Committee of Fifty to put forth measures to be more transparent

Publisher

link Robert Arrowsmith

I almost sound like I am at AA or something.

My name is Robert Arrowsmith and I am a Committee of Fifty member.

I am also on the image committee that was formed three months ago to work on the perceptions that are going on, not just in town, but on a national basis.

Over the next several weeks you will see stickers going up in store windows and doors stating those businesses are members. And that is the start.

There will be a website — http://www.committeeof50.org — where you will be able to find out who the committee is, the mission of the committee, and a question and answer section on some of the issues that keep popping up.

There will also be other visual representation in the community, and at Cannon Air Force Base in regard to the committee.

In short, you will know when the committee has done something.

And yes, my name is Robert Arrowsmith and I am a Committee of Fifty member.

By the way, I have to laugh at the Target question.

In case you do not know, the rumor is that the Committee of Fifty stopped Target from coming to town. I have to laugh because common sense would suggest how the committee can be strong enough to stop Target but not stop Bealls, Sears, JC Penney, Lowe’s, Enterprise, Dillards, Albertsons, and Wal-Mart just to name a few.

By the rumor’s logic, the committee must have either really had an issue with Target, or if it were stopping people from coming to town, it really did not do a good job.

Or maybe simple common sense will tell you it is just a rumor.

And before you think I’m in the group to stop business, I am also the president of the Portales MainStreet board as well as being involved with programs in Clovis and Tucumcari.

In other words, I am not about stopping business, but encouraging it.

It will take time to reverse perceptions about the committee. There have been mistakes in the past about not being more overly transparent. There was a certain bunker mentality that did exist because the committee just wanted to do the good deed to save and preserve the base. This is changing. You will know who the committee is and you will know what the role is.

My name is Robert Arrowsmith and I am a Committee of Fifty member.

Robert Arrowsmith is publisher of Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

rarrowsmith

@cnjonline.com