RISON - Several volunteers stepped up from a community meeting Monday night to begin an effort to assess the commercial properties available in Rison and then actively recruit businesses to fill them.The purpose of the meeting organized by Rison Shine, a grassroots community development organization, was to focus solely on business development in the city, particularly for the vacant spaces in the downtown area. Rison Shine held a similar community meeting in late June to brainstorm ideas on business development, developing public spaces/beautification, and events/recreation.Rison Shine President Kristy Strother said follow-up community meetings will be held focusing on the other two subjects addressed during the June meeting: developing public spaces/ beautification and events/recreation.Strother, along with Malinda Berry of My Berry Patch and Britt Talent of the Cleveland County Herald, moderated the meeting that included the results of a recent community business survey as well as an assessment of the vacant properties currently in the city.The three-question survey asked people what they would like to see in the way of additional restaurants in Rison, and what kind of specialty businesses they would like to see. There was also an open ended question as to what additional businesses other than restaurants or specialty businesses they would like in Rison.As for new restaurants, the overwhelming response favored a bakery. Slightly more than half (50.8 percent) of the 63 respondents said they preferred to see a bakery in Rison compared to 31.1 percent favoring a steak house and 24.6 preferring a place offering home cooking. Other choices, in order, included seafood, Italian and Cajun.There were also some requests for fast food eateries, but as was pointed out during the discussion, there are not enough people in the community to support it. Greg Jaggers with Remax Platium Realty said there was a property owner in Rison wh...
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