Pueblog USa
Monday, October 08, 2007
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:
1. The City has outstanding bond debt and operating deficits on the existing convention center, HARP, City golf courses, swimming pools, and who knows where else. There is the new City campus to take into consideration.
2. Who is going to gain from the Convention Center expansion. Certainly not the middleclass or the poor people. The only type of jobs created will be menial jobs such as clerks, house maids, waiters, etc. It will be the rich getting richer; hotel and restaurant owners, construction companies, etc.
3. When the City Administration suggested that pueblo needed a convention center, they went to the public saying how great things were going to be. Now there saying it’s too small and it will accommodate only small conventions and events. What did they expect when you build a small Convention Center. Is this the foot in the door ploy? The City could not afford the small one then and the City can’t afford a big one now. Surprise, Surprise!
4. There is a lot of competition for conventions and even if Pueblo had a large convention center what amenities does the City have to offer. The river walk, well there’s a half hour of time spent, what’s next? At this point in time the only way Pueblo could attract a large convention is to be extremely cheap.
5. One of the biggest problems Pueblo has is transportation. Eighty percent of the population of Colorado is to the north of Pueblo and the only way to get here is to drive down I-25. Pueblo airport does not have a large number of commercial flights scheduled. Having large conventions are not feasible without solving the transportation problem.
6. The City contends that the expansion will have a major economic impact on Pueblo. The existing facility has operated at a deficit from the beginning and with the expansion a deficit is also projected. Most of the money spent by conventioneers in Pueblo will leave Pueblo.
For more information on why the Convention Center should not be expanded get on-line at http://www.pueblog.us.
Co-organizer Co-organizer
Ted Freeman Alvin Rivera
544-4479 or 369-4469 566-0069
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