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CEDAR RAPIDS — Nearly every weekend since moving to Cedar Rapids, Juliet Abdel has hosted visitors from all over the country. Each time, they’ve had the same reaction.

“I’ve had friends and family visit, and every single one that’s come out has said ‘OK, we can see now why you’ve moved out here,’” Abdel said. “It’s comments like ‘It’s clean. It’s safe, and there are really a lot of things to do.’”

That was the same impression Abdel had of the community when she first visited as part of the interview process to become the next president and CEO of the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, a regional economic development engine.

Throughout her career, she’s worked in Oklahoma, Colorado and Kan

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