Cultural Junk

A visit to Oklahoma City stopped me in my Tracks

I was going to write something completely different.

My idea was to comment on how far America seems to have strayed from those self-evident truths stated so eloquently by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence. I planned comparisons of the "long train of abuses and usurpations" which the Declaration's signers first recognized as evidence of absolute Despotism and some present-day "abuses and usurpations" that we as Americans find ourselves struggling with.

It was going to be good stuff. But that was before I went to Oklahoma City. A visit to Oklahoma City changed my perspective. It stopped me in my tracks.

The words on the bookend Gates of Time entries to The Oklahoma City National Memorial convey all that needs to be said here. "We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."

Comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity aren't necessarily what I expected to find at the site of the most significant act of domestic terrorism on American soil. I didn't expect a lot of what I experienced there.

Like the response to the event it was meant to commemorate, the Oklahoma City National Memorial grabs you and doesn't let go. Nothing is withheld. It's riveting and heartbreaking and angry and hopeful all in the same moment.

On the morning of April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a rental truck with explosives in front of The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Buildingand, at 9:02 am, a massive blast  sheared off the entire north side of the building, killing 168 people. 

That's what I knew before visiting the Memorial. With each step I took, there was much more waiting to be learned. 

The lesson begins outside. Across a Reflecting Pool at each end stand twin gates bearing a time-stamped frame of the destruction. The East Gate represents 9:01 am - the last minute of innocence before the attack. The West Gate represents 9:03 am, the time that changed us forever, and the hope and help began.

On the east side of the reflecting pool is The Survivor Wall, built from salvaged pieces of granite from the Murrah Building lobby and inscribed with more than 600 names of those who survived the attack. On the west side stands the The Survivor Tree, an American Elm, which withstood the full force of the attack. All the survivors of the attack are living symbols of resilience. Nearby is The Rescuers' Orchard, smaller trees which surround and protect the Survivor Tree. An inscription encircling the Survivor Tree facing the orchard reads: "To the courageous and caring who responded from near and far, we offer our eternal gratitude, as a thank you to the thousands of rescuers and volunteers who helped."

In the aftermath of the blast, children from around the world sent letters of  encouragement to the people of Oklahoma City, represented at the Memorial by a wall of tiles in the Children's Area. You don't notice at first, but each tile features a small child's hand in brightly-colored paint. It takes your breath away.

A perimeter fence was installed to protect the site of the Murrah Building after the bombing. More than 200 feet of the original Fence still stands and over the years, visitors have left more than 60,000 tokens of love and hope on the Fence, many collected and preserved in Memorial Archives. On the day I visited, church groups, families and motorcycle club members mingled easily together, leaving their own remembrances. The Fence is one of those places we all can come together. 

Moving inside to The Memorial Museum will take you on a chronological tour through the events of  April 19, 1995, and the days, weeks, months and years that followed the bombing. Powerful exhibits entitled like "Confusion," "Chaos," "Rescue and Recovery," "Funerals and Mourning" and "Impact" leave you with a deep sense of the loss suffered here. There's hope too, in a gallery of Origami Cranes, and in the stories of the Survivors and through the work of the people of Oklahoma City who have rebuilt a community and remembered loved ones lost.

The Memorial Museum is powerful in its ability to make you see and remember and feel. No matter where you were on April 19, 1995, you will be immersed in the emotions of Oklahoma City on that day. You will be present at the Oklahoma City Water Board meeting and experience the impact of the explosion through the only known audio recording of the blast. You will hear first-hand Survivor and Rescuer accounts. You will attend funerals and memorial services. During your time at The Memorial Museum, you are a citizen of Oklahoma City.

I found myself returning several times to photos of The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Buildingtaken in the hours and days after the bombing. We've all seen those photos. For the first time in all the times I've seen those same photos, the word "scar" came to mind. The jagged "scar" across the front of the Murrah Building. The anguished "scar" on the faces of victims, survivors, families and rescuers. The terrible angry "scar" on our Nation.

You will feel that same "scar" today when you stand at The Field of Empty Chairs.  They stand in silence, 168 chairs in nine rows to represent each floor of the building, and each chair bears the name of someone killed on that floor. 19 of the chairs are noticeable smaller than the others - one for each of the children killed inside the Day Care Center on the second floor. Those 168 empty chairs stand silent and speak loudly.

The people whose names are inscribed on the chairs are further memorialized inside the Gallery of Honor, where tributes to each are featured along with photos and personal momentos. The impact of the loss is heavy in this place. You know you are standing on sacred ground.

Comfort, Strength, Peace, Hope and Serenity. 

I found them in Oklahoma City. You can too.

If this Country has a Heartland, somewhere to discover our true selves, that place is a 3.3-acre piece of Holy Ground in downtown Oklahoma City. More than ever, right now, America needs to go Oklahoma City.

Oh, and that other piece I was going to write? I had planned to finish with the closing line of the Declaration of Independence. I find its eloquence more in context here, and I offer it in memory of the events of April 19, 1995.

"With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

CNN/Money profiles Circle R Ranch

Vote NO! Keep Dallas Working

Dallas Event Planner Extraordinaire Steve Kemble, Circle R Ranch Managing Partner Steven G. Foster and Fun Factory Special Events Sales Manager Pam Madewell FIRE UP a Vote No rally in favor of the proposed Dallas Convention Center Hotel.

Is Dallas FOR SALE? - Vote NO May 9

Saturday May 9 is decision Day in Dallas, and nothing less than the future of Dallas is it stake.

TWO PROPOSITIONS affecting future city development are on the ballot. Proposition 1 prohibits the City of Dallas from ever buying, leasing or offering any kind of financial incentive to a hotel or lodging facility.  Proposition 2 states that, with just 500 signatures on a petition, the City of Dallas would be forced to hold an election to obtain voter approval every time it wants to offer any kind of financial incentive totaling $1 million or more to private developers for hotels, condos and retail facilities.  

At the center of the election is the proposed Dallas Convention Center Hotel, and on this issue, a group calling itself Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel has been selling a package of BIG LIES stuffed like bad sausage with misinformation. It's expensive sausage too.  Billionaire Harlan Crow is the money behind the anti-hotel campaign, and it is estimated he will have spent as much as $5 million to convince Dallas residents the hotel project is a bad deal that will raise their taxes, threaten basic city services and won't attract any new business.

Why would Mr, Crow, a Highland Park billionaire who isn't a Dallas taxpayer and can’t even vote in the May 9 election on the hotel, be spending $5 million to defeat the hotel project? Greed and blatant self-interest for starters. Crow owns the 30-year-old Anatole Hotel and his aging property would have to compete with the new convention center hotel for business. He hopes by blurring the truth about this election, Dallas voters will say YES to Props 1 and 2 to protect his own investments in the Anatole and Market Center.

The Wall Street Journal said it best - "Dallas real-estate mogul Harlan Crow doesn't want his city to build a planned convention-center hotel ... he owns a big hotel a couple of miles away."

ARE YOU FOR SALE, DALLAS?

Some hope you are. So before making your decision on the Dallas Convention Center Hotel and the future of development in our city, consider the BIG TRUTH, and not the self-serving lies:

The Dallas Convention Center Hotel will be paid for by the hotel guests, NOT Dallas taxpayers. The opposition knows this or else they are extremely stupid. 

Omni Hotels, which already runs successful local properties in Las Colinas and Fort Worth, will operate the new hotel, NOT the City. Dallas will own the hotel, which means no $150 million tax break to a fat cat developer. Dallas is already in the hotel business as majority owner of the very successful Grand Hyatt DFW Airport, which happens to be owned, operated and financed exactly as proposed for the convention center hotel. Where's all the concern about that operation? 

By the way, Dallas also owns the American Airlines Center, Fair Park, Love Field, and half of DFW Airport, but that doesn't mean city employee play point guard for the Mavericks, or that taxpayers get pulled from their seats to dance in "Mary Poppins" during the State Fair of Texas, or the Mayor pilots non-stop flights on Southwest Airlines to Orlando. GET REAL.? 

It makes MORE $ AND SENSE to finance the hotel through revenue bonds. This method of financing provides cheaper municipal tax-free financing - money not available to private developers. The debt will be repaid with revenues from guests staying at the hotel , and since the Dallas City Council voted to move forward with the project, 13 conventions signed contracts with the city and another 24 more have made commitments to meet in Dallas once the property is open. That's $900 million in direct economic benefit to Dallas based solely on having a convention center hotel.

120 associations and organizations support the convention center hotel and more than 2,000 800 citizens have publicly endorsed the project. LOTS of people and organizations are on-board here. Check out the list at http://www.votenodallas.com/ 

ARE YOU FOR SALE, DALLAS?

Now is the right time to build the convention center hotel because construction costs are low and our local economy desperately needs jobs. Dallas is not currently competitive because we are the only one of the top 22 convention cities without a convention center hotel. The new hotel will create 3,000 construction jobs and 800 hotel jobs plus $3 billion per year in economic impact when it opens.

Your vote is important, Dallas. The issue really is simple. You can vote YES to be bought and sold by special interest or you can Vote NO and protect your interest as taxpayers and the future success of Dallas.

ARE YOU FOR SALE, DALLAS?

On Saturday, May 9 - VOTE NO!

Saturday May 9 is decision Day in Dallas, and nothing less than the future of Dallas is it stake.

TWO PROPOSITIONS affecting future city development are on the ballot. Proposition 1 prohibits the City of Dallas from ever buying, leasing or offering any kind of financial incentive to a hotel or lodging facility.  Proposition 2 states that, with just 500 signatures on a petition, the City of Dallas would be forced to hold an election to obtain voter approval every time it wants to offer any kind of financial incentive totaling $1 million or more to private developers for hotels, condos and retail facilities.  

At the center of the election is the proposed Dallas Convention Center Hotel, and on this issue, a group calling itself Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel has been selling a package of BIG LIES stuffed like bad sausage with misinformation. It's expensive sausage too.  Billionaire Harlan Crow is the money behind the anti-hotel campaign, and it is estimated he will have spent as much as $5 million to convince Dallas residents the hotel project is a bad deal that will raise their taxes, threaten basic city services and won't attract any new business.

Why would Mr, Crow, a Highland Park billionaire who isn't a Dallas taxpayer and can’t even vote in the May 9 election on the hotel, be spending $5 million to defeat the hotel project? Greed and blatant self-interest for starters. Crow owns the 30-year-old Anatole Hotel and his aging property would have to compete with the new convention center hotel for business. He hopes by blurring the truth about this election, Dallas voters will say YES to Props 1 and 2 to protect his own investments in the Anatole and Market Center.

The Wall Street Journal said it best - "Dallas real-estate mogul Harlan Crow doesn't want his city to build a planned convention-center hotel ... he owns a big hotel a couple of miles away."

Some hope you are. So before making your decision on the Dallas Convention Center Hotel and the future of development in our city, consider the BIG TRUTH, and not the self-serving lies:

Top 10 Reasons Harlan Crow WON'T put his Mouth where his Money IS on Hotel Debate

Billionaire Harlan Crow is the money behind a group calling itself Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel.  Just turn on your favorite Dallas/Fort Worth TV station and you'll find a slick anti-hotel PR campaign funded by Crow who ponied up $936,000 to tell the citizens of Dallas why the construction of a Dallas Convention Center Hotel is an "arrogant" move on the part of the hotel supporters.

A million bucks buys some crafty spin, and Mr. Crow has bought himself some big-time BUZZ. His group claims we need "Safe Streets, Not Hotel Suites." If you've received a phone call from the Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel (and I did) you would hear some scary stuff - the project has been decided in secret, building the hotel will affect basic city services, Dallas shouldn't own a hotel because it will hurt other hotels and the City’s occupancy rates can’t support it. Most recently, the group has added Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert is a liar and can't be trusted to the mix.

All of it sounds bad, so much so that Crow & his Citizens group have forced a city charter amendment vote on the hotel on May 9. In all things anti-convention center hotel, Mr. Crow is the Ringmaster, so why isn't he out in front of his money beating the drum on this one?

In his place and leading the charge is one of Mr. Crow's employees, Anne Raymond who claims to be the most qualified individual within the organization to speak on its behalf because she specializes in making real estate investments for Crow Holdings and its partners. During a recent segment of Inside Texas Politicson WFAA Channel 8 Ms. Raymond battled Mayor Leppert in a lively hotel debate. When asked why the bankroll behind the anti-hotel group has failed to appear in person to explain his opposition, Ms. Raymond gave us the answer, almost.

"He’s (Crow) a private businessman. Why should he be accountable to the …?”

Ms. Raymond cut herself off before finishing the thought, but one has to ask - was her Freudian slip about the let loose the word “public?” Perhaps Harlan Crow isn’t out front of this debate because he doesn’t want to answer to the "public" and tackle the tough questions or explain the hard facts. Why?

Consider these Top 10 Reasons Harlan Crow WON'T put his Mouth where his Money IS when it comes to the Dallas Convention Center Hotel debate.

10. Bucks NOT Backers. Spending money on television advertising doesn't mean you have lots of supporters, it just means you have LOTS of money. Writing a big check, especially if you have billions, is easy.

9. The Anatole Hotel. Crow owns it and the 30-year-old Anatole would have to compete with the new convention center hotel for business. "D'oh!"

8. Safe Streets, not Hotel Suites. This is THE BIG LIE.  Building the hotel WILL NOT affect basic city service such as police protection or street repairs be curtailed. Money for the hotel does not come from the General Fund, but from the revenue of the hotel.

7. Transparency. The Dallas City Council has held at least 20 public committee and Council meetings on the hotel project, and lists all the briefings, studies, memos and other crucial documents related to the hotel on its web site. The Dallas Morning News has published more than 100 articles on the hotel. Nothing has been decided in secret, at least not on the Build the Hotel side of the issue.

6.  Support for the Hotel. LOTS of people and organizations are on-board here, including the past five Dallas Mayors, many other Dallas hoteliers (and they all would also compete with the new hotel for business), more than 120 associations and businesses, and thousands of Dallas citizens. Check out the list at http://www.votenodallas.com/

5. Dallas Taxpayers. Although his anti-hotel ad campaign often invokes their interests, Harlan Crow lives in Highland Park and can’t even vote in the May 9 election on the hotel. So who is he really looking out for? Ooops! 

4. Nostalgia. Remember the good old days when just a few wealthy Dallas families made all the BIG decisions around here? Apparently some would like us to return to those thrilling days of yester-year.

3. Accountability. "He’s (Crow) a private businessman. Why should he be accountable to the …?”

2. Arrogance. It takes a special kind of self-importance to think your money will influence voters to make a critical decision on their future based on your personal sense of entitlement. Then again, AIG got away with it. 

1. Real Rich vs. Real World. Last year, Mr. Crow sprinkled more than 1.8 million gallons of water a month across the manicured lawns of his 7.7-acre estate on Preston Road – enough to fill almost three Olympic-size swimming pools - at a cost of $5,859.00 per-month. He owns a Stradivarius violin and collects statues of tyrants, including Mao, Lenin and Castro. And you? 

Wake Up, Dallas. The convention center hotel has been pushed to the side for more than 25 years, losing millions of dollars in convention business for the City and countless job opportuntities for its citizens. Meanwhile, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, Grapevine and Frisco have seen the light, beat Dallas to the punch with their own convention hotels and are reaping the rewards.

 

Harlan Crow wants us to believe he knows best. This hotel thing is just too risky. It's better to stay status quo and do nothing.

 

But perhaps, Father Knows Best. Trammell Crow, the patriarch of the Crow Family, was lauded by everyone from Fortune, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal as “one of the most innovative developers in history.” He was often quoted as saying, "there's as much risk in doing nothing as in doing something."

 

We would have to agree. On May 9, Dallas, "Say NO to Crow. Vote No on Propostition One.

Billionaire Harlan Crow is the money behind a group calling itself Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel.  Just turn on your favorite Dallas/Fort Worth TV station and you'll find a slick anti-hotel PR campaign funded by Crow who ponied up $936,000 to tell the citizens of Dallas why the construction of a Dallas Convention Center Hotel is an "arrogant" move on the part of the hotel supporters.

A million bucks buys some crafty spin, and Mr. Crow has bought himself some big-time BUZZ. His group claims we need "Safe Streets, Not Hotel Suites." If you've received a phone call from the Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel (and I did) you would hear some scary stuff - the project has been decided in secret, building the hotel will affect basic city services, Dallas shouldn't own a hotel because it will hurt other hotels and the City’s occupancy rates can’t support it. Most recently, the group has added Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert is a liar and can't be trusted to the mix.

All of it sounds bad, so much so that Crow & his Citizens group have forced a city charter amendment vote on the hotel on May 9. In all things anti-convention center hotel, Mr. Crow is the Ringmaster, so why isn't he out in front of his money beating the drum on this one?

In his place and leading the charge is one of Mr. Crow's employees, Anne Raymond who claims to be the most qualified individual within the organization to speak on its behalf because she specializes in making real estate investments for Crow Holdings and its partners. During a recent segment of Inside Texas Politicson WFAA Channel 8 Ms. Raymond battled Mayor Leppert in a lively hotel debate. When asked why the bankroll behind the anti-hotel group has failed to appear in person to explain his opposition, Ms. Raymond gave us the answer, almost.

"He’s (Crow) a private businessman. Why should he be accountable to the …?”

Ms. Raymond cut herself off before finishing the thought, but one has to ask - was her Freudian slip about the let loose the word “public?” Perhaps Harlan Crow isn’t out front of this debate because he doesn’t want to answer to the "public" and tackle the tough questions or explain the hard facts. Why?

Consider these Top 10 Reasons Harlan Crow WON'T put his Mouth where his Money IS when it comes to the Dallas Convention Center Hotel debate.

10. Bucks NOT Backers. Spending money on television advertising doesn't mean you have lots of supporters, it just means you have LOTS of money. Writing a big check, especially if you have billions, is easy.

9. The Anatole Hotel. Crow owns it and the 30-year-old Anatole would have to compete with the new convention center hotel for business. "D'oh!"

8. Safe Streets, not Hotel Suites. This is THE BIG LIE.  Building the hotel WILL NOT affect basic city service such as police protection or street repairs be curtailed. Money for the hotel does not come from the General Fund, but from the revenue of the hotel.

7. Transparency. The Dallas City Council has held at least 20 public committee and Council meetings on the hotel project, and lists all the briefings, studies, memos and other crucial documents related to the hotel on its web site. The Dallas Morning News has published more than 100 articles on the hotel. Nothing has been decided in secret, at least not on the Build the Hotel side of the issue.

6.  Support for the Hotel. LOTS of people and organizations are on-board here, including the past five Dallas Mayors, many other Dallas hoteliers (and they all would also compete with the new hotel for business), more than 120 associations and businesses, and thousands of Dallas citizens. Check out the list at http://www.votenodallas.com/

5. Dallas Taxpayers. Although his anti-hotel ad campaign often invokes their interests, Harlan Crow lives in Highland Park and can’t even vote in the May 9 election on the hotel. So who is he really looking out for? Ooops! 

4. Nostalgia. Remember the good old days when just a few wealthy Dallas families made all the BIG decisions around here? Apparently some would like us to return to those thrilling days of yester-year.

3. Accountability. "He’s (Crow) a private businessman. Why should he be accountable to the …?”

2. Arrogance. It takes a special kind of self-importance to think your money will influence voters to make a critical decision on their future based on your personal sense of entitlement. Then again, AIG got away with it. 

1. Real Rich vs. Real World. Last year, Mr. Crow sprinkled more than 1.8 million gallons of water a month across the manicured lawns of his 7.7-acre estate on Preston Road – enough to fill almost three Olympic-size swimming pools - at a cost of $5,859.00 per-month. He owns a Stradivarius violin and collects statues of tyrants, including Mao, Lenin and Castro. And you? 

Wake Up, Dallas. The convention center hotel has been pushed to the side for more than 25 years, losing millions of dollars in convention business for the City and countless job opportuntities for its citizens. Meanwhile, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, Grapevine and Frisco have seen the light, beat Dallas to the punch with their own convention hotels and are reaping the rewards.

 

Harlan Crow wants us to believe he knows best. This hotel thing is just too risky. It's better to stay status quo and do nothing.

 

But perhaps, Father Knows Best. Trammell Crow, the patriarch of the Crow Family, was lauded by everyone from Fortune, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal as “one of the most innovative developers in history.” He was often quoted as saying, "there's as much risk in doing nothing as in doing something."

 

We would have to agree. On May 9, Dallas, "Say NO to Crow. Vote No on Propostition One.

Meetings and Events - America's best-kept Economic Secret

In these tough financial times, the best opportunity to revitalize the American economy has been hiding in plain sight. For all the talk about tax credits, subsidies, bailouts and interest rates, our greatest hope is to invest in job creation. The country's best-kept economic secret - The Meetings and Event Industry – does just that.

 

For 25 years I've had the privilege working in this industry, beginning as a tour guide in Hawaii and later in my career, building three separate hospitality-related businesses in Dallas. Through good times and bad times, including the devastating industry-wide impact of 9-11, the Meetings and Events Industry has pulled together and made America stronger.

That’s easy to appreciate from the inside, knowing what I know. Meetings and Events are significant, creating $244 billion in spending, 2.4 million American jobs and $39 billion in tax revenue at the federal, state and local level. The industry provides solutions to many of the technology, trade, manufacturing, innovation, small business and green jobs must haves President Obama sets forth in his plan to revitalize the economy.

Knowing what I know, it’s been difficult in recent weeks to turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper and see how misperceptions are beginning to inflict significant damage on my business, the local economy and the industry at large. I understand the rush to judgment, especially in light of actions by companies like American International Group, Inc. (AIG) which accepts an $85 billion bailout from the federal government and then jets its executives off on a retreat for it’s at the ultra-fabulous St. Regis Resort in California, running up a tab of $440,000 on rooms, meals, spa and golf.

I have no sympathy for AIG, which lost more than $5 billion in the last quarter of 2007 through its risky financial products division. AIG is a train wreck, a classic example of corporate greed and denial that is staggering in its stupidity. American taxpayers are rightfully outraged about their money going to rescue companies run by arrogant, over-paid, and coddled executives AIG is among the worst of the worst, and someone there – lots of people there – should go directly to jail.

 

But AIG and many of the other companies receiving TARP monies are not representative of the many hard-working and ethical business professionals and companies who comprise the Meetings and Events Industry. For the most part, meetings, conventions and conferences are cost efficient, well planned mechanisms used by companies to drive business and are a huge economic boost to cities that host the meetings. That’s not what I see in the media or the discussions on Capitol Hill. I see critics mislabeling meetings and events as lavish and unnecessary. 

 

When business meetings and incentive travel programs are demonized and canceled, American workers – not CEOs – are the ones who pay the price. Hourly wage employees are the first to lose their jobs as business travel declines. In fact, without the jobs generated by meetings and events, the unemployment rate in the United States would quickly jump from 7.6 percent to 8.2 percent. Recent calls for the introduction of legislation and media reporting is having a damaging effect on companies that have never taken a cent of TARP money. Some of those same companies are canceling meetings and other events because they are afraid of being attacked as wasteful. 

 

So, here we are, with bad apples setting bad examples and creating misperceptions about an industry America needs now more than ever. The Meetings and Events Industry is the largest delivery system of continuing adult education on the planet. We learn, we teach and we mentor. Over the past 20 years, the industry has provided more opportunities for women and minority-owned business than any other. Meetings and Events Matter to Millions.

Closer to home, the industry directly affects the almost 200 employees of mine, many under the age of 25, who fear being laid off as meetings and conventions decline. Ours is just a small family-owned business in Texas, but we help build careers for young people in the area, we provide additional employment opportunities for older workers and we partner with other organizations to promote business within the larger destination.

How important are meetings and events? Ask those on both sides of the aisle in Congress how important it was for their respective organizations to hold national meetings in Denver and Minneapolis-Saint Paul last year? Does it matter that their members have an opportunity to meet, discuss ideas and strategy, and network with their partners? How vital were those meetings to their overall objectives and success?

Travel for meetings, events and incentives is a cost-effective tool vital for companies to strengthen business relationships; align and educate employees and customers; and compensate employees for business performance.  In our weak economy, the last thing Congress should do is implement policies or spout overheated rhetoric that jeopardizes jobs and the local tax revenue my community depends upon.

 

Few communities exist which don’t have a vital stake in business and visitor travel. Yes, we need guidelines that include competitive bidding, expense reporting, cost containment, and policy compliance, exactly the type of transparency and accountability President Obama has called for. But we need to walk carefully and not rush to judgment with legislation which would unfairly restrict companies’ ability to use meetings, events and incentive travel as a legitimate business tool.

 

We can’t afford not to get this one right.

Dirty Deals and the BIG LIE in Big D

Not since "Who Shot JR"has there been more skulduggery and deception on the streets of Dallas than the bull that's been flying around the construction of a city-owned convention center hotel. The BIG LIE is being pushed by a group calling itself Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel and includes a laundry list of reasons why the citizens of Dallas should stop this project dead in its tracks.

The list sounds good and scary. Building the hotel will affect basic city services such as police protection and street repairs. The financing is too risky. A city shouldn't own a hotel. It will hurt other hotels. The City’s occupancy rates can’t support a hotel. The project has been decided in secret, behind closed doors.

Since late last year, the Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel have engaged in an aggressive PR campaign to get out their message that the city-owned convention center hotel is just plain bad business. The group is comprised mostly of hoteliers and real estate executives (and their employees) who raised almost $1 million to derail the project. Leading the charge is Harlan Crow, who ponied up the lion's share of the anti-hotel money, $936,000 through a family limited-liability company. Crow also is the owner of the Anatole Hotel, and his property  would compete with the convention center hotel for business.

The problem with the group's list is that it's just dirty laundry. What's worse, they know it. Here are the facts:

• Building the hotel will NOT affect basic city services such as police protection and street repairs.  Funding for the hotel does not come from the General Fund, but from the revenue of the hotel. More convention business actually means MORE tax revenue, which means MORE MONEY for police officers and streets.
• The hotel will be financed through tax-exempt revenue bonds and repaid by the revenues from those staying at the hotel, not from Dallas taxpayers. Dallas is being smart and not financing this project to benefit real estate executives. If this project were funded the way the opposition wants, some lucky developer would get a FAT $120 million city payout. Financing with revenue bonds means no cash giveaway to a billionaire developer. Dallas taxpayers will own and control this hotel. 
• Industry Development spurs Industry Growth. Thanks to an aggressive campaign by the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, our hotel occupancy rates have seen solid growth over the past few years. But we can do more. In Grapevine, the building of the Gaylord Texan Resort has seen that city's occupancy rate skyrocket to among the highest in the state. Anyone remember what a Friday night in downtown Grapevine was like before the Gaylord Texan opened? Fort Worth recently debuted its own convention center hotel, the Omni Hotel Fort Worth, and occupancy and BUZZ in Cowtown already is on the upswing. The best way to boost hotel occupancy and rates is by bringing more business to Dallas, and this fact has been cited by a major hotel research group as to why a Convention Center Hotel can work in Dallas.
• No project has had as much transparency as this one. The Dallas City Council has held at least 20 public committee and Council meetings on the hotel project, and lists all the  briefings, studies, memos and other crucial documents related to the hotel on its web site. The Dallas Morning News has published more than 65 articles referencing the hotel, and there has been extensive and on-going media coverage by local TV and radio.  

If only the hoteliers and real estate executives promoting the BIG LIE were as transparent in their opposition.  Their motive here is pretty clear. They want voters to make a decision on the hotel based on their sense of entitlement - what's good for THEIR individual businesses - not what's in the best interests of the city of Dallas.

Look, no project of this scope (a guaranteed maximum price of $356 million) is risk-free. But in every city where a commitment has been made to build a convention center hotel, the business has followed. Houston has seen tremendous success with its hotel and is now considering selling it and building a second. The new convention center hotel in Denver generated all kinds of development, including four privately built hotels.

The Dallas CVB's own research shows that without the convention center hotel we're already losing out on about $800 million in direct spending annually and $2.6 billion in economic impact because large conventions, such as Dallas based American Heart Association, have repeatedly stated they can only book cities that have a convention center hotel. In the meetings and events industry, a convention center hotel is a MUST HAVE.

There already is a waiting list of major national associations who have agreed to hold conventions here if Dallas has a downtown convention hotel. If Dallas doesn't get this one right, these conventions and all that money will go elsewhere.

The new hotel is critical to Dallas' plan to revitalize downtown and would enhance the Arts District, Uptown, The Cedars, Victory, the West End and Main Street. It's impact would reach far beyond just downtown Dallas, pumping real dollars into the entire North Texas economy in the form of jobs and visitor spending across the region.

Dallas has passed over this issue for more than 25 years. During that short-sighted time, the city has lost millions of dollars in convention business, while other Texas cities including San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, Grapevine and Frisco have seen the light, beat us to the punch and are reaping the rewards. Good for Them, Shame on Us.

This is a no-brainer - If You Build It, They Will Come. PERIOD!

Father, Forgive Them for They Really Don't Have a Clue

It just keeps getting weirder.

Roman Catholic priest Rev. Joseph Illo has told his congregation at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Modesto, California they should confess if they voted for Barack Obama because the president-elect supports abortion. Citing Catholic doctrine which requires believers go to confession when they commit a mortal sin. the priest said during Mass that parishioners would risk losing their "state of grace" by receiving communion sacrilegiously without confessing their vote for Obama.

Say it ain't so, Father Joe!

And he isn't alone on this one. Another pastor of a Catholic church in Greenville, South Carolina also told his flock that those who voted for Obama should refrain from taking communion until they have made a full confession and done penance. Father Jay Scott Newman, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, distributed a post-election letter informing parishioners they were putting their souls at risk if they take Communion before repenting of their vote for “the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president.”

Apparently a vote for Obama or any other pro-choice candidate is tantamount to selling your soul to the Devil, at least according to the skewed interpretations of Fathers Joe and Jay. Church policies won't allow priests to refuse communion to parishioners who voted for Obama, but many in the Catholic hierarchy also made abortion the most important consideration in deciding which candidate to support during the 2008 presidential campaign.

What would Jesus do? Perhaps admonish those who live in glass churches they probably shouldn't be the first one to cast stones. He said that, right?

I'm not Catholic, but if I was, I think I might be less interested in who among my brothers and sisters voted for whom, and a lot more concerned (and outraged) about religious hypocrisy. Can you really trust an ecclesiastical power structure which harbors pedophiles, conceals the sexual behavior of its own clerics and then lies about it while attacking the victims?

I don't know what Fathers Joe and Jay do in their spare time around the Rectory, but perhaps they might try dealing with bigger issues a little more close to home. A growing number of Catholics believe the Church is out of touch with the world today and just not relevant to their lives.

According to the report “Catholics Who Have Stopped Going to Mass,” released by the the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, these commonly mentioned factors had the most powerful impact on Catholics:

1. Misuse of power and authority at all levels of the Catholic Church.

2. Irrelevance of the church as an institution “out of touch with society.” The church has lost its ability to connect with the day-to-day lives of ordinary people and as a result is no longer regarded as having the authority to guide them in living an authentic life.

3. Lack of intellectual stimulation, noting sermons delivered in their parishes “were of poor quality, ill-prepared, theologically unsound, badly delivered and irrelevant.”

I'm not saying the Catholic Church should throw the Baby Jesus out with the holy bath water (I know I will burn in Hell for that one), but get up off your knees, guys and look around. Teaching against pre-marital sex, divorce, a woman's right to choose (and now voting for Obama) makes you look foolish and fails miserably when compared to the materialistic and immoral culture of your own leaders.

Maybe its time to sing a new song from a more relevant hymnal.

Amen.

Republican Governors - They Came, They Saw, They Clustered

The Republican Governors Association met in Miami last week to determine a new direction for the GOP and present a united front and in the wake of their election defeat. They blew it BIG TIME.

The GOP governors got twisted internally, deadlocked between moderates who think the party should move to an ideological center and hard-liners who want a return to their core constituency. Caught in the middle was Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor and failed vice presidential nominee, who has emerged as her Party's most visible personality, but also a lightning rod among many of her fellow Republicans.

During a news conference promoting party unity with other GOP governors, Texas' Rick Perry stepped between Palin and the microphone on several occasions, cutting short her remarks. Not surprising, since Perry, Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty and  Florida's Charlie Crist all have been named as potential 2012 presidential candidates who would face-off against Palin, the party's de facto front runner.

The GOP is not a happy place with lots of questions and no ready answers. Should Republicans tackle issues like education, energy and the environment to broaden the party's base? Will it ever engage in serious discussion of social issues such as abortion and gay marriage? Can it win back women, Hispanics and young voters? Does it remain mired in an ideology that most Americans see as irrelevant?

The Party of Lincoln should look for guidance in The Words of Lincoln.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

''We need to reach out more as a party,'' said Gov. Crist, whose own home state and Republican bastion Florida went against tradition and voted for Barack Obama.

Listen up, GOP. You lost Florida's Hispanic vote, where Republicans had long dominated, HUGE. Obama won 57 percent compared to 42 percent for McCain. Nationwide, Obama won the Hispanic vote by a wider margin, garnering 66 percent to McCain's 32 percent. No Democratic presidential candidate had ever achieved either milestone since the exit polling of Hispanics first began in the 1980s. That's a demographic revolution of epic proportions.

Some within the GOP continue to place the blame on losing the election not on a failed ideology, but rather on a more technologically savvy Democratic campaign.  Others cited the unpopular Bush administration, the war in Iraq, the economy and even Hurricane Katrina.

"I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday."

The Republicans are grabbing at straws.  To exist, you need an ideology that is relevant to the world you live in. The Republicans haven't had one since Ronald Reagan was in office, and like so many nostalgic Alabama football fans who are watching the horizon for the return of Bear Bryant, the GOP keeps looking for their old-time religion to trickle down again. Until Republicans can look honestly in the mirror and see their own failures, they are going nowhere.

Gov. Pawlenty has an idea. He says the GOP needs to appeal to what he calls "Sam's Club voters.''

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

Here's a better idea. Stop with the labels and try governing smart. In the seven years the GOP controlled both the Administration and Congress, annual deficits rose in excess of $400 billion per year, a $5.5 trillion increase.  Your bookkeeping sucks, your spending is over the top and ethics have long since gone out the window. Americans don't care about labels. They want good government.

Gov. Jindal got it right when he said, "We got fired for cause."

Abe Lincoln said it better.

"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true."

     Looking to the future, perhaps the GOP can learn a few things from those across the aisle. The Democrats have a high degree of agreement about who they are and what they believe in. They found in Senator Obama a charismatic and articulate leader who most Americans could also believe in and trust. That's why the Democrats won and the Republicans lost, pure and simple.

Get on board with that, GOP, or get used to more lost elections thanks to self-imploding ideologies like "drill, baby, drill."

Mentos Eruption World Record set at Circle R Ranch (www.circlerranch.org)

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