As your Mayor, I get the privilege of attending meetings and
being involved in discussions about the future of our community. While doing some research, I came across a
report done in 2009 for a mobility study that projects Commerce to have a
population of close to 16,000 by the year 2030.
An increase of over 6000 residents in 20 years! Too many that may sound like a long way off,
but as I get older, I realize that twenty years will be here in the blink of an
eye.
To some in our city, the potential for 6000 new residents is
frightening. They want to keep Commerce
just like it is; growth and change are dirty words. For others, growth and change is
embraced. For those citizens, that
embrace growth and change, you are my kind of people.
But if you are for growth and change, I can guarantee you
this, if we fail to PLAN AND ACT, it will not happen. One only needs to look at a study
commissioned by the City in the mid 1960s.
Projected population of the City of Commerce in 1988: 23,638. Projected
enrollment at the University: 25,000.
What Happened?
There is probably not one clear answer to that
question. If one looks at the reports, a
road map was laid out in front of our leaders on how to plan for that growth
and what steps needed to be taken.
Unfortunatly, like many reports it probably was used for a year or two
and then put back on a shelf to collect dust.
What is clear today, just as clear as it was in 1966, is “it
would be difficult to overstate the degree to which the economic prosperity and
consequent growth of the City of Commerce is tied to the growth of East Texas
State University (Texas A&M-Commerce).”
Did the leaders of Commerce do all they could to work with the
University to ensure its growth and success?
I don’t know, I was not here at the time. I can say this, going forward if we want
“economic prosperity” the city must work to make Commerce a community in which
students want come to get an education, faculty and staff wants to live and
businesses want to locate.
Let’s make Commerce that place. Let’s make Commerce a University Town.
The report also indicated the need to be a University
town. We are not a university town; we
are a town with a University in it. I
challenge you to go to other communities with Universities and see how the
people and businesses in the community are proud of the University. They display the colors of the University,
they attend events on campus and they play an active roll in the success of
their University. What are you
doing? And better yet, what are our
leaders in the community doing? Often
times it is said that change starts with looking at the person in the
mirror. So change will start with me and
I will practice what I preach.
I will take a more active role in our community and the
success and growth of the University. I will promote the University in any way
I can. I will attend University events
when possible. I will be a proud alumni.
This is a simple step, but yet if we all do our part we can
become a University Town and we can grow.
I will close with this other part
from the report. “Population growth is
dependent on economic growth.” The
University is our largest employer. Its
students, faculty and staff live in and support our local businesses. It is the economic engine that keeps Commerce
moving. If we help their population
grow, the City will experience economic growth.