The Ubiquitous They - Ann Lindsay

Who are you and what is your role in Benicia?  My name is Ann Lindsay and a business owner of , a studio and gallery here since February of 1998. I'm also a benefits officer for the U.S. Department of Labor...I'm a telecommuter, my office is in Washington D.C. but I work out of my home here in Benicia. And, I'm on the Economic Development Board (EDB). I just got appointed (in October).  I'm really hoping to bring a different perspective to the board, and hopefully be able to improve our vacancy rates.

How did you become a member of the EDB? Well, I was interested, and I applied to become a member in February when I knew there would be a couple of openings occurring. I have a vested interest in the economic development of the City.  I have a gallery and a studio, and both my husband (Lindsay's husband David is the for Lindsay Art Glass) and I were very active in the . I enjoyed working with the City, and trying to help other merchants to understand that we need to band together in order to increase traffic. Benicia generally does not support its own businesses, so that means if you own a small shop in downtown Benicia, you have to go outside Benicia with your marketing. 

How would you describe the biggest challenge of the EDB?  EDB has a lot of challenges. Maintaining that tourism agenda that we started, and keeping that momentum going is very important to all of us business owners throughout Benicia. But, more importantly is the Benicia Industrial Park which has a 20% vacancy of space, and (industrial park businesses) are our biggest contributor financially for the city.  It's really, really important that we look to the Industrial Park and that we do everything we can to fill those vacant spaces and make the infrastructure improvements that are needed.

In your capacity as a member of the EDB, what is the one thing that you would like to accomplish?  I really want to see us fix the roads in the industrial park. That is my number one priority, because I think that's keeping us from attracting new businesses to the industrial park. When they see that the roads are so pot-holed that you cannot even drive through at 25 mph; they see the flooding that's happening on Industrial Way; you could break your tires on Channel Road; we've got to improve our infrastructure. We've also got to get out there. If we don't get broadband out there that's usable, we might as well shut the doors. It's vital to our community that that industrial park be robust and be brought up to 2011 standards. We're dealing with an older industrial park, and competing with newer industrial parks for the same dollar. It's important to us as a community that those things happen.