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!