911 for 411 – time for a change!
A couple of weeks ago I was online seeking time and place information regarding our annual Memorial Day parade and celebration party to be held at Henry Park here in town. I went to our official Town website – TownofBerlinMD.com and under the third column on the home page at the bottom, clicked on ‘Town Events‘. This link redirected me to the Berlin Chamber of Commerce website at BerlinMDCC.org where I then went to the left side and clicked on ‘Event Calendar’. A page quickly popped up saying – “There are no events this week”. Wow, I had struck out there – at which point I had to ask myself for probably the 500th time – WHY?
And yet, I can probably answer my own question. For the past several years the Berlin Chamber has limited events to be listed on their website calendar to ‘member only’ activities. If a Chamber member business wants something to be listed they must email or phone a request to the Chamber office. Yet, falling further short, it seems that very few Chamber member events are ever listed. What’s with that? To my mind it stands to reason that to fully support Berlin businesses, encouraging publicity is primary – positive marketing is key. A few signs along the local roads may help, however folks from afar – never see these – (and they do not have access to the local info crawl on TV) they do however, when planning a trip to our big sister town of Ocean City Maryland – like to be aware of activities area wide. I was one of these folks for many years. And, because at that time, Berlin and it’s Chamber of Commerce having NO website, this town didn’t exist for me! Another story – another time.
Which brings me back to the official Berlin MD Town website. Yes, we have a website – although having pertinent information – unfortunately it is not attractive and certainly not truly representative of our community as are many other Town websites up and down Delmarva. Our new mayor, after having listened patiently to many complaints, some months back proposed that we have an IT (Internet Technology) Committee – made up of a few interested citizens along with our new Administrative Director and Deputy Director. (I’m now one of the ‘complaining’, citizen committee members.) It was decided during one of the three meetings held during the past five months that an overhaul of the Town ‘hardware’ would be first on the agenda – requiring a lot of our tax payer dollars – that’s fine and determined necessary. It was then proposed that money for a new website (requiring far fewer of those dollars) be held off and put into the new 2010 budget. OK, we’re there. The budget has been passed *. When’s the next website planning meeting? Berlin Maryland proudly hosts some of the best events around, enjoying much public participation – and we could welcome more!
In the meantime, this very frustrated citizen will, in the next few weeks attempt to place a comprehensive and interactive Berlin Community Calendar of Events on this site and with your participation put up public-welcomed activities pertaining to any and all non-profit organizations within our Town limits. I’ll keep you posted as to the progress of this venture.
* The 2010 Town of Berlin budget was passed last week including a 3% raise for Town Staff at the same time many in our community were receiving news that there would be NO cost of living increase for FY 2010 in Social Security benefits. And, what’s with that?
