Tampa Bay's Economy

[gstolze]

The port also needs to have two shipping routes in the bay. As far as I know there is no two way traffic for large ships possible.

[yapp1850]

Arizona unemployment rate 9.5, florida umemployment rate 11.1 why is it that arizona is a lot lower than we are but year ago there there a lot higher than we were it because a state of arizona is investing into the future. like the solar power plant it will be the building largest solar plant in the country is will cost almost billion dollars.

[TampaGuy]

Tampa is one of two finalists to host 2015 Super Bowl

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgo...r-bowl/1166563

TAMPA — Tampa is one of two finalists to host the Super Bowl XVLIII in 2015, the NFL said Thursday.

The other finalist is Arizona, according to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. A vote is anticipated this fall at a league meeting.

If picked, Tampa would host the NFL championship for the fifth time. It previously has hosted the game in 1984, 1991, 2001 and 2009. The city was one of three finalists last year when the NFL picked New York to host the 2014 Super Bowl.

This would be great, I can't believe we're in the running for ANOTHER Super Bowl!

[HARTride 2012]

Wow!

[TampaMike]

Originally Posted by TampaGuy

Tampa is one of two finalists to host 2015 Super Bowl

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgo...r-bowl/1166563



This would be great, I can't believe we're in the running for ANOTHER Super Bowl!

We always do a great job and we're heavily praised every time on how great of a job we set up the stadium, host parties, etc. I'm really not surprised at all.

[koopalicious]

Originally Posted by TampaGuy

This would be great, I can't believe we're in the running for ANOTHER Super Bowl!

If Tampa doesn't get it in 2015, we will get it in 2016, or '17, or '18...

As long as there are Super Bowl's, and Tampa stays at the latitude that it is currently at, we will keep getting them.

[TampaMike]

Remember when Tampa was consider the new star to the South? Yeah, not anymore.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/busines...pa-bay/1167379

[Jahi98]

I think our economy is still more diverse than Orlando, we just don't have the hype that Orlando has. That has always been my issue. As an metro area, Tampa Bay fails to generate buzz.

I will say that Orlando has been bold in laying a foundation for economic diversification and growth. The relationship between UCF and the local economy is much stronger than ours is with USF. Lake Nona Medical City and the plans for Creative Village are two other examples of bold steps.

I am a little anxious to see what Buckhorn proposes in terms of economic development projects and to see if Foster will put forth any type of vision.

[TampaMike]

What I really think our problem is is marketing this region. Marketing for tourism, marketing for residents, and marketing for jobs. We could add additional seasonal flights if we marketed more to European countries and other regions (Australia and maybe some South American countries for the winter). We can market Tampa and St. Petersburg who are two very different cities I have noticed today for places for young and old to move to. St. Petersburg is more laid back but still evolving while Tampa is always running and has more to offer. And we're cheap for businesses, against what others want to say. Tampa can tell them that light rail is not an if but when for Tampa and when is likely in the next 5-6 years. If you have businesses and jobs coming here because you told them that light rail will happen in Tampa, even with the a higher sales tax or property tax along the light rail line, that will show to the voters that it's not lower taxes that companies are asking for.

[Jasonhouse]

The problem is the people themselves, from which all of these other problems spring forth.

[I-275westcoastfl]

Originally Posted by Jasonhouse

The problem is the people themselves, from which all of these other problems spring forth.

Exactly!

Here is the state fucking itself even further to our many unemployed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_859917.html

For Jobless, Florida Set To Become Stingiest State In America

Thanks to a pending law, next January Florida will become the stingiest state in America when it comes to unemployment insurance benefits.

A bill awaiting Republican Gov. Rick Scott's signature will cut unemployment taxes on businesses by reducing the maximum benefits for people laid off through no fault of their own to 23 weeks. That's three fewer weeks than the standard 26 weeks provided by nearly every state for the past 50 years. And as the unemployment rate falls, benefits will diminish on a sliding scale, with a floor of just 12 weeks when the rate is 5 percent or lower.

Rep. Doug Holder, the Sarasota Republican who sponsored the bill in the Florida House of Representatives, told HuffPost the measure wouldn't harm the unemployed because the average person who draws unemployment in Florida uses only 17.7 weeks of benefits before finding work.

"If the average person is utilizing 17.7 weeks, we’ve got quite a cushion between 17.7 and 23 weeks," Holder said, adding that the bill would replenish the state's unemployment trust fund within a few years. "The most important thing for us in Florida to do is to send a message to the business community and let them know we’re open for business."

The legislation directs new claimants to participate in a skills review program to develop a plan for referring the worker to potential job opportunities, Holder added. It also makes it easier for businesses to challenge claims from former workers and provides stricter work search requirements for claimants.

“The proposed reforms provide relief to employers by weeding out individuals taking undue advantage of the system and provide relief to the unemployed by offering additional assistance to help them get back to work," bill sponsor Sen. Nancy Detert (R) said in a statement. "The bill also saves administrative costs which can be reallocated to make sure those receiving benefits are meeting the requirements of the program."

National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group, has said Florida will take first place in what the group has called a "race to the bottom" once Gov. Scott signs the bill. Florida is the third state after Michigan and Missouri to cut the standard 26 weeks of benefits. The reductions in the Florida bill, which are the steepest by far, will take effect in January.

Florida is one of 25 states where the jobless are eligible for 99 weeks of unemployment benefits thanks to 73 weeks worth of federal extensions put in place to fight the recession. Unless the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives is willing to reauthorize those extensions, they'll expire in January and 23 weeks of support will be all that's left in Florida.

All states require people collecting jobless aid to search for work, but the specific requirements vary by state. Floridians collecting jobless aid must search for "work that is reasonable for the claimant considering his or her background, training, abilities, and duration of unemployment," but the law doesn't specify a minimum number of job contacts, according to a 2010 report by the National Foundation for Unemployment Compensation and Workers' Compensation, a research nonprofit founded by UWC Strategic Services on Unemployment & Workers' Compensation, which lobbies on behalf of business interests on worker issues.

The new law will require workers to prove they've contacted at least five potential employers each week, supplying the name, address, and phone number of each employer.

"Requiring submission of detailed evidence of five employer contacts each and every week through automated and voice response systems that are already strained by high workloads will only lead to more system breakdowns," said NELP director Christine Owens in a statement. "These kinds of mandates will inevitably and unnecessarily impose major new administrative burdens on the state’s unemployment insurance program, cause more payment delays, and undoubtedly frustrate and discourage some workers from filing for unemployment insurance they have earned."

The bill also broadens the definition of "misconduct" to include behavior outside the workplace or work hours, which NELP says goes beyond the standard in most states. Dough Holmes, president of the UWC, said that while many states might not have such broad misconduct statutes, legal cases have set standards for out-of-office behavior being considered misconduct if it reflects badly on a business.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce, which strongly supported the legislation, said it cuts down on waste and fraud. “One of the big things we hear from our members is frustration from having fired or dismissed individuals for misconduct and the employee having filed for benefits immediately after they’ve left," said Teye Reeves, policy director for the chamber.

[DShenise]

The idea that people get lazy on unemployment is crazy. I had to take it for several months. Because of my previous salary, I was at the top of unemployment payouts, roughly $269 per week with taxes deducted. Now honestly, does anyone think I would prefer $269 a week versus the ~$800 a week I made prior to getting laid off? I really think its just a void in some people, they have little empathy and when put in a similar situation its different somehow.

[Jasonhouse]

^Situational narcissism has become a national epidemic... At least among rightwingnuts.

Ultra shitty unemployment benefits don't make good jobs magically appear. All they do is drive desperate people on the brink of economic annihilation to find creative ways to make money besides doing an honest day's pay, for an honest day's work... Working under the table, dealing drugs, petty theft. Or even attending 'college' for degrees/certifications they will never be able to use in the real world, just so that they can get access to school loans and grants to live off of. Worse yet, people cancel health benefits and stop getting preventative care. They drain their retirement savings, they sell valuable assets at pawn shop prices. All of these destructive ills cause problems for society at large, especially when done in large numbers, and especially in the future when these people are still broke, but now they're older, less healthy and less able to make up lost economic ground.

[TampaMike]

Wait, our unemployment insurance is the problem? Not according to Page 10 on this link.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/bp60.pdf

Seriously, this state is so ridiculous. The fact the people fail for this bait is both sad and concerning.

[TampaMike]

Jackson Laboratory drops Florida expansion plan
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Date: Friday, June 3, 2011, 5:02pm EDT


The Jackson Laboratory said it would withdraw its request for $100 million in state funding for an expansion facility in Sarasota County.

Laboratory officials based their decision on the lack of funds in Florida’s state budget, which included only limited money for economic development activities, a press statement said.

The organization had announced in March that it would partner with Sarasota County, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and the University of South Florida to develop a research center in Sarasota. The project was estimated to generate as many as 2,200 jobs and $600 million annually in economic activity by 2030.

In the latest press statement, Charles Hewett, Jackson’s executive vice president, said that this would be the final chapter in the company’s Florida venture.

“We understand Florida’s budget situation and we will turn our attention to other priorities,” he said.

The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution based in Bar Harbor, Maine with a facility in Sacramento, Calif.

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/...u&ana=e_du_pub

[HARTride 2012]

I think this will only be getting worse during the next several years. New companies will refuse to move in, and existing companies will begin thier mass exit from this pitfall of a state.

[gstolze]

So far about the governor's agenda to create jobs in FL?

On the other hand I find it ridiculous that private companies expect cash from states and they move where they get the biggest incentives.

[HARTride 2012]

Exactly. And more companies in the end will find it more cheaper to shove their operations to India or China rather than invest in many states in the US.