Tampa is apparently a town known for strip joints, like "New York City and the Statue of Liberty," according to the AP no less, and Joe Redner helped build that reputation, opening three strip clubs since sold. The sometime local progressive politico tells the AP that the Republican National Convention headed to his town won't be a boon for the local strip clubs :. National political conventions are almost always vaunted as cash cows or crowing moments for the city's selected to host them, and both Tampa and Charlotte have been no different.
In an op-ed in the Charlotte Observer, Ron Stodghill questioned the premise of the lucrative conventions by looking to the previous hosts of the Democratic Party's get togethers :. In Denver and Boston, there are some valuable lessons to be learned about sorting hype and hubris from reality.
Among the reasons: normal workday productivity was halted due to road closures, revenue-generating events not related to the DNC were canceled, and spending among delegates and nondelegates in Boston's restaurants and shops was less than projected as attendees gathered instead at corporate parties and receptions.
In fact, many local businesses wound up saddled with "extra inventory and empty seats and cash registers. And while the Minneapolis-St. Paul GOP convention in convinced Minneapolis to bid for this year's Democratic convention , the convention in New York City hosted by Mayor Bloomberg when he was a Republican brought about some of the largest convention-related protests since Chicago , animated by opposition to the Vietnam War, and its Republican counterpart four years later in Miami, largely overshadowed in history by the Miami Dolphins, who went Some of the first "free speech zones," made famous during the Bush years, were put in place for the Democratic convention in Atlanta , and over the years the place where our would-be presidents are nominated have been home to mini-suspensions of the Constitution.
This year will be no different. So maybe if you're in Tampa to protest this summer, hit a strip club instead. They say they need the stimulus! Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup. Ed Krayewski is a former associate editor at Reason. Show Comments Liz Wolfe 2. Charles Oliver 2.
