The First Echamberofcommerce Post

Today, we selected four communities in which to launch Echamber memberships. We selected the following communities:


Sacramento County:
Sacramento is California's state capitol and is located about 75 miles NE of San Francisco and 90 miles SW of Lake Tahoe. It is the headquarters of echamberofcommerce.ws. Identified as one of America's most diverse cities, Sacramento is a city of two major rivers: the Sacramento and American Rivers with a fine selection restaurants, arts and entertainment, and the gateway to many Gold Rush cities and towns. Sacramento is the city where I spent the majority of my adult life and where I met my bride and where my three sons were raised. Sacramento is the home of the NBA's Kings.

Tampa, Florida
Tampa is located on Florida's Gulf Coast, just 70 miles SW of Orlando and across the state from NASA, where the space shuttles are launched. Tampa is my place of birth where I enjoyed its rich Spanish heritage, Cuban food, and tropical weather. Tampa is the home of the NFL's Buccaneers, the MLB's Rays, and the NHL's Lightning. It is a city where I enjoyed Gasparilla Day, the day when the city is taken over by legendary Jose Gaspar and his band of swashbucklers and pirates. The parade route used to be along Kennedy Blvd after a flotilla on boats invaded Tampa Bay along Bayshore Boulevard. Tampa is also the city where I saw snow for the first time when a freak snowfall fell in 1976. Tampa is the city where I attended high school, Tampa Bay Technical Vocational High Class of 1979, where I was the President of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). Tampa is also the city where I remember Christmas Day with 80 degree temperatures, wearing t-shirts, short pants and no shoes. Tampa is a city with beaches in nearby Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Dunedin/Tarpon Springs. If you are in the Tampa area, please also visit Sarasota, Florida, about a 40-minute drive, where the beaches have the finest, whitest sand in the world.


San Jose, California
San Jose is a city of 1.2 million people about 40 miles south of San Francisco. It is a city that shares the nickname of Silicon Valley with cities such as Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino and Palo Alto. San Jose is the city where I lived after leaving the Air Force in 1985. It's the city where my friend Romel Santiago, a Filipino-American military veteran who served in the Air Force as a health technician. Romel convinced me to continue studying math after I changed my major from foreign language (Spanish, French and German). Romel and I studied, while working full-time, all the way through Calculus with our final instructor, Jess San Agustin, who gave us both an A+ for completing extra homework for extra credit. San Jose has a rich Mexican heritage in its architecture, people and food. It is also the home of many immigrants from India, the Far East, the Middle East and other countries from around the world.


Atlanta, Georgia
Metropolitan Atlanta has a population of over 5 million residents. It has a bustling economy of business, medicine, entertainment, government and education. Atlanta shares a place in history as the birthplace of civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. Atlanta has wonderful communities such as Smryna, Decatur, Buckhead, Austelle, College Park, Dunwoody, Alpharetta, Lawrenceville, Lithonia, Roswell and Stone Mountain. It's people are warm, down-to-earth, with just enough southern hospitality for a city its size. What I like about the Atlanta is the size of the home and the amount of land you get when you buy a house. Plus, Atlanta is just a six hour drive or an hour flight to Tampa.


After these four cities, we will develop echamber members in Orlando FL, Denver CO, Buffalo NY, Pasadena CA, and Charlotte NC, and Portland OR.


Thanks for reading this blog.