Monday, October 08, 2007

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;

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.
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.
A possible solution.  If the politicians and managers from the City and the State Fair could get together there just might be a win win situation.  The State Fair has the Event center, which is just about to be paid off, its big enough to hold very large conventions, there is plenty of parking,  and probably used about 80% of the time.  The City has the staff to promote conventions.  The City would be responsible for solving the transportation problems, ie,  running buses from the fair grounds to downtown, service to motels and restaurants, ect.  In the long term, hopefully   passenger trains will be running along the front range.  With a cooperative effort revenue sharing might be possible and both organizations should be able to operate in the black.
The City does not need the convention center expansion now or in the future.
Ted Freeman
425 West 23rd St.
Pueblo, CO 81003
719-544-4479
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