Saturday, September 15, 2012

Rival host cities of RNC, DNC vie for economic Holy Grail: more jobs

By Robert Trigaux, Times Business Columnist

Tampa Bay and Charlotte often become archrivals when businesses are looking to relocate, expand and — today's Economic Holy Grail — bring new jobs to employment-hungry cities.

The two southeastern metro areas are also the 2012 host cities for national political conventions. After a blustery start, Tampa just rolled out the red carpet for this week's Republican National Convention. Charlotte's home to the Democratic National Convention, which begins next week.

Business and economic development leaders in both cities are pursuing aggressive plans to capture the attention of some of the tens of thousands of attendees, many of them influential business executives. The common goal: to present host cities in a favorable and dynamic light in hopes of recruiting (or at least acquainting) new business considering expansion.

Tampa Bay versus Charlotte: Who has the smarter economic development strategy? What can each learn from the other? More here.

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