House Bill 58 WILL Retain American Greetings in Ohio - UPDATE

Updated 3/8/11 - Turns out tax incentives do work. American Greetings is staying in Northeast Ohio, even if they don't know just where yet. The bill passed by Ohio's legislature and quickly signed by Governor Kasich was the difference. The Plain Dealer has good coverage here, which includes a video, time lines and several other good points of information. The original post is below.

Original Post -
American Greetings, the well-known card company, has much more incentive to stay put in Northeast Ohio. House Bill 58, set to be signed by Governor Kasich, was approved by the House on Wednesday, as the Plain Dealer reported. The bill creates a new refundable job retention tax credit.

AG has been toying with the idea of moving to Chicago, which would have been a hit to a Northeast Ohio economy that is slowing, but successfully, clawing back. (As a side, just because the Insider is a superhero movie nut - Cleveland is where the new Avengers movie will be filmed...). AG's commitment to the city of Cleveland is important on a number of fronts, not just financially. AG is a dynamic company that recruits and wants to retain young talent. That is something Cleveland needs and can support, but we need high-profile companies like AG to make sure they are here. AG staying will also help in discussions with various airlines' commitment to the city as two proposed mergers move forward - Delta and Continental (who has a primary hub here), and Southwest and Airtran, who compete as the low-cost carriers between the Cleveland Hopkins airport (Southwest) and the Akron-Canton airport (Airtran).