Changes

The local bodies represent locally owned businesses and are boosters for their cities.

The local bodies represent locally owned businesses and are boosters for their cities.

During the [[Obama]] era, the Chamber has made an alliance with establishment Republicans in [[D.C.]] and big donor special interests. Once mostly low key in politics, their agenda now is advocating [[amnesty]] and more national debts. The Chamber plans to spend $50 million dollars attacking the Tea Party and promoting [[RINO]] candidates for the [[2014 Midterm Elections]].<ref>[http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/194030-report-chamber-planning-50m-campaign-to-curtail-tea-party Report: Chamber to hit Tea Party with $50M, TheHill.com, December 26,2013]</ref>

During the [[Obama]] era, the Chamber has made an alliance with establishment Republicans in [[D.C.]] and big donor special interests. Once mostly low key in politics, their agenda now is advocating [[amnesty]] and more national debts. The Chamber plans to spend $50 million attacking the Tea Party and promoting [[RINO]] candidates for the [[2014 Midterm Elections]].<ref>[http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/194030-report-chamber-planning-50m-campaign-to-curtail-tea-party Report: Chamber to hit Tea Party with $50M, TheHill.com, December 26,2013]</ref>

==Boosters and job growth==

==Boosters and job growth==

Sin is a big draw for men.  The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce energetically promoted tourism in the 1930s, following the completion of Hoover Dam. They featured an image of Las Vegas as a 'last frontier.' Advertising brochures, newspaper publicity, and motion pictures celebrated Las Vegas for its hospitality, legal gambling, easy divorce laws, and local naughty attractions. It worked, as shown by the increasing number of tourists and visitors in the late 1930s. Completion of the El Rancho Vegas resort casino in 1941 foreshadowed the postwar boom in resort hotels.<ref>Larry Gragg, "Selling 'Sin City': Successfully Promoting Las Vegas During the Great Depression, 1935-1941," ''Nevada Historical Society Quarterly'' 2006 49(2): 83-106,</ref>

Sin is a big draw for men.  The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce energetically promoted tourism in the 1930s, following the completion of Hoover Dam. They featured an image of Las Vegas as a 'last frontier.' Advertising brochures, newspaper publicity, and motion pictures celebrated Las Vegas for its hospitality, legal gambling, easy divorce laws, and local naughty attractions. It worked, as shown by the increasing number of tourists and visitors in the late 1930s. Completion of the El Rancho Vegas resort casino in 1941 foreshadowed the postwar boom in resort hotels.<ref>Larry Gragg, "Selling 'Sin City': Successfully Promoting Las Vegas During the Great Depression, 1935-1941," ''Nevada Historical Society Quarterly'' 2006 49(2): 83-106,</ref>

===Los Angeles===

===Los Angeles===

The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, begun in 1888, promoted the attractions of Southern California's sunny climate, cheap land, and agricultural opportunities. In 1915, it opened an Industrial Bureau to advertise the city's manufacturing and industrial possibilities. The chamber supported the establishing of the All-Year Club to promote tourism, an attraction also advertised by the Auto Club of Southern California and the Southern Pacific. In the 1920's, the heyday of boosterism, the chamber developed a photographic file of 50,000 pictures illustrating the area's attractions, while ignoring unions, minorities, and other potential drawbacks. The decades of promotion yielded enormous growth for Los Angeles, as the city increased from 11,000 in 1880 to 1,238,000 by 1930.<ref>Tom Zimmerman, "Paradise Promoted: Boosterism and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce," ''California History'' 1985 64(1): 22-33.</ref>

The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, begun in 1888, promoted the attractions of Southern California's sunny climate, cheap land, and agricultural opportunities. In 1915, it opened an Industrial Bureau to advertise the city's manufacturing and industrial possibilities. The chamber supported the establishing of the All-Year Club to promote tourism, an attraction also advertised by the Auto Club of Southern California and the Southern Pacific. In the 1920s, the heyday of boosterism, the chamber developed a photographic file of 50,000 pictures illustrating the area's attractions, while ignoring unions, minorities, and other potential drawbacks. The decades of promotion yielded enormous growth for Los Angeles, as the city increased from 11,000 in 1880 to 1,238,000 by 1930.<ref>Tom Zimmerman, "Paradise Promoted: Boosterism and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce," ''California History'' 1985 64(1): 22-33.</ref>

===Mobile===

===Mobile===

The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) helped preserve urban manufacturing jobs as part of an industrial renewal effort during 1953-76. The PIDC, a nonprofit, quasi-public authority, was created in 1958 in a joint effort between Mayor Richardson H. Dilworth and the chamber of commerce to implement an industrial renewal project. Using industrial mortgages, funds were raised for the construction and renovation of small to medium-sized manufacturing plants on undeveloped land in and around Philadelphia. The PIDC is credited with having moderated the loss of industrial jobs in Philadelphia.<ref>Guian  McKee, "Urban Deindustrialization and Local Public Policy: Industrial Renewal in Philadelphia, 1953-1976," ''Journal of Policy History'' 2004 16(1): 66-98,</ref>

The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) helped preserve urban manufacturing jobs as part of an industrial renewal effort during 1953-76. The PIDC, a nonprofit, quasi-public authority, was created in 1958 in a joint effort between Mayor Richardson H. Dilworth and the chamber of commerce to implement an industrial renewal project. Using industrial mortgages, funds were raised for the construction and renovation of small to medium-sized manufacturing plants on undeveloped land in and around Philadelphia. The PIDC is credited with having moderated the loss of industrial jobs in Philadelphia.<ref>Guian  McKee, "Urban Deindustrialization and Local Public Policy: Industrial Renewal in Philadelphia, 1953-1976," ''Journal of Policy History'' 2004 16(1): 66-98,</ref>

===Pittsburgh===

===Pittsburgh===

In 1908, the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce established a Flood Control Commission which developed a plan calling for nine reservoirs at the headwaters of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers. The plan was endorsed at the national level by Progressives who wanted centralized inland waterway development under a single authority. This approach was rejected by Congress and the Army Corps of Engineers. However, in the 1920's funds were appropriated for studies of the flood problem in the upper Ohio valley and the Corps was instructed to broaden its approach to flood control to include the use of reservoirs. On the eve of the great Pittsburgh flood of 1936, a bill providing for nine reservoirs above Pittsburgh had passed the House of Representatives and was being debated in the Senate Commerce Committee. The flood provided the necessary impetus to obtain funds for the first five reservoirs.  

In 1908, the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce established a Flood Control Commission which developed a plan calling for nine reservoirs at the headwaters of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers. The plan was endorsed at the national level by Progressives who wanted centralized inland waterway development under a single authority. This approach was rejected by Congress and the Army Corps of Engineers. However, in the 1920s funds were appropriated for studies of the flood problem in the upper Ohio valley and the Corps was instructed to broaden its approach to flood control to include the use of reservoirs. On the eve of the great Pittsburgh flood of 1936, a bill providing for nine reservoirs above Pittsburgh had passed the House of Representatives and was being debated in the Senate Commerce Committee. The flood provided the necessary impetus to obtain funds for the first five reservoirs.  

In the 1930s, Pittsburgh's efforts to obtain federal funds for flood control continued; however, the characteristic unified leadership of upper class individuals disintegrated. This earlier pattern of unified elite leadership reemerged in 1943 when the Allegheny Conference on Community Development (ACCD) assumed responsibility for the overall economic development of the area. The Chamber of Commerce, operating as an arm of the ACCD, continued to lead the campaign for additional federal flood control money. There was a continuing relation between efforts to attract private capital for Renaissance Pittsburgh and the flood control program. In 1960, construction began on the Allegheny Reservoir, the largest and last of nine dams.<ref>Roland M, Smith, "The Politics of Pittsburgh Flood Control, 1936-1960," ''Pennsylvania History'' 1977 44(1): 3-24,  

In the 1930s, Pittsburgh's efforts to obtain federal funds for flood control continued; however, the characteristic unified leadership of upper class individuals disintegrated. This earlier pattern of unified elite leadership reemerged in 1943 when the Allegheny Conference on Community Development (ACCD) assumed responsibility for the overall economic development of the area. The Chamber of Commerce, operating as an arm of the ACCD, continued to lead the campaign for additional federal flood control money. There was a continuing relation between efforts to attract private capital for Renaissance Pittsburgh and the flood control program. In 1960, construction began on the Allegheny Reservoir, the largest and last of nine dams.<ref>Roland M, Smith, "The Politics of Pittsburgh Flood Control, 1936-1960," ''Pennsylvania History'' 1977 44(1): 3-24,