St. Louis Park Goes Hollywood for State of the City

Red carpet? Check. Awards ceremony? Check. Theater seating? Check.

The annual St. Louis Park State of the City event on Tuesday was decidedly Hollywood, as Mayor Jeff Jacobs and other city leaders arrived in style and spoke about the Park's progress at the .

Though the decor was quite theatrical, the theme of the morning was business and development. The TwinWest Chamber of Commerce sponsored the event, and the new St. Louis Park Convention and Vistors Bureau was recognized with one of three Emmy-style awards.

The CVB, which has taken the name Discover St. Louis Park, was organized last year by City Council. After picking a first president — assembling a staff, and finding office space, Discover St. Louis Park last week launched its website. Basill said amid all of it, the CVB has started to carve out some space with organizations like Explore Minnesota.

"We weren't on the map," Basill said of St. Louis Park. "Tourism is a $12 billion industry, with $750 million in local state sales taxes. And we’re going to grab our share of that.

“Our mission is to market and promote all the amenities in St. Louis Park, and drive economic impact."

Jacobs said he wanted to show that business and government can work together on goals like this.

“Government and business don’t always work together," he said. "They can be seen as adverse to each other, but they don’t have to be and they’re not. When they work together, it’s an extraordinary operation.”

Sticking to the theater ambiance, the mayor ended the State of the City with the final quote from the movie "Casablanca," when two characters who formally saw each other as foes realize they can be allies:

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Reported by:  St. Louis Park Patch