Among the goals for the Ohio Valley for 2024, one should be ensuring that more people are living here to celebrate the New Year in 2025.

Various entities are laying the foundation to make that happen. They’re making hires and decisions that they hope spur folks from elsewhere to consider the Ohio Valley as a place to plant roots.

The revitalization of downtown Wheeling may be a tough haul, but it should pay dividends in the end. It’s not just happening in grand moves like the Downtown Streetscape Project. Individual business owners and groups are doing their part, too. The Carl family has renovated both the interior and exterior of The Bridge Tavern, giving locals another great place to congregate, dine and listen to good music. The Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau is preparing to knock down the former Wheeling Inn and to build a new visitors center in its place.

That’s not to say the Downtown Streetscape Project isn’t important. The further that moves toward completion, the better it will show that Downtown Wheeling has a bright and attractive future.

The Ohio County Commission also is throwing its hat in the ring to spur population growth. The commission recently hired Stephanie Hockenberry as a growth and retention manager who will answer to a committee made up of representatives from the Ohio County Development Authority, the Ohio County Commission, the city of Wheeling, the Wheeling Park Commission, the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley and the Regional Economic Development Partnership. There are a lot of bright minds among those groups, and there should be some good and useful ideas that come from their brainstorming.

While recent population declines haven’t been as steep as in the past, they’re still declines. It’s imperative to the future of the region to turn that trend around. There are good people who are gearing up right now to make that happen in 2024. Good luck to them.