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Business World |
April 2015
72
Nathan Walls praises the economic develop-
ment that’s ongoing in the city.
“We were #2 in that ranking [best cities to
start a business] – behind Jacksonville, Flor-
ida,” Walls said. “We ranked above many
large cities including: New Orleans, Las Ve-
gas, Oklahoma City. The fact that we were
#2 in the country speaks volumes.”
Having taken an aggressive approach to re-
cruiting and retaining existing businesses
and developers to Fayetteville, council’s goal
is to be business-friendly through a variety of
incentives and policies to drive investment
in the community. Backed by solid rankings,
Fayetteville’s economic development strat-
egy is on solid ground.
“We received an accolade by Manpower In-
corporated calling us the third-best job market
in the nation,” Walls said. “We’re a part of the
state that was ranked the fourth-best business
state by Forbes Magazine in 2012. Fayetteville
was also ranked18th-best performing large city
in America by the Milken Institute’s Best Per-
forming Cities in 2010. We’ve also been called
a sanctuary for soldiers.”