless recovery or are the suburbs more or less immune to that?A. Current trends support a jobless recovery in the suburbs as well.Q. What is your chamber doing to best position its membership for the economic rebound? A. We act as an intermediary between business and government by working closely with the village on the economic development planning process and keeping our members informed on what is happening now and what the plans and possible opportunities are for the future. We started a series of workshops designed to help small business owners become more computer savvy by offering classes on business networking sites and website marketing. We also help them market themselves through business after hours. Now that new business are coming in to Bensenville, we have become a starting point to help them get acclimated to the community.