President’s Weekly Update: March 31
March 31, 2021
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Members of the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce:
Tomorrow marks my one-year anniversary in this wonderful community. When my wife, MG, and I arrived in San Angelo this time last year, we had no idea what an incredible year it would be. When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, I was of the firm belief that challenging times build strong communities and that the San Angelo community would pull together and persevere.
Looking back on the past year, I realize that we have indeed seen our community come together as never before. We supported our local businesses, and our economy and sales tax revenue intake are seeing record levels. Our financial institutions worked overtime to support the rollout of federal programs in support of our small businesses. Our city leadership and health professionals came together to quell the pandemic’s surges and to care for those afflicted. Our learning institutions, through hard work and innovation, brought their students back the classroom. Your Chamber experienced ten consecutive months of net membership growth. We continued to support our travel and tourism industry and our hotel occupancy rates were consistent with 2017 levels. Despite our successes, we also grieved together through the loss of many of our own. I believe that we are indeed stronger and more unified for having shared these hardships and successes.
2021 is certainly a year of recovery and restoration. We will continue to grieve those we have lost as we work together to create brighter future. At the Chamber we are energized to continue to bring new programs and services to our membership and to our community. We will continue to be committed to your success and will always strive to be incredibly responsive to you, working to remain relevant to your business needs. We see great things coming and the entire Chamber staff is excited to work with you to make them happen.
Our community continues to respond well to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are grateful to all who are involved in the distribution of vaccinations. The #SleevesUpSanAngelo campaign is going well. We are happy to see that the rate and pace of vaccination is continuing to be strong. If you are over 16 years of age you can schedule an appointment and get your vaccine at by clicking here.
It is both a sacred right and a civic duty to vote. Being an informed voter is also a responsibility. Our elections are important since local elected officials will set the future agenda for our community. The Chamber is always politically neutral with respect to the candidates, but we certainly and enthusiastically support the election process. We will be holding two candidates’ forums in April. The Mayoral Candidate Forum will be held on Monday, April 12 and on Wednesday, April 14 we will hold the City Council Candidate Forum. Both events will be held at the Fort Concho Stables and will begin at 6:30 pm. We will have a structured program and will be entertaining written questions from the audience. Please register for this event to save your spot by clicking the links above or by visiting www.sanangelo.org.
I want to remind everyone that our new airline service from San Angelo to Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport is starting soon with United Airlines offering twice daily service to Houston. The inaugural flight is on April 21. Bookings are available now on www.united.com. Book your travel today!
We have a great calendar of activities planned so visit our new and improved website at www.sanangelo.org often as we are continually providing updates.
We deeply appreciate you all.
Walt Koenig
President and CEO
San Angelo Chamber of Commerce
Personal Cell: (321) 474-1332