Mayor of Tampa, FL Bob Buckhorn (D) spoke to FOX Business Network’s (FBN) Lori Rothman about hosting the Republican National Convention (RNC) and the economic impact of Hurricane Isaac. Buckhorn stated that despite the threat of Hurricane Isaac, “delegates were here and they were spending money, they were just spending it indoors.” He went on to say that hosting the RNC is “a win-win for everybody” and the increase in business is a “rising tide” that “will float almost every boat.”
Excerpts are below:
On the economic threat of Hurricane Isaac:
“Delegates were here they were spending money, they were just spending it indoors. The hotels were filled. We added 90,000 room nights to the equation in a part of the season that is usually pretty dead. We think it will be a win-win for Tampa. Obviously the convention got compressed a little bit in terms of the scheduling. But other than that our thoughts and prayers are with Mitchell Andrew and New Orleans. We are thankful that we dodged it and right now we are focused on putting on a good show for the RNC.”
On seeing an increase in business due to the RNC:
“We are going to hire a lot of people. There’s going to be a lot of business that is going to take place that rising tide will float almost every boat. I cannot tell you how many owners, of women owned
business, small business, and minority business, have come to me and said ‘this is the best week we have had this year and we anticipate having.’ It is a win-win for everybody.”
