La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Sam Scinta on his “Lord of the Rings”-length meeting with the mayor, the business climate in the community right now, and that port initiative announced last week.

We began though with just a quick “What does the Chamber do?” as Scinta has been leading it now for the past nine months.

Next, we talked about — what is more of a long game — the new Northern Grain Belts Ports Initiative and what it means for leveraging local waterways.

After that, we spent the final half of the show deep diving into La Crosse Mayor Shaundel Washington-Spivey’s three-hour meeting with Chamber members last week.

We break down what the meeting entailed and the "homework" to come out of it — like the push for a city administrator, a business concierge, zoning changes, and historic preservation reform.

We wrap up looking at how La Crosse is faring right now when it comes to the overall business climate, why our unique transit hub gives us a leg up on Madison, and the Chamber's possible future plans for a quarterly "La Crosse is Open for Business" series.