That same day, Ranson is holding a groundbreaking of Powhatan Place at 11am – another great Economic Development project that could be featured --- if you can attend. http://www.cityofransonwv.net/brownfields/currentprojects/powhatanplace.html for more information

On our website we have several banner pictures (3) on our homepage – www.jcda.net that could be used if needed – or any of our slideshow pictures.

We were also thinking it might be neat to show highway signs that point out…20 miles to Leesburg or 60 miles to DC. It would also be great to get a shot of the commuters getting on or off the trains – since 40% of our labor force commutes out of the area for work.

When you raised this yesterday, my first thought for the economic development portion of the video was to use the JCDA website as a basis. The focus – Working 9 to 5. Living 5 to 9. – testimonials and photos are all there and could be augmented for/translated to video. I have long since wished the testimonials were little “youtube” type videos rather than just still photos and quotes. Of course, I am sure there are budget and logistical constraints. But, nothing is more powerful than the owners of JC businesses on camera telling folks why they invested in JC - and in West Virginia - why it’s a great place to do business, and why it’s a wonderful place to live. You have a good variety of testimonials already . . . 30 second shots of each business (or maybe some new ones) with a voice over testimonial and identifying text might be very powerful. If new ones, we may be able to add them to the website as well.

Might be easier to explain what I am thinking over the phone some time. If so, feel free to call – 304-728-2887. My land line has not been affected by the recent computer transition!!

I will also try to see about some sort of representation for CORE/downtown Charles Town taking one of the ED tables.

Economic Development

1.  shots of housing developments (Huntfield, Briar Run, Breckenridge, Locust Hill, etc)

2.  shots of retail development (Potomac Marketplace – Melissa Welch, KLNB 703.477.7374, ...recently under new ownership, Jefferson Crossing – Greg Goldberg, Uniwest 703.98.4034, …empty office space for lease, home to new auto wash and restaurants and currently building a hotel)

3.  Local businesses – we have found Jefferson County to be a natural fit for 5 major industry groups that are technology, federal government, agriculture, manufacturing and tourism. It is our thought that we can start with say technology and use that as a segway from Education…featuring APUS and ending with tourism as a segway into that category to prevent us from having any duplication. Most of the new manufacturing we are seeing is high tech manufacturing. We also have a strong focus on helping and growing small business owners – will provide list if needed.

A) Technology – APUS ( – greenest building in WV), Concert Technology (Brian Thompson, (304) 724-9705), Innovative Solutions Technology (woman, minority, service related disabled vet biz) () and for tech mfg - Schonstedt Instrument Company () and Randox Laboratories (Chris Henry, Marketing Manager, )

B) Federal Government – NCTC ( or 876-7200) or Customs (James Cobb, Director, or 724-5800)

C) Agriculture – Taylor Mountain horse farm (, 724-8080),

Cocina Rivas- makers of 7 flavors of salsa (Marcos and Angie Jimenez- )

Tudor Hall Farm- Bill Grantham, 304-279-6833

Vinemont Farm- Cam Tabb- ()

D) Manufacturing – DALB (Kevin Steeley, 725-0300) or Automated Merchandising Systems (Sharon Shull, 725-6946) and Ox Paperboard (oldest, longest running mfg in WV, Kevin Hayward 725-2076, )

E) Hollywood Casino, Harpers Ferry National Park, Summit Point Raceway

4.  When we redesigned the JCDA website, www.jcda.net we wanted to place an emphasis on people and pictures. Our tag line is – Working 9 to 5. Living 5 to 9. – testimonials and photos are all there and could be augmented for/translated to video. It is our hope to make the testimonials into “youtube” type videos rather than just still photos and quotes. But, nothing is more powerful than the owners of JC businesses on camera telling folks why they invested in JC - and in West Virginia - why it’s a great place to do business, and why it’s a wonderful place to live. We also have a lot of pictures on our website that feature the towns and the Business Park. You can use any of these pictures - http://jcda.net/slideshow.php?article_id=2926

5.  Burr Business Park – in its 3rd and final phase of development – last 40 lots are for sale – home to about 60 businesses and almost 2000 employees.

I hope you find this in line with what other groups are suggesting. I’d be happy to do/offer more or completely change our ideas if they aren’t going to work. Let me know what my next step should be.