Roger Brooks
More than 200 people attended a meeting yesterday evening in Rochelle to hear a presentation from Roger Brooks dealing with a branding study for the community.
City officials are looking at changing the image in the community that would bring in more businesses and residents to Rochelle. Figures indicate that 80 percent of people who work in the Hub City do not live in the community.
Brooks has been in Rochelle since Monday. He said that there are many good features in the city that inlcudes homes and the schools.
Brooks stressed that changes need to be made in the downtown area. The goal would be to have 10 food establishments, 10 retail stores, and 10 businesses open after 6 in the evening within a 3 block area.
Brooks said that 80 percent of spending these days is done by women and that 70 percent of purchases are done after 6 in the evening.
He also stressed that the community have brochures to promote their best features. Brooks said that 14,000 people live within a 5 mile radius of Rochelle. 20,000 people are within 10 miles and 134,000 individuals are only 20 miles from the city.
Brooks also said that signage in the city needs to be in larger letters and have a destination to a particular location..
He stressed that there should be 1 goal for the community right now. Focus on an image so that people will stay in the city or drive to the community for a certain business or event.
A 2nd public meeting with Roger Brooks will take place this morning at 8:30 until 10 at the Hickory Grove Banquet and Conference Center dealing with branding for the community. He stressed that railroads for a community is not a brand.
Brooks plans to go over 13 steps in the branding process for the city today.
