It began as a task force because minority businesses in the area were not as well seen. We wanted them to have access to the chamber and its resources, so we created a steering committee.

We have only one goal: We will force the ruling coalition to a minority status in next year's upper house election. With this momentum, we will realize a change of power.

It would never, ever be in our game plan to denigrate someone else. This is about what we have to offer here.

The chamber provides a lot of opportunities for its members to have an influence over the things they care about. It became clear right way that this was a thing that would grow into a committee and eventually a council. But, first we needed to determine if the commitment was there.

It was fabulous. It was like the old glory days.

You can teach someone who cares to write columns, but you can’t teach someone who writes columns to care.