It was a new-year celebration of sorts today for the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, with a capacity crowd – we counted more than 65 people – for its annual meeting over lunch at High Point Neighborhood Center. For one, it marked the changing of the guard; at right, L-R, outgoing board chair Jerome O. Cohen joined CEO Patti Mullen in welcoming new board chair Dave Montoure (West 5). When Montoure asked the lunch crowd how many were attending their first Chamber lunch, more than a few hands rocketed up. The businesses represented in the room ranged from retail to real estate, banks to bars, media to mortuaries, and beyond; they convened small groups to brainstorm ideas for boosting West Seattle’s economic health. That, in fact, should be the Chamber’s number one mission, according to more than half the respondents in a survey the WSCC conducted recently. Comparing the 2010 survey responses to earlier years – 2003 and 2006 – it was clear to see how priorities have changed; strengthening the economy is way up, providing networking opportunities way down. The respondents’ assessment of the Chamber’s relevance to their businesses was dramatically higher, too – less than a fifth of the respondents in 2003 thought it was relevant; now, almost all respondents said its relevance is either high or medium. One big focus for this year is to expand efforts to get the word out, on and off the peninsula, about West Seattle’s businesses and other attributes. You’ll see that online, too, with a tourism-based website (experiencewestseattle.com – not up yet) in the works, and a new Facebook page for the Chamber (ready to be “liked” – just go here). Want to get involved in other ways as the Chamber keeps growing? Membership info’s here.