Kudos for new parking spaces
BOB GOLDSBERRY Rusk

There are now 40 additional parking spaces available now on the southeast corner of the square on 5th Street, between Henderson Street and Lone Oak Street and along Lone Oak Street, courtesy of the City of Rusk. On behalf of the Rusk Chamber of Commerce, I would like to say "thank you" to the City of Rusk and its employees for re-striping these spaces and creating some needed additional parking spaces.

These new parking spaces are the first step to work on improving the downtown parking issues that have been with the downtown area for as long as most folks can remember

Please utilize these new parking spaces and be on the lookout for additional parking space striping around the downtown area

While the parking situation can be trying at times, the plus side is that the Rusk square remains a viable and busy downtown. We've all seen other communities where the older central commerce center is either underutilized or no longer used at all. Part of the charm and history of Rusk is kept alive with all of the traffic that visits our beautiful downtown square.

Those of us who work around the square need to take advantage of these and the other parking spaces off of the square to free up spaces for our shoppers, who can have a positive impact on the economy of Rusk and Cherokee County.

The easier it is for customers of the courthouse and downtown merchants to utilize these services, the more our economy will continue to grow in the future.

More and easier access to the downtown area will increase the traffic flow which will also have a positive impact to all of the other merchants and businesses in the City of Rusk.

Remember that every dollar spent locally for goods and services will turn over five-seven more times here locally, based upon the national average.

Mr. Goldsberry is the executive director of the Rusk Chamber of Commerce.