By Francis Hilario
– The Democratic Party has chosen Philadelphia to host its 2016 national convention.
“In addition to their commitment to a seamless and safe convention, Philadelphia’s deep rooted place in American history provides a perfect setting for this special gathering. I cannot wait to join Democrats across the country to celebrate our shared values, lay out a Democratic vision for the future, and support our nominee,” said DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Thursday.
Philadelphia was one of three finalists for the convention, along with Brooklyn and Columbus, Ohio.
The convention, held the week of July 25, will serve as a passing of the torch from President Barack Obama to the winner of the Democratic primary. At this point, Hillary Rodham Clinton is leading many of the polls, but 2016 is still a long way away.
The Democratic convention will be a huge boon for the city, with thousands of people, media and economic impact expected to come to Philadelphia and the surrounding areas. The DNC anticipates 50,000 attendees, filling up to 80,000 hotel room-nights, based on projections from its 2008 convention in Denver.
The last time Philadelphia held a national convention was in 2000, when the Republican party held its convention from July 31-Aug. 3.
The RNC brought in more than 45,000 people to the First Union Center (now the Wells Fargo Center) and 15,000 members of the media. The convention had an economic impact of $170 million, with a combined direct and indirect impact of $345 million.
RNC attendees also booked 111,000 hotel room-nights, creating hotel revenues of about $25 million. The convention created 4,777 full-time equivalent jobs in the region during the summer, generating $167 million in personal income.
Next year’s RNC will take place July 18-21 in Cleveland.
Choosing a host city was based on a number of factors, including the city’s transportation, hotels and the facility holding the convention, experts said in interviews last month. Other factors for any convention included the city’s political leadership and financial resources.
“The kind of factors that are probably the most important in terms of valuation of cities are the obvious ones: Hotels, the facility to hold the event in [and] logistics,” Alan Kessler, former finance vice chair of the DNC said in an earlier interview with the Philadelphia Business Journal. “The single most important is financial guarantee.”
Our panel of experts — including Gov. Ed Rendell— handicapped each city’s chance for the big score recently back when five cities were still in contention. Check it out here.
Gov. Tom Wolf made the following statement:
“Today’s announcement is tremendous news for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The birthplace of our democracy will host the Democratic National Convention in 2016, which will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity in the state. We look forward to working with local leaders to ensure that Philadelphia will shine in the national spotlight.”
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2015/02/12/philadelphia-will-host-the-2016-democratic.html
