Could Phila. lure cancelled PayPal center from Charlotte?

South Jersey native turned committed Philadelphian Gianni Parente, a real estate investment analyst, is waging a one-man messaging campaign urging members of Mayor Kenney's administration to lobby PayPal to move its planned East Coast data center and 400 jobs to Philadelphia.

This after the online-payments company said it is cancelling its proposed Charlotte, N.C. location because North Carolina legislators passed a law banning towns from letting transgendered people choose their restrooms, which LGBT-rights activists call discriminatory.

While its burbs are home to SAP, SunGard and Unisys, Philadelphia has not been a leading headquarters for large software firms lately. Parente says it's time to change that. "These are operations center jobs, not necessarily really high tech," Parente told me. "It would just be nice to see the Philly community jump on an opportunity like this. There's a strong LGBT community here and this is a prime way to show off how progressive the city is and how welcoming we would be to PayPal."

PayPal was spun off by eBay last year. Suburban King of Prussia is already an office center for two other eBay spinoffs, fomerly part of Michael Rubin's GSI Commerce. "So the relationships already exist," Parente added. "Wouldn't hurt to ask.... This is right up Mayor Kenney's alley."