Opinion: Thank goodness for local business news

In fact, as I write this column and the editorial and creative departments prepare to go to press with the newspaper you now hold in your hands, the advertising team is already well under way with 2007 ad placement schedules.

I love a new year, a new opportunity to rewrite the business and personal balance sheets, and I’m eager to get started. But, like so many of you, I’ll take time this week – in the peaceful time between celebrations – to reflect on the year behind us. In the meantime, SBJ’s editorial department is reviewing, writing and rewriting the top business stories we covered this year. They had a long meeting earlier this month in which they went through back issues. Then they took a vote to decide which stories were the most important and deserving of a year-end update. We’d be interested to hear some feedback from you regarding our choices. Which stories would you have selected? In your opinion, which issues or news items have had (or are having) the greatest impact on the economic development of Springfield and southwest Missouri?

Of course, the events that affect each of us directly are really the most important to us. That’s a rule that remains unchanged, I believe, from childhood. It’s also the key to surviving and thriving as a locally owned, operated and targeted publication. You want to know about what is happening here and how it is affecting your own businesses and livelihoods. And, from my own perspective, I can’t help but look out the window just over my laptop screen to be confronted by the entire west side of the Heer’s building. From where I sit, it looks a lot better than it did last January. At SBJ, we had a unique opportunity to observe daily how earnestly and competently the Prost construction team proceeded to preserve the gargantuan old department store. I am impressed. I wish Vaughn Prost could have seen the project through. But the drama continues to unfold.

The day that Prost threw in the towel, so to speak, a representative of the city of Springfield called to urge me to complete the paperwork releasing a bit of the SBJ building’s easement so that construction of the massive parking garage planned for the corner of Olive and Campbell can begin, finally. I think.

Friends around town have said that perhaps I know more about the Heer’s story than they do because we’re right next door and being in the news business, I may have sources. But, truly, I know what you know when I read Matt Wagner’s pieces in SBJ. What I do know is that the health of our downtown reflects the overall economic health of the wider community. From where I sit on Park Central West, looking out at the investment and redevelopment all around us, I can tell you confidently that the best is yet to come. The finishing touches are under way at the Busy Bee Building across the street. Take a look for yourself; this is a gorgeous and lovingly restored building.

But the Heer’s project is still ahead. This week is all about the past. I got a kick out of reading SBJ’s Dec. 18 Business Spotlight on Jack Henry & Associates. I loved the quote from Jack Henry himself: “Our key to success is our willingness to hire people who are a lot smarter than we are,” he said. His words expressed my sentiments so perfectly that I wished that I could have said it first, because I have seen this philosophy in action as the SBJ staff racked up honors and achievements in 2006.

If you appreciate the job that the SBJ staff is doing, I hope that you will write or phone them. All our e-mail addresses are on page 4. As SBJ continues to mature as a news organization, we will continue to do more investigative reporting, and some people will not appreciate us. If that is the case, please tell me. I’ve turned over so much responsibility to the more able people of the SBJ staff, but I’m still in charge of the complaint department. It’s my job. After 28 years, my skin is a little thicker than it used to be, but not much, so go easy.

But here’s our personal SBJ top stories for 2006:

• Opened a Joplin office and began publishing the biweekly Joplin Tri-State Business on April 10 under the direction of JTB General Manager Mike Noggle (Call us for a sample issue.);

• Reorganized SBJ’s editorial staff, with Eric Olson named to the editor position and Maria Hoover promoted to features editor in the spring;

• Received top awards from Alliance of Area Business Publications at its June meeting in Little Rock for Best Web Site (It’s sbj.net – if you haven’t seen it – and it is managed by Dee Dee Nilsen.) and Best Cover (Nov. 14, 2005, issue designed by Aaron Scott);

• Developed and published Best Places to Work in Southwest Missouri (often imitated, never duplicated) on Dec. 4. This new special publication was so well received that it will expand to include a recognition breakfast event in 2007. Mark your calendars for Nov. 17.

I am proud to be associated with every single person on the SBJ staff.

We, the citizens, businesses and professional people in southwest Missouri, are blessed. We, the staff of the Springfield Business Journal, are blessed to be here. My last word on 2006 is gratitude.

Dianne Elizabeth Osis is publisher and president of Springfield Business Journal Inc. She can be reached at delizabeth@sbj.net.