To be fair it's kind of hard to say how many big events Portland has missed out on by not having a hotel like this here. I do know Portland has been skipped by the NBA time and time again for the All-Star game despite (when it was built) having the premiere arena. I imagine that would inject several hundred million tourist dollars into the economy easily. I'm not saying we should build it. I'm just more or less wondering out loud what might happen if we did. It is a big risk though and right now, this type of huge investment with huge risk probably shouldn't be taken on even though its a drop in the bucket money wise long term.

but right now it would be huge investment, huge risk. we've already got too many mega-million dollar fiascoes on our hands.

Portland already has feral houses, high unemployment and a liar for a mayor, so I'd say that "real city" ship has already hit the high seas, matey! Now we just need to figure out which ex-Blazer would make the best mayoral successor...

good thing we're hunkering down and only spending money on things that matter, like...um....soccer.