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Submitted by Rick on Sun, 02/05/2006 - 10:06am.
More voices in the debate over building a new convention center. From The Olympian:
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I think there is a differen
Submitted by emmettoconnell on Sun, 02/05/2006 - 12:18pm.I think there is a difference between the conference center being a state facility (run by GA perhaps) rather than a local one. If the purpose is to enhance Olympia's role as state capital, then it is certainly something the state should take on.
One could argue that the Washington Center for the Performing Arts serves in the state role, in that it would never be located in Olympia unless our town were the state capital.
It seems to be the stumbling block for the conference center is the nature of conferences themselves, that many business groups seem to host them, and would benefit from a building for them. In my experience, though, there are many non-profit and similar groups that would benefit from large meeting space in Olympia.
Many of the artists that perform at the Washington Center are also for profit and benefit from public outlays for the Center. Many, like the Olympia symphony, are non-profit, and benefit as well. There is a clear overriding public benefit to art, so the benefit to private artists is a trade off.
The public / private dochotom
Submitted by DrewHendricks on Mon, 02/06/2006 - 12:15am.The public / private dochotomy should be a lot easier to parse... if the money is going to come back to the community, or to the operator of the venue, then private money will find the project and invest in it.
If the economics don't work out to be a net benefit in a financial sense, the moneymen / project people will beg or bribe government to underwrite it, to their own profit. If the nonprofits wanted this they would be writing grants to make it happen. The ones which are exploring such a site are doing so already, and it is not designed for renting out to the Association of Awfully Greedy Overdevelopers.
The supposed trickle down effects of such development are mostly mythical. It's not like the same project has not already been tried, and lost money, in so many places before. The ones who make the money are the folks who bring the project forward, and build it.
This should surprise no one. Simply read the histories of such developments. Hell, look at the ones we already have in our community - the hotel meeting spaces - and ask them how many dates they already book. And how large they are. Has this really been done? Are the numbers published?