Motorola Solutions boss Greg Brown and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the expansion Tuesday. The two have known each other for a decade and Mayor Emanuel said when Brown told him the Illinois-based company planned to add jobs, he started in with a hard sell.
"He said they were growing and expanding and I wanted them to make an investment and look in their backyard here in Chicago," Mayor Emanuel said.
"Rahm is a pit bull around economic expansion and growth. He's relentless. But it did make sense to do it. We do have a longstanding relationship and I'm pleased that things came together at this point," Brown said.
Motorola Solutions is the world's leading designer and maker of communications equipment for public safety agencies and bar code scanners used by retailers and other businesses. The 400 higher-than-average paying jobs will be the first added in Chicago -- where 83-year-old Motorola was founded -- in the past decade. Brown said the advantages of expanding in Chicago outweighed concern about Illinois' recently-increased corporate income tax.
"Irrespective of that, and I view that situation as temporary, and I believe this was the right thing to do," Brown said.
Earlier Tuesday, the mayor appeared at McCormick Place. Managers there say they were stunned by news that the Car Care Show had withdrawn from its agreement for a 2013 convention. The show cited uncertainties from a pending union lawsuit that challenges McCormick Place's work rule reforms.
"I don't like losing. I'm about winning and the city of Chicago is about winning. And we have to be conscious of every decision we make to do that," Mayor Emanuel said.
