Pueblog USa
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Jobs and the expansion of the Convention Center
Pueblo needs high paying jobs
Jobs and the Expansion of the
Convention Center
It can safely be said that the expansion to the Convention Center will have very little direct impact on the creation of jobs. It has been made public that the expansion to the Convention Center would only require two or maybe three additional staff. The reason for stating this small staff increase is to indicate that the continued operations deficit will not be increased substantially.
The type of jobs needed to support the tourist industry are low paying jobs with very few exceptions. These jobs are service oriented primarily in the lodging and food industries. It is important to consider that the Convention Center would need to be booked with large out of town conventions on an almost weekly basis or most of the jobs would only be part time jobs with no health and retirement benefits.
Priorities need to be set in the areas of education and the creation of high paying jobs. The people of Pueblo want their educated sons and daughters to be able to find the kind of jobs they have worked hard towards here in Pueblo. Help, keep families together and enrich all of Pueblo. Vote NO on ballot questions 2C and 2D.
Those opposed to question 2D on the ballotTh
There must be better ways to use our taxes
Those opposed to 2D:
1. The City has outstanding debt service that is increasing annually, capitol funding requirements and operating deficits on the existing convention center ,HARP, City golf courses, swimming pools, and who knows where else. There is the new Police Department, City-Health Departments, and the Municipal Court Building(s) to take into account. The City budget is getting out of control. The people of pueblo need to have a better way of expressing how the vendor fees should be spent. Give them a list of projects to vote on.
Those opposed to 2C on ballot
Some reasons for voting no on question 2C
Those opposed to 2C say:
1 . A new tax may not be created or any existing tax increased. The question is, are the vendors fees going to be used in the best possible way. The $8 million financing of the Convention Center includes paying interest only for eleven years. The Convention Center has operated at deficit from the beginning and is projected to continue to run a deficit. Puebloans can not afford to waste millions.
2. Who is going to gain from the Convention Center expansion. Certainly not the middleclass or poor people. Primarily, the type of jobs which will be created are those that are needed to support the tourist trade in the lodging and food industries. These are relatively low paying Jobs without health or any retirement benefits. It will be the rich getting richer: hotel and restaurant owners, construction companies, etc.
3. The revenues from both trade shows and conventions have decreased significantly from 2002 up to 2006: tradeshows 2002-$71,972, 2006-$2,283; Conventions/Conferences 2002-$401,790, 2006-$206,760. The potential market for the expansion and revenues is important to know.*
4. The ability to handle tradeshows requires that the facility have sufficient loading docks and capable of distributing electrical power to display booths. Colorado Springs has these types of facilities and Santa Fe, New Mexico will have one by 2008. The competition for conventions/tradeshows is extremely fierce.*
5. There will be little if any economic impact by the expansion on Pueblo. Most of the money spent by convention visitors goes to the large restaurants, hotels, convenience stores, grocery stores, service stations, department stores, etc. that are owned by large corporations and the profits go to their corporate headquarters.*
*A Brookings Institute report authored by Heyward Sanders, titled, “Space Available: The Realities of Convention Centers as Economic Development Strategy”. Abbreviated statements from the Executive Summary: 1. The overall convention marketplace is declining. 2. Faced with increased competition, many cities spend more money on additional convention amenities, like publicly-financed hotels($1 million plus to new Cambria hotel ) and deep discounts to tradeshow groups and yet they continue to operate at a loss. (See http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/2005011).
Friday, October 12, 2007
Extremely Important News
The budget will presented to the City Council on October 15th and a public hearing will be held on October 22
Extremely Important News
2008 Pueblo Budget
On Monday, October 15th Dave Galli, the City Manager, will present the Proposed Annual 2008 Budget to the City Council at their 5:30pm workshop. This meeting is open to the public and will be held at the 2nd floor City Council Chambers. The workshop will start with a 30 minute segment open for public comments.
The proposed budget is available for public inspection in the Office of the City Clerk and at all branches of the Pueblo Library district.
On October 22 at 7:00PM a public hearing will be held regarding the 2008 Proposed Annual Budget during the regular meeting of the City Council. Should a Pueblo citizen wish to question, protest, request changes, ask for clarification, etc. it should be presented in writing (as per the City Charter).
The City Council has the authority to add, delete, increase, or decrease expenditures. The concept is that if some one has a good case then the City Council might consider making a change to the Budget.
Citizens of Pueblo take charge of your city and your neighborhoods.
The Ballot Issues of 2007
Observations on the ballot issues by the League of Women Voters.
As usual, the League of Women Voters has come out with a brochure to help people better understand the issues that will be on the November 2007 ballot in Pueblo. And it is much appreciated. Especially when your eyes get ‘crossed’ and your brain scrambled like eggs in a frying-pan trying to read item 2C. [Ed. Note: Sheesh! It is (1) worse than trying to read Dickens in high school, (2) one long sentence, the longest I’ve ever seen in all my life, and (3) ALL CAPS, WHICH GIVES ONE THE IMPRESSION THAT THEY ARE SCREAMING AT YOU.
On that last item, the SCREAMING, one might get the impression they didn’t WANT you to ‘understand’.]
Click on ‘More….’ to see the text of their brochure.
I will point out that, contrary to their statements in the brochure, there IS ‘opposition’ to Questions 2C and 2D. See the items here and here.
There is ALSO opposition to Question 2A. It’s from the Pueblo Chieftain and you can read that organ’s opinion here.
Also, if you wish to visit the League of Women Voters web-site, go HERE.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership Meeting — October 2007
And now for something completely different….a group of people running for City Council.
The October 2007 meeting of the Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership will be a public forum debate of candidates running for the Pueblo City Council.
Here are the details:
Date: Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Time: 7-9 pm
Place: SRDA cafeteria at 230 North Union
Agenda: Questions relating to neighborhood issues put to candidates running for City Council.
Refreshments: Coffee from SRDA. Cookies or brownies or other finger desserts from YOU. Bring about a dozen of such to share.
What we need from YOU are the following:
[1] Questions to be put to the candidates.
These questions should relate to neighborhood issues.
Send the questions via e-mail by clicking on my name, below.
[2] Cookies or other finger food desserts.
About a dozen.
[3] Communication of this event within your neighborhoods.
Tell your friends, neighbors and associates about this event.
[4] Don’t fill-in and send your mail-in ballot until AFTER you’ve heard all you need from the candidates.
That includes THIS event.
Looking forward to seeing all of you and your neighbors there.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Citizens Against the Convention Center expansion—Press Statement
Release to the media asking that the voters defeat 2C and 2D, the expansion and financing of the Convention Center
Press Statement
RE: Citizens Against the Convention Center Expansion
Media Contact & Co-organizer
Alvin Rivera
719-566-0069
PUEBLO—OCT. 6, 2007—A group of civic activists has organized to oppose the city’s ballot questions 2C and 2D to request the voters to approve an expansion of the Pueblo Convention Center. The Citizens Against the Convention Center Expansion is comprised of a committee of a cross-section of progressive thinkers and fiscal conservative community leaders questioning the wisdom of any expansion of the Convention Center, and calling on voters to defeat both questions.
DEFEAT the Convention Center expansion
The expansion to the Convention Center would create low paying jobs and do little to impact the economy of Pueblo
DEFEAT
the Convention Center Expansion
A group of Pueblo civic activists has organized to oppose the city’s ballot questions 2C and 2D to request the voters to approve an expansion of the Pueblo Convention Center. The Citizens Against the Convention Center Expansion is comprised of a committee of a cross-section of progressive thinkers and fiscal conservative community leaders questioning the wisdom of any expansion of the Convention Center, and calling on voters to defeat both questions, 2C authorizing the expansion, and 2D financing it. Ted Freeman and Alvin Rivera are the co-organizer of the effort. Now, let’s look at why it would a mistake to approve the Convention Center expansion:
Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting — 071010
A reminder….
This Wednesday afternoon, 3:30 pm, 10 October 2007, the Pueblo Planning and Zoning Commission will be holding a public hearing on a number of different matters.
One of those matters will be whether or not to recommend, with approval or disapproval, a Planned Unit Development (PUD) for an expansion of Parkview Medical Center.
The hearing will be held in the City Council Chambers.
All are invited to attend and participate…..
Personal and Private and Financial
Last week Susan Pelto tweaked the City Council…
...about any property or business interests they might have in the Old Historic Northside Neighborhood. Mr. Jagger, the City’s contracted attorney, promptly pointed out that the Council Members were not obliged to answer the questions. Only one Council Member responded.
Economic Impact of the Pueblo Convention Center
How much tourist money goes towards high paying jobs and how much actually stays in Pueblo.
Economic Impact of the Pueblo Convention Center
• The data used for the following analysis of the Economic Impact of the Pueblo Convention Center was taken from the “out –of-town tender” flyer distributed by the Greater Pueblo Chamber.
• Average total spending by conventioneer per day is $170 per person
• Average hotel spending by conventioneer per day is $70 per person, 41% of total
• Average retail, restaurant and other spending per day is $100 per person, 59% of total
• Economic impact of the Pueblo Convention Center to Pueblo is $3,432,982 per year
• Revenue from hotel rooms: $3,432,982X.41=$1,407,523
• Revenue from miscellaneous : $3,432,982X.59=$2,025,459
• City revenue from hotel tax: $1,407,523X.078=$109,787
• City revenue from sales tax on miscellaneous: $2,025,459X.035=$70,891
• Total City revenue produced by Pueblo Convention Center: $109,787+$70,891=$180,678
• The annual cost of the Convention Center(operating cost and mortgage) is approximately $1,200,000
Convention Center Issues
Some reasons to defeat the Convention Center expansion(ballot questions 2C and 2D)
Convention Center
The expansion to the convention center will be on the ballot this November as is the use of the merchants vender fees for financing the building. The City claims the vender fees are not a tax. Of course it’s a tax, a special tax to a specific group, the merchants of Pueblo. Three per cent of the total sales tax is supposed to be returned to the merchants for collecting the tax and for the extra bookwork required. Now, let’s look at some of the reasons the convention center expansion should not happen;
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Parkview PUD Diagrams — Update 071004
A significant change in the PUD plan.
If you downloaded the Parkview PUD plans posted yesterday….they’ve been ‘revised’.
The new plan diagrams, as unveiled to the public at last nights public forum, are no longer geared to the number of floors the hospital can have at various locations on its campus. Instead, they are geared to something called the Floor-Area-Ratio (FAR).
What does it mean?
Well, that was a question a lot of people were asking of Mr. Pacheco, after the new plan was revealed.
Here’s how I understood it.
The height of the structure is dependent upon its (1) FAR rating, e.g., 1:1, 3.5:1, 4:1, 5:1, etc., etc., N:1 and (2) the structure’s ‘footprint’, i.e., the amount of square footage it takes up…at a given level.
By means of example, consider this….
There is a square plot of land that is 500 feet on a side. About the size of the Rosemount Museum property.
If a developer were to have a 1:1 FAR he could build a 1-story building that measured 500 feet on a side, covering the whole lot. If he had a 5:1 FAR he could build a 5-story building that measured 500 feet on a side.
On the other hand, if he decided he wanted some sidewalks and/or lawn, he’d be reducing the footprint of the building on that lot accordingly. So, if he gave half of the land on the lot up to sidewalks and greenery, if his FAR were 1:1 he could build a 2-story building that measured 250 feet on a side. For a 5:1 FAR he could build a 10-story building.
If the developer decided to use only one quarter of the lot for the building he could have a 4-story building that was 125 feet on a side at a 1:1 FAR. With a 5:1 FAR he could build a 20-story building of those dimensions.
That is the simple explanation. It gets more complex, i.e., approaching rocket-science, when you start talking about step-backs in the building; building the next story up with less square footage than the previous story.
An important point to remember is this….There is no height restriction with this approach. Hence, there was no side-view of elevations presented with the new diagrams revealed last night, as there had been with the previous set of diagrams.
And, as Mr. Pacheco answered to a question, there are no rules or city ordinances that are ‘sacred’ in the PUD concept. It is, literally, whatever the City Council will allow.
For more information on the FAR, check out THIS LINK.
UPDATE Additionally [041141 Oct 07]: Whereas I’m not perfectly certain of this, but I do believe that it is ‘cheaper’, i.e., less expensive, to build UP than OUT. Something to do with infrastructure in the building, I think. Therefore, it would be in a developer’s interest to build a higher structure with a reduced footprint. And I do believe that was a point that was made during the course of last night’s meeting.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Parkview PUD Diagrams
The Plan, as it exists of last week.
The downloadable files that follow are the overhead and elevation views of the proposed Parkview Planned Unit Development (PUD), as I understand them to be as of last week.
These are PDF documents, so you’ll need Adobe Reader to see them.
You can get the application for FREE at THIS PLACE.
I apologize for the poor resolution, as it is difficult to read the fine print, but due to the circumstances, i.e., greater resolution makes the files VERY large, this is all that can be done.
For the Overhead View, all H1 areas can be 8-stories high, H2 can be 7-stories, H3 can be 6-stories.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Pueblo’s PUD Ordinance
A look at the law.
At THIS link, please find a PDF document of the Pueblo City Ordinances relating to Planned Unit Developments.
Please review it and be prepared to discuss it at a not-too-distant future date.
UPDATE Additional Information [030943 Oct 07]: All Pueblo Code Ordinances can be downloaded HERE, in PDF, from the site operated by the City of Pueblo. For information relating to zoning, select the items labeled TITLE 17. There are two such files. The first one has the information about zones and setbacks that were discussed last night, at the OHNO Bi-Monthly General Meeting. The second file has the information about PUDs, which has been provided in the link above.