Tony A. Ramirez

Overall, Southwest and American Airlines serve two very different operations. Southwest = 100 destinations, mostly domestic American = 350 destinations, domestic and long haul international

Dallas region now has a higher share of finance sector jobs than NYC. Mamdani exits are real.

Three major retail announcements for us within a few short weeks followed by expansion and jobs announcement. Industrial and commercial activity is stronger than ever.

Sometimes it comes up when discussing company relocations with a company executive: “We’ve always operated here — why complicate things?” By documenting capacity limits, cost trends, workforce realities, and competitive positioning of the current site, the process replaces tradition with data. Leadership can decide based on facts rather than inertia.

Silence can be generous. Especially when working with a company to relocate to my city. Its not about pitching or selling. Especially since they are exhausted from traveling over five days to various city tours. Listening to understand.

Hear me out. The absolute first sign that Fall is up next. Hatch green chile season.

You can scale outreach, but you can’t scale trust. True success in site selection and economic development comes from relationships you can’t automate. Relationship driven, all day every day.

Community college enrollment in Texas plummets as four-year programs hold firm.

Several times a year, Texas' economic developers meetup to share the latest strategies, trends, and incentives for attracting jobs & investment to our cities. So many factors that affect growth in various topics: Retail Opportunity Zones Industrial Global Trade Redevelopment Entertainment - Hospitality Utilities Real Estate Business Environment Infrastructure Political Implications

Kevin Warsh has a tough balancing act at his first Federal Reserve policy meeting as Chair this month. The rocky Middle East. Skyrocketing inflation. Disruption in tech with A.I. Either way, I think the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged for now.

Don’t let the headline GDP numbers fool you — inventories and trade swings from tariff uncertainty are distorting the picture. Strip those out and look at what businesses are actually investing and what consumers are actually spending, and the underlying economy looks a lot steadier — averaging a solid 2.2% over the past six months. That’s the number worth watching.

Planning for the submittal process. It’s almost time for the new Opportunity Zones 2.0. A stronger framework for driving private capital into communities.

New development doesn’t happen where it’s hard. It happens where cities have gotten smart — reasonable entitlements, an understanding of go-to-market speed, and a genuine willingness to work with developers and tenants beyond the transaction. @ICSC

A few thoughts on market feedback direct from foreign companies at the @SelectUSA trade summit.

Great tour of our city this morning with a foreign based company. Discussed plant-to-DC sourcing flexibility as the company decides which supply chain configuration to go with.

Inflation offsets wage gains in Q1, leaving earnings flat and unchanged for 5 years. The inflation burn continues. Will the Federal Reserve try to counteract?

We are Easter people and Alleluia is our Song!

Companies don’t make decisions on which city to expand to. People do. Deep inside the boardroom its politics, personalities, and power plays. Thats where decisions toil. Economic developers go beyond showing sites. They read the room and adjust to win the project.

The world belongs to the loud, not to the long winded.

US jobs growth fractured — employers CUT 92K jobs in Feb, worst surprise in years. Unemployment ticking up to 4.4%. This puts massive pressure on local economic developers for your city. Time to get creative: incentives, place-making, talent magnets, whatever lights growth.