Comments

1
The $600Gs self-justifies the project... duh.


Oh, and:
-whole +hole -on

/grammar gestapo out
2
Are we expecting the Convention Center to be a rip-roaring economic success on the same scale as, for example, the South Waterfront?

How confident can we be in the economic forecasts?
3
The problem isn't a lack of convenient hotel space. The problem is that the area around the convention center is unsafe and poorly patrolled by Portland police, and the existing hotels are rundown and inadequately maintained.
4
I think I recently heard that PDX police assigns patrols due to phone calls which is why the crack den that the Nest is on Alberta is still in business. The rich folk out in SW call the coppers twice as much.

Man...that's exactly the area of town I want the out of towners to view our city from. Nothing says stay the hell away from here than the convention center.
5
There are also rent-a-cops patrolling the Lloyd District. I'm sure if this project goes ahead, their contract will be expanded.

6
I can't get the full text to open on my home computer, but if you take a look at the PDC page you'll see that all their data is based on a 2006 "market report"; meaning this all sounded like a good idea back in 2004 when the economy was chugging along and gas was only $3 a pop.

Even a lowly PCC drop out could figure that now, with the rising cost of travel, there's going to be notable reductions in the size and scope of the Convention Market.

I'm too caffeine deprived to look this up myself, but has anyone signed on to build this thing yet? And if so, what connections do they have to the PDC?
7
The real problem is that Portland, while wonderful in many ways, is just not a convention city. It's not a tourist destination a la San Diego, San Francisco, or Seattle, all on the West Coast, all on the actual ocean (ok, Seattle not exactly, but the bay counts), and all featuring airlines that get direct flights from just about anywhere. It's much harder to get to Portland, and when you're here there's just not as much to do.

I'm as big a Portland cheerleader as you can be, and I absolutely love it here, but we have to face the facts that we're not a player on the major-convention-city circuit, and that the reasons for this are for the most part outside our control.
8
Based on history, cut the revenue forecasts by two thirds and increase to cost forecasts five-fold.

Please wait...

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