The Hammonton Gazette 04/01/15 | Page 4

Levinson, ACIA hosts county meeting about economic strategy Wednesday, April 1, 2015 • The Hammonton Gazette • Page 3 COUNTY, from Page 1 asked questions and offered ideas they had on how to diversify the economy, create solid paying jobs and attract new residents, visitors and businesses to the county. angeloueconomics is a nationally recognized consulting firm out of austin, texas that was hired by the county to lead this mission. Levinson opened the public forum by explaining what the county, in conjunction with the atlantic County improvement authority (aCia), wanted to accomplish by having a two-hour session for county residents. “this is going to be an initiative that the county put together, and we are of the belief that we need input. We need input from the public. right now, [we] have about 1,000 interested parties, whether they are online or have come to our forums that have given their input on the direction of the county. Up until now, it has been all atlantic City and that is the unfortunate part of it. When things were going well, everybody did well….the problem is [in the county] we don’t have diversification that people have been saying years and years about our area,” Levinson said. Stressing diversification, Levinson said the concept will help overcome the economic woes in the county, believing there are enough resources to take on such a task. “We have such a great base for it [in the county], whether it would be educational or medical, we have so many things. We have aviation, a premier facility in the country at the Faa. these are the things we want to capitalize on … this is going to be countywide, and we are going to have diversification. it has to come from the ground up. that is why all of you are here and we want to listen to your input,” Levinson said. angelou said he has consulted with hundreds of states and cities around the country regarding economic development strategies. the residents and leaders of the county will need to work on implementing this strategy once it has been put in place by the end of July, ac- DiMeglio Septic, Est. 1975 ~ DEP 03261 ~ Paul DiMeglio Inc. 1 (800) 427-4617 ~ 561-1007 ~ 561-3597 491 S. White Horse Pike • Ancora, NJ • Grease Trap Cleaning • Portable Toilets • Septic Certifications • Jetting Service Follow us on... 121 S. White Horse Pike Hammonton • 561-6222 CUSTOM WEDDING BANDS • REPAIRS COMPLETED ON PREMISES cording to angelou. “We have to make sure we keep moving the economy forward. three months ago we were contacted to devise an economic development action plan for atlantic County, not just atlantic City. We wanted to open it up to the public, to hear your concerns, to hear your ideas and what you want to build and want it to become. at the end of the day, economic development is local,” angelou said. there were 18 members of the public that asked questions and brought forth ideas in regards to the county economic development strategy plan. aCia Commissioner and Hammonton resident Joseph ingemi offered a suggestion on diversification during the public forum, focusing on each municipality’s strengths. He provided remarks about Hammonton’s agricultural presence and taking advantage of that in other ways. “Obviously Hammonton is an agricultural hub, and i hope that will make it on the final plan as well. But unfortunately, and this is something for us to discuss as a community, is when we get into agriculture all we think of is farmers, people that actually own farms and seasonal workers that work on the farms. But farming can be so much more, and can really expand the supply chains and even angelos [angelou] said the leverage as- sets are already there …. We can leverage and expand with the wineries. it is also a matter of expanding the supply chains. People in the audience here, i notice, work on those supply chains, transportation, food processing. that is where we have to think creatively to create those high-paying jobs. Food processing plants will bring in engineers to work their controls … there are also things we have to do on the community level, work tax abatements, work with schools to ensure that the course curriculums are built towards that biotechnology and agriculture-enhancing life sciences. that is how i feel Hammonton can contribute to this fight in building the economy,” ingemi said. angela Donio of Hammonton provided input on county economic development, stating that tourism remains a positive thing in this mission to enhance business. “We are trying to work here in Hammonton with agritourism and also the wineries and that should spread and come from there [atlantic City area] with bus trips. it could if they weren’t so focused inward with the casinos. it is a shame that the NextGen thing didn’t work because that is a lot of wasted time because people were expecting something to happen, and then there was a debacle there … i am See ECONOMY, Page 16 Mary’s Cafe Food among the Flowers CELEBRATING OUR 50Th YEAR! 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