Citizens Advisory Committee refocuses ‘Meet Your Neighbor’ on local businesses, eyes April relaunch

The Citizens Advisory Committee voted informally to retool its ‘Meet Your Neighbor’ outreach to spotlight local restaurants and other small businesses in hopes of increasing attendance and community engagement. Committee members said the aim is to draw residents to establishments on slower days while also giving businesses publicity.

Committee member (first reference), Citizens Advisory Committee, framed the change as a practical shift: “I wanna figure out this meet and greet or meet your neighbor … the meet and greet is, to me, have the CAC and the council go out to meet not just the businesses, but also the residents.” The Chair, Citizens Advisory Committee, emphasized the original goal was neighborhood connection and said the committee can change emphasis “to highlight businesses and bring the community together.”

Members discussed selection criteria for featured venues, saying preferred sites should be privately owned, provide food (not only alcohol), and be family friendly so that people of varying ages will attend. The committee reviewed a preliminary list of candidates including TacoTime, Alex’s Place, Toasty Tea, Whiskey River and Georginos pizza and subs, and noted some suggested businesses fall outside Port Richey City limits.

The committee confirmed coordination with the Port Richey Chamber of Commerce for alternating months and agreed to avoid duplicating chamber events. A member said the Chamber is organizing a Westside TacoTime event in March, and the CAC should “shoot for April” for its relaunch; one committee member stated plainly, “I’ll shoot for April.”

Next steps: committee members will contact candidate businesses to identify slow days that might benefit from publicity, confirm any small promotional items (chips, dip or menu samples), and finalize a date for an April event. The group will bring a finalized vendor list and recommended date back to the CAC at the next meeting for confirmation.