PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — On Wednesday, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker was joined at City Hall by the leaders of dozens of companies, unions and trade associations to announce a new initiative to finally put Philly’s unfriendly-to-business reputation to rest.
Parker called the initiative her “business roundtable,” and said it would be “a vehicle for change” when it comes to businesses interacting with city government.
“This is a new approach to governance where the voice of the business community will be captured via policy and legislation,” said Parker.
The mayor announced 10 subcommittees, each focused on some industry or some aspect of doing business and set out a schedule of meetings to provide feedback and advise the city on growth and more.
“We are going to remove the red tape and streamline processes by listening to the people who have the real-life experiences of making the payroll and running the businesses that keep our city afloat,” said Parker.
Greg Segall, chairman and CEO of Versa Capital, is a co-chair of the new ‘roundtable,’ seemed happy to be a part of the new effort, and said its ultimate goal is economic revitalization for the city.
“The mayor’s business roundtable can’t wave a magic wand and perfect the gears of commerce overnight but the city also has enormous assets and opportunities,” said Segall.
One of those enormous assets Parker pointed out at the announcement press conference was Philly’s burgeoning life sciences industry — second in growth only to Boston.
“We have to work and be intentional and pro-active so that the policies we pursue are the right ones for these sectors,” she said.
Ryan Boyer, business manager for the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, is another co-chair, and said he wants workers to be ready for the jobs of the future, but also leaned into the spirit of competition between Boston and Philly mentioned by Parker.
“We want to compete at the highest level,” he said. “I don’t want to be second to anybody for anything and the first city I don’t want to be second to is those green clowns from Boston.”