Tifton on the tour

Tifton put its best foot forward Friday to welcome the Georgia Heart and Soul Bus Tour, serenading the visitors with music from the Blues Devils from the balconies at City Hall and serving them breakfast in the courtyard.

Sponsored by the Georgia Cities Foundation, the bus tour took about 50 business leaders, philanthropists, state and federal officials, developers and economic development experts to visit Georgia cities with attractive, successful downtowns.

In addition to Tifton, this year’s tour included Cordele, Senoia, Griffin, Americus, Albany, Moultrie, Thomasville and Valdosta. (I had to look Senoia’s location up; it’s south of Atlanta between Newnan and Griffin and has a population of 1,738.)

The other towns in this area also went to great lengths to welcome the bus tourists. In Thomasville, according to our sister paper the Times-Enterprise, residents literally rolled out a red carpet flanked by cheerleaders and dancers and then treated the visitors to jazz music and a display of local art before taking them to see two recently completed projects.

Moultrie held a welcoming ceremony at the courthouse square, then served refreshments at one of the buildings on the tour, the Colquitt Towers. The tourists drank lemonade in Americus and were honored at a reception at The Loft in Valdosta.

The next time you travel to another town, look at its downtown. We in Tifton are lucky to have a vital, active downtown without a lot of empty stores, and the reason we do is that a lot of people have worked hard to make it that way, both presently and in the past. Tifton’s inclusion on the tour is a validation of all that they have done.

I was surprised Thursday afternoon to hear that Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Brad Day had resigned to become a private economic development consultant. We wish him well with his future plans and also wish the Chamber a successful search for his replacement.

Carpenter Road: The news Thursday that the City of Tifton has withdrawn future financial support from the plans to five-lane Carpenter Road was, honestly, pretty alarming. First, it suggests that the city is really suffering financially, an idea that is supported by other news this week about plans to raise water rates and offer employees early retirement. And then there’s the concern that future funding from the Georgia Department of Transportation may be jeopardized if the county and development authority can’t fund the city’s share and don’t match the DOT money committed to this project.

This work is needed, as anyone who has driven to Wal-Mart by way of Second Street/King Road can attest, and has been needed for the last 10 years. I hope that the local governments and the development authority can work together to find a solution to this problem.

Is your business moving, building or opening for the first time? Call me at 382-4321, ext. 1903.