Tannenbaum works to make chamber more ‘merchant-friendly’

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“I’m trying to get the younger merchants involved so that they understand how to do it and there will be a group of people that will be able to take over when us older guys leave,” said Long Beach Chamber of Commerce President Mark Tannenbaum.

Tannenbaum, 66, who was elected in January, said he is looking forward not only to attracting a new generation of businesses to the chamber, but to launching new initiatives to support area businesses and make the organization more “merchant-friendly.”

He said he is hoping to boost the number of chamber members from the current 249, at a time when many businesses are struggling through what they describe as the toughest winter they can remember. “It’s more critical than ever for the chamber and the city to pull people in this spring,” Tannenbaum said. “We should be doing anything and everything we can.”

He cited not only the severe weather, but also the fact that many residents are still displaced from their homes long after Hurricane Sandy, as well as the closure of the Long Beach Medical Center, which has had a major impact on the local economy.

“The weather was bad all over, but it hurt Long Beach a little bit more than everybody else because you also have a percentage of residents still not back living in their homes,” Tannenbaum said. “A big part of the business done in Long Beach during the winter months is conducted by residents.”

Part of his effort to reach new merchants involves dividing the city into business zones that would be overseen by different chamber board members. By having members interact directly with the neighborhood businesses in their zones, Tannenbaum said, he hopes to gauge merchants’ needs.

“I want them to feel like they have someone representing them and hearing them,” he said. “And that alone will make it a more business-friendly chamber. My philosophy is that the chamber has to work for the businesses. It’s owned and run by them; it’s their chamber, not mine.”

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