To Current and Future Members,

As small business owners in Murray Hill, my wife Sandy and I fully understand the need to belong to an organization such as the Westside Business Leaders Association (WBLA). As 2010 president of the WBLA, I want to take this opportunity to invite other business owners and managers to visit our meetings and take advantage of our 32 years of promoting our businesses, getting to know others in the community, getting feedback from city and state leadership on timely topics and most importantly, doing everything we can to encourage our future community leaders by providing scholarships to Jacksonville high school seniors. The task of making “Westside the Best Side" is before us. We need participating current and new members.

Membership is our focus for 2010. Be part of something special - Join WBLA.

Our January meeting was well-attended and we even brought in extra chairs to accommodate members and their guests. Proud members who bring in prospective members speak volumes about their guests and themselves because they display pride in the club and willingness to promote our community. Cecil Field is now a licensed space port and an approved MCA hospital on the Westside should break ground mid 2010. Interstate highway improvements being made on the Westside will accommodate a joint jaxport/airport/commerce center. It is more important than ever to join with us and become part of an organization with the experience, the desire and the networking capabilities to ensure the Westside rapidly prepares to become a global destination. Tourists coming to the area for up to two weeks preparing for sub-orbital flight will need our businesses to support their many needs.

My goal is to contact the business community and form Westside Business Leaders committees to gather information, monitor state and city growth decisions and make sure growth is sensible, local and in tune with our desires and needs for a better Westside as we move further into the 21st century. The Westside Business Leaders Association meets at noon on the second Thursday of each month at the Holiday Inn on Commonwealth Ave. You are cordially invited to attend, to join and to help mold the 21st century unfolding on the Westside. Join me now.

Gary W. Polletta President, WBLA 2010
Proud to be an American