This is part 2 of Margin’s thoughts on the convention centre.
Therefore, to avoid the wailing and gnashing of teeth that has occurred annually with respect to the relatively minor payments the casino has made to the city, a Community Development Agreement would set some easily definable payments that the private proponents of the center should guarantee.
For example, support for a regional transit system that would serve to knit the region together and deliver workers to the center could form the cornerstone of such an agreement.
This facility was sold as a way of creating 1,000 new jobs in the community. Why not mandate a fee to be paid by the convention center AND backed by the leading proponents of the center. This fee could be set at one dollar per day, per worker, to be paid directly to a regional transit authority.
These payments should, unlike the oft-cited Destination Marketing Tax, be used at the discretion of the people of Niagara for projects outside the tourism sector – after all, the $70m public money certainly did.
As the facility estimates that 500,000+ new visitors will attend events at the facility, why not another dollar per visitor dedicated to the refreshment of regional parks and trails.
These payments should be legally binding on the center and the local BIA members on a sustainable and long-term basis. They must be considered the cost of doing business, not charitable donations from the center.
Any proposal to bring in another 500,000+ well-heeled conventioneers points to new profit-making opportunities for private supporters of the convention center.
The competition is fierce and global. $100,000,000 is a great deal of money to be earmarked to a community of Niagara’s size when statistics have shown that 50% of all exhibitions in the US are held in just 16 cities.
Keep in mind that one report shows that Niagara’s hotels charge 15% over the national average daily rate, and perhaps as a result, have found themselves with 15% less occupancy.
Few, if any, convention facilities built over the past quarter century anywhere in North America have come close to meeting the optimistic projections made by the proponents and their consultants.
Indeed, as a leading advocate for the exhibition industry pointed out, …â€convention centers in the United States were seen as loss leaders in that they were publicly funded and not designed to recover costs, much less generate a profit.â€
Other parts in the series: