Ignoring the disappointing returns from previous expansions of the city's convention facilities, the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council has appropriated $150,000 to continue the study of a 1,000-room convention hotel.
Yesterday's discussion was a rerun of past discussions. A consultant comes to town and tells city officials their convention assets are falling behind. Rick Hughes, the president of the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association, puts an entirely speculative price (in this instance, $4 billion) on the convention business lost to other cities.
But, for reasons I described a year ago, the council should be wary of the convention-industry complex. As I wrote then, attracting conventioneers is like running on a hamster wheel -- the job's never done.
The pitch to build a convention hotel comes after recent expansions of Bartle Hall. The city also entered the money-losing deal on the Power & Light District with the idea of making downtown more attractive to badge-wearing conventioneers.
But where does it end? Residents already support Bartle Hall in the form of a 2 percent food-and-beverage tax that leads to puzzlement when the restaurant bill arrives. (Huh? A $4.09 chicken sandwich costs $4.49?) Residents also prop up the downtown hotels because they don't generate enough in taxes to support the costs of their development.
City officials covet convention dollars because they think they're the equivalent of found money. But it's a fool's game -- kind of like getting a cash advance on a credit card and investing the money in a fund that pays 1.5 percent annual interest. And you shouldn't need Suze Orman to tell you what a dunderheaded move that is.
Showing 1-1 of 1
The consultants in this case are called "Convention Center Hotel Advisers". From the name it sounds like they make their living making recommendations about convention hotels. If the study they conducted had shown that we didn't need a hotel, they'd have to look for a new gig. As it is, they get another $150,000 from our taxpayers. I wonder how much they stand to gain over the life of the development if we actually build this boondoggle. Do our City Council members have no critical thinking skills whatsoever?
like
dislike
