Good morning and thanks to all of you for being a part of our Chamber’s Annual “State of Our City” Mayoral Address Membership Breakfast. I also want to give a special “Thank You” to our friends here at Community Bank of Elmhurst who have partnered with us for a quarter century to provide the Hammersmith Community Room as the venue and, as importantly, pick of the check for our breakfast buffet.
Come March, our Chamber will celebrate the accomplishments of 2023 at the 105th Annual ECCI Awards Gala. At that time, we will recognize a group of extraordinary businesses and individuals whose names I will make public for the first time this morning. Alan Heating Air Conditioning will be recognized as the A.J. “Toche” Terrones Business of the Year for 2023, Endeavor Health’s Colin Dalough will receive the Chairman’s Award, Eva Sanchez of See Your House Right Here @properties Elmhurst is the first repeat Ambassador of the Year and Dan Gibbons of the Dan Gibbons Turkey Trot Foundation will become the 34th inductee into the ECCI Civic Hall of Fame. I ask the honorees who are here today to stand and be recognized.
Last week, some 19,800 copies of the 2024 Elmhurst Community Directory were Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM)-delivered to residents, businesses and Post Office boxes across our city and an additional 1,000 will be hand delivered through our New Resident Greeter Tote program. The publication features a community information section, a Buyer’s Guide and alphabetical member list, along with display advertising. Copies are available at both your tables and the registration table. For the fifth year in a row, the Community Directory also is accessible via an online pageable version link on the home page of our Chamber’s website at elmhurstchamber.org.
I strongly encourage any business NOT listed in the annual Community Directory and in our Chamber website’s membership database to join or reactivate as member. Our website and Directory are two of the most cost-effectives way to enhance a business’ consumer marketing—not to mention the third-party endorsement benefit that all members enjoy.
Yesterday, I googled Community Bank of Elmhurst and found that the bank’s ChamberMaster member page listing on our website ranked fourth in the search results. A typical chamber member generates an average of 500 website visitor exposures through a combination of member page views, business category search results and other search results. In the past 12 months, Community Bank’s two branches combined for 774 member page views, 1,102 business category search results and 1,037 other search results.
Open to members and non-members alike, our New Resident Greeter Tote program caters to businesses and organizations wanting to better connect with the residents new to our community. Filled with goodies from participating member, the Greeter Tote is hand-delivered to some 800 to 1,000 new residents on an annual basis.
Each of you know and regularly patronize businesses that are not members and I implore you to be proactive and encourage them to join our Chamber by sharing with them how your business has benefited. You can bring them to one of our monthly networking events. Or you can facilitate a meeting with our new Director of Member Services, entrepreneur, consultant and Alderman Jennifer Veremis.
Today marks my 25th year of delivering a State of Our Chamber Address at this event and I plan to step aside no later than then the end of 2025. During my tenure, we have played a vital role in the city’s economic life by endorsing public education referendums that have rebuild our schools, by supporting Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts that have revitalized under-performing business zone, by sanctioning public-private development partnerships that have leveraged uses in our land-locked community, by recommending small business incentives to assist entrepreneurs investing their own resources and so much more. Thanks to our work, Elmhurst’s commercial and residential property values remain high. Thanks to our work, vacancy rates are almost non-existent because businesses want to invest in our community. Thanks to our work, families from all across Chicagoland want to relocate here.
If you don’t believe chambers are essential, just look around at Elmhurst’s neighboring communities—Addison, Bensenville, Berkeley, Hillside, Northlake Oakbrook Terrace and Villa Park. Most operate without a full-time executive and Addison’s chamber has closed its doors. You tell me where you rather live, work and do business.
Pending my retirement, the Elmhurst Armpit Orchestra is staging a Mayoral Roast of yours truly on February 2 to benefit Elmhurst American Legion THB Post 187. Mayor Scott Levin and former mayors Steve Morley, Pete DiCianni and Tom Marcucci will be featured among the roasters. The cost is only $25 per person to attend. If I had a choice as you do, I’d just mail the Legion a $50 check and just stay home.
To those members who have remained loyalty to our Chamber during these most challenging of times—the terrorist attacks of 9-11 in 2001, the Great Recession of 2007-09 and the Coronavirus Pandemic starting in 2020—I thank you for that steadfast support. Enjoy a great 2024!!!