CROWN POINT | For a second year, Mayor David Uran will head to Las Vegas to sell the city to possible retailers .
The city's Redevelopment Commission unanimously approved up to $6,000 to send Uran and other city officials to the International Council of Shopping Centers' global spring convention.
Commission members approved the $6,000 after Uran said that was about how much was spent last year to send him and four other city officials to the conference.
"It's important to stay in front of this so when the economy turns back around we're poised with some potential retailers," said commission member Mark Schweitzer.
According to conference materials, there are some sessions that will focus on the troubled economy, and Uran said those sessions could be helpful in bringing potential retailers to the city. He also said the Green Zone, which looks at environmentally friendly business issues, could be helpful to the proposed environmentally friendly office park the city would like to build on the Breyfogle Farm property.
Uran said the city made connections at last year's conference, which ended shortly before the economy took a turn for the worse. He said he plans to "rekindle the relationships" made last year as well as form new ones with companies such as Hilton Hotels Corp., Adidas Retail Outlets, Trader Joe's and the Chicagoland Restaurant Brokers Association.
Uran said by the mid-May conference, the state's General Assembly session will be finished and he will know if a bill passed that would allow cities to allocate up to 15 percent of money from tax increment financing districts back into the work force for things such as additional job training. He said if passed, that bill would be an incentive for retailers to locate in the community because the city could offer pre-trained potential employees.
Commission member Bob Corbin said he would to see the city focus on retailers that don't currently exist in the community.
"We still want to hold our standards higher than what we have seen in neighboring communities," he said.
