BAC

What do a Bosnian-language newspaper, a high-tech video production center, an event planner, and a stone-cutter have in common? All of them — and more than 200 other small and not-so-small businesses — were formally helped by the City’s Business Assistance Center recently. Spending an hour or two up in the BAC’s office on the 4th Floor of City Hall is eye-opening.

According to a note from Barb Geisman, the BAC helped 264 new businesses add more than 1,000 jobs in the City last fiscal year. In addition, the BAC informally helped uncounted other local businesses — restaurants, artists, photographers, small retailers — expand or “get legal” in City locations.

These independent businesses — and their wide variety — contribute to the City’s diversity and vitality by providing residents and visitors with unique goods and services and by providing jobs and incomes for their employees and owners.