Take a drive around Greater Gainesville, and you are bound to see beautiful things. From the lush greenery lining our streets to our springs, lakes, and streams to the diverse architecture found from east to west Alachua County, it is obvious that beauty — reflected in nature, innovation and the spirit of the region itself — knows no boundaries here.
While on the same drive, you will also see great opportunity in the form of new construction, retail development and expansion, healthcare centers, education institutions and businesses of all sizes. The Butler Plaza expansion, Celebration Pointe, and other real estate developments across West Gainesville are strong examples of the many great things happening now and yet to come in the region. But, as you drive eastward, the landscape changes, with development, businesses, and healthcare facilities appearing fewer and farther in between.
In his bestselling book “Good to Great,” Jim Collins asserts that before a company can make a series of good decisions, it must “face the brutal facts.” For Gainesville, those facts present in the form of data, which validates the disparity in opportunity between East and West Gainesville. This disparity most recently was described in USA Today’s ranking of U.S. cities with the highest income disparities; Gainesville came in fourth. Data also shows the majority of our school children who qualify for reduced-cost or free lunch live or attend schools in East Gainesville.
In “Good to Great,” Collins also explores the attributes of good-to-great leaders and their willingness to confront the brutal facts while maintaining an unyielding faith in future success. Before Greater Gainesville can become a global hub of talent, innovation, and opportunity, we must face and address this disparity in opportunity and galvanize around opportunities to strengthen East Gainesville with an infallible belief that we will succeed.
I recently took a ride with a leader who is a staunch believer in the possibility for progress in East Gainesville: City of Gainesville Commissioner Charles Goston. During our drive, Commissioner Goston and I talked about his vision for near- and long-term growth in East Gainesville and the new infrastructure, development and businesses needed to support it. Our excursion led us to several locations that could, in the short-term, provide apt sites for restaurants, developments and a healthcare facility
Commissioner Goston and I also visited places where East Gainesville is showing significant signs of progress, including the Gainesville Technology Entrepreneurship Center (GTEC), which is enhancing economic development and job creation through its focus on the number of service, technology and light manufacturing firms first established here. In fact, Governor Rick Scott bestowed a 2015 Business Ambassador’s award upon Ravi Ahuja, CEO of Optym — which was incubated at GTEC — in conjunction with the Gainesville-grown company’s announcement that it would create 100 new jobs over five years. Today, innovative companies such as The Tech Toybox, Baseline Systems and ReliOx are maturing at GTEC. We also visited the future location of a local, expanding advanced manufacturer wanting to expand in Greater Gainesville and interested in moving to the Eastside.
These developments show that there are some kernels of opportunity forming in East Gainesville. But, to aggressively pursue strong opportunity in East Gainesville, this conversation must be prioritized among other key discussions in regard to the entire region; among these discussions are increasing downtown vitality, preserving our environment, strengthening our manufacturing talent pipeline, fostering public-private partnerships, strengthening education and, of course, overall job creation. Moreover, we must proceed with an understanding that the most important voices in any conversation about East Gainesville are those of its citizens and leaders.
In the last several years, many East Gainesville voices have expressed support for projects and initiatives — including Depot Park and Envision Alachua, to name a couple — that move East Gainesville in a direction of prosperity, growth and progress. I intend to stay in constant communication with Commissioner Goston and other East Gainesville and regional leaders to ensure the chamber does its part in creating economic opportunity in East Gainesville and supporting its ability to seize those opportunities as they come forward.
The chamber’s mission to facilitate economic prosperity, business growth and community progress means that in 2016, we have a responsibility to be an impetus for moving East Gainesville forward. Business leaders and community members, particularly those from East Gainesville: Come join us. We’re just getting started.