ECONOMY INTERVIEW
On the radar Affordable housing, workforce development and sustainability are priorites for attracting businesses and investors
Carole Post Administrator for Development and Economic Opportunity – City of Tampa
What are the city’s initiatives to attract businesses to Tampa? Among the mayor’s priorities is a focus on streamlining the development process and making Tampa a place where you can do business, while also focusing on affordable housing, transportation, workforce development, and sustainability and resilience. In each case, we are focused on executing plans and a vision that elevates Tampa on the radar of businesses and investors. We are evaluating our land-use strategies to ensure greater housing affordability across the city. We are committed to delivering more than 10,000 additional housing units by 2027. Another key initiative is workforce development. The city of Tampa has many organizations and initiatives driving workforce development, but there has not been a single conductor for that orchestra. We have committed new resources to help influence a more coordinated approach. Lastly, every coastal city needs a sustainability and resilience plan. We have a superstar chief resilience officer and that will help ensure that our city is sustainable for the long term. All these are reasons to be optimistic about our city’s future. We have many activities in the pipeline; however, for any city, you can’t just rely on the municipality to do the heavy lifting. If you do, you will never be successful. Across our business sector, academia, and advocacy, we may not always agree on everything, but we agree that we are in a unique time for this city’s success and its future and there is a spirit of support for each other’s vision. Looking forward, what is your near-term outlook for the city of Tampa? There are good reasons to be optimistic. We are seeing
new businesses open and existing businesses reopen. We were optimistic before COVID and we had a great sense of urgency to get things done. We did not lose any of that optimism or urgency. We may have lost a few steps because of COVID and needed to convert some of our resources, but now we are more eager to make up that ground and get back on track. I would be remiss to not bring attention to the success of our city’s sports franchises this year and the economic byproduct that came as a result, notwithstanding COVID. Some say it was bad timing because we did not really get to appreciate the full benefit of winning a Stanley Cup and winning a Super Bowl in our own backyard, because of the COVID-related constraints. However, I think that it was actually great timing because there is no better boost than the one you could see from those sports events and what they did for our community. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com
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