Comment on Lots of smart city deal action with Libelium, Verizon as space heats up

Aabesh De, founder and CEO of Nashville-based technology company Flora, landed an investment on "Shark Tank." But his journey hasn’t been all sunshine and blooming flowers.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has raised concerns that the same political forces that opposed the Arizona Coyotes plan to build a huge entertainment district in Tempe could derail the new plan to build an arena in Phoenix.

A long-running effort to turn a stretch of Harlem Avenue on the Far Northwest Side into a walkable showcase for Italian American businesses and culture like Little Italy’s Taylor Street is inching forward. City planners told the Chicago Plan Commission the 2-mile stretch between Grand Avenue and Irving Park Road can become a destination neighborhood like its Near West Side predecessor with improvements to the streetscape that can help attract visitors and new residents. That section of Harlem is the future home of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, and already hosts many Italian restaurants and shops, but isn’t well-known to tourists or outsiders, said Carmen Martinez of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development. She presented a draft of the Harlem Avenue Visioning Study at Thursday’s commission meeting, outlining a plan to create community gathering spaces and new landscaping, increase pedestrian safety, maintain the neighborhood’s heritage and perhaps install archways on the thoroughfare, creating a brand like the South Side’s Chinatown or Paseo Boricua on Division Street in Humboldt Park. “This vision is more than 20 years in the making,” she said. Local business leaders began pushing city officials two decades ago to further recognize their neighborhood, which extends through the Montclare and Dunning community areas, Martinez said.

A local employer reports it is cutting more than 100 San Antonio jobs. Read about this story and more, here.

Also in the Roundup: Texas Eats Food Festivals brings star chefs to town.

The TBBJ editor's weekly news rundown includes some eye-catching stories from the Business Journal newsroom you may have missed.