When Pigs Fly!
by Carl Bergmann - August 1999
UPDATED
09-01-2000
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Special Series: "When Pigs Fly" is a collection of articles and reports
on the facts, problems and issues other communities are having with their current or
planned Conference/Convention Centers. This includes detailed reports on how communities
are trying to stimulate, maintain or revitalize their economies through tourism related
attractions, museums, sports centers and other related ventures. To quote Dr. Ronald
D. Utt (Federal Budgetary Affairs at The Heritage Foundation):
"Mounting evidence from dozens of cities that rely on costly
tourist-related infrastructure projects such as convention centers, stadiums, arenas,
concert halls, and museums demonstrates that such projects contribute little to a
community's economic vitality. Worse, they divert desperately needed financial resources
from such basic government services as public safety, education, and
transportation..."
This ongoing series is intended to offer the communities of greater Okaloosa
County with the truth behind what really goes on in the planning and development of such
projects, and the often dire results and consequences to the communities involved...
"Will a conference center be in our community's
best interest? Will it make money? Will it be a proud legacy we can hand down
to our children? When Pigs Fly..."
- Carl Bergmann 08-09-99
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SHOULD
GOVERNMENTS OWN CONVENTION CENTERS? - Taxpayer-financed
convention centers have become increasingly popular
with state and local government officials. Centers
have been built or planned in most large cities and in
many metropolitan suburbs and small cities and towns.
(1) According to the International Association of
Auditorium Managers, the convention industry's trade
association, "work was completed or started . . .
on 250 convention centers, sports arenas, community
centers and performing-arts halls at a cost of more
than $10 billion" between 1975 and 1985. (2)
Billions more may be spent during the 1990s. The
enthusiasm for convention centers shows no signs of
abating.
Why have government officials
developed such an attachment to convention centers,
during a period in which other government-run business
activities are being returned to the private sector?
Are taxpayers getting their money's worth, as
feasibility studies conclude? Or do
government-supported convention centers represent a
subsidy for businesses, paid for by hard-pressed
taxpayers? ... NEW!
Convention
Center Follies - Yet
for all of the public dollars spent, few cities
appear to have been saved by larger convention
centers. For all of the persistent rhetoric of new
jobs, new spending, and "economic
multipliers," much of the evidence suggests
that convention centers deliver far less than
promised. Indeed, in a number of cases, the
expenditure of hundreds of millions of public
dollars appears to have had almost no impact on
individual communities... NEW!
ECONOMIC IMPACT OF
CONVENTION AND CONFERENCE CENTERS -
"In many communities throughout North America today, development or expansion of a
meeting facility is being considered as a means of creating positive economic impacts to
achieve the economic development goal... But what if they don't come?"
CITIES IN DENIAL: THE FALSE PROMISE OF
SUBSIDIZED TOURIST AND ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEXES - Mounting evidence from
dozens of cities that rely on costly tourist-related infrastructure projects such as
convention centers, stadiums, arenas, concert halls, and museums demonstrates that such
projects contribute little to a community's economic vitality. Worse, they divert
desperately needed financial resources from such basic government services as public
safety, education, and transportation... This is a must
read.
Task force working
to sell residents on civic center - They say it's time. They say it's needed.
And they also say it can be done. Now the 10-member Civic Center Task Force has to
convince the Marion County community it should build a $22 million business, entertainment
and sports complex... This is a must read.
If We Build It, Will They Come? -
Any major public investment project carries with it both costs and benefits. The costs are
commonly clear and obvious in the short term, the benefits are distant and uncertain, the
risks less well known. That is particularly the case with a major convention center,
especially today...
City pushes bed-tax idea forward
- Panama City commissioners on Tuesday took a step toward levying a bed tax within city
limits. Commissioners voted 3-2 to research a new tax on hotel rooms in Panama City.
The tax revenue, estimated between $300,000 to $400,000 annually, could be used to
beautify tourist corridors or promote the arts, some commissioners suggested...
Troy Espe - The Panama City News Herald - Sunday, 1997
Feelings mixed
among Snowbirds on bed-tax hike, who should pay - On Tuesday, the Bay County
Commission raised the bed tax by 50 percent, bringing the total to 3 cents on the dollar.
The rate takes effect March 1 on all hotels, motels, condos, and campgrounds west of the
Hathaway Bridge... Troy Espe - The Panama City News Herald - Sunday, January 12,
1997
Selling Florida Short -
"... what really got my attention was a series of ads targeting winter-weary New
Yorkers. First came a spot for the Bahamas showing a beautiful girl on a white beach. Then
came one for the Barbados showing a beautiful girl on a white beach. And finally came one
for Florida, and guess what? It, too, showed a beautiful girl on a beach..."
RENO/SPARKS
POLITICIANS WANT $100,000,000 FOR CONVENTION CENTER - Las Vegas
politicians take note, the Reno/Sparks politicians caught your fever to grow government
debt. The Reno/Sparks politicians want to expand the convention center by $100,000,000,
not to be surprised they are like our big special interest spenders in Las Vegas. Does it
really make sense for Reno to do this anymore than some of the public debt being added to
the Las Vegas taxpayer?
Three
civic centers give Marion backers examples of what works - Three civic
centers in three southern towns offer Marion County Civic Center supporters and foes a
good look at what works and what doesn't. Lakeland, Palmetto and Hattiesburg, Miss., are
three of the eight cities Marion County's Civic Center Task Force has gathered information
about or visited in order to find a model that may work here. The three centers were also
visited by the Star-Banner...
Challenging Convention(al) Wisdom: Hard Facts
about the Proposed Boston Convention Center - As the political leadership of
Boston and the Commonwealth consider investing $700 million in a new publicly owned
convention center in South Boston, plans are already in place to enlarge facilities in the
nation's capital and in San Francisco. Discussions have also begun in New York City,
Atlanta, and San Jose to enlarge or replace facilities in those cities. In each case, the
goal is to bring in more out-of-state visitors and the dollars that come with them. The
success of each project is invariably assured by feasibility studies and civic pride...
Can
task force members convince the community to pay for a civic center? - The
Civic Center Task Force believes Ocala/Marion County is ready for the $22 million
business, arts and sports complex it is proposing. Now they have to find out if people
will pay for it...
Tourism
- a taxing issue - The danger of relying on travelers to sustain tourism, of
course, is that the numbers do fluctuate, and the condition of the overall economy affects
tourism perhaps more than other industries because it involves discretionary spending. And
a state could end up in a "Catch-22" situation: less money to spend on
promotions, fewer travelers are lured to vacation sites, resulting in less money to spend
on promotions...
When
Pigs Fly in DC - Fifteen years ago, D.C. built a convention center that was
doomed the day it opened. Now the city's getting ready to to it again...
Convention center
belongs on Lehigh Valley Yards - Will a new convention center help the
area’s economy, much less meet the kinds of rosy forecasts in a suspect feasibility
study? Probably not. Will a new convention center be built anyway? Probably...
DOWNTOWN: Conventional wisdom -
Consultants said that even after operations ''stabilized'' the facility would lose
$355,000 to $545,000 a year. In 1998, the facility had revenue of $1.5 million and
expenses of nearly $2 million. Only eight conventions were held in the center. There
is a feeling among some elected officials that a large exhibit hall is needed, and the
center fills that bill...
City may lose venue - Proposal would
see deficit-ridden facility become university athletic complex only -
Professional hockey, rock concerts and other large venue events may become a thing of the
past for New Brunswick's capital...
Hotels fight tax to build arenas
- Hotel industry officials in Texas are stepping up their battle against legislation that
would allow cities to increase hotel and car rental taxes to pay for sports arenas...
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