400 MILLION Reasons

The Sunday Journal reported that a group of "marketing, advertising, and other professionals" is pushing to get another city boondoggle on the October ballot. Apparently, this group of "other professionals" doesn't include an accountant, banker, or anyone with a business major. The arena and hotel that ad guy Steve Wedeen would have us build would cost no less than $400 MILLION tax dollars.

"The impact is phenomenal," Wedeen said in a recent interview. "This is really an economic-stimulus package that invests in a smart, sound industry."

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

The impact to the tax payer is obvious... higher taxes. As for whether or not the arena without-a-team business is a "smart, sound industry"... we beg to differ. More to the point, Wedeen would have the City of Albuquerque follow the "City of Vision's" lead and build an arena that loses money. If that weren't enough, Wedeen and his group would have the city go into the hospitality business by building a publically funded hotel.

Business leaders also want more analysis of whether the project would generate adequate operating revenue and question projected attendance figures for minor league sports teams that would play in the center.

The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce wants a more detailed financial analysis before announcing whether it would support such a project.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

You know you've got problems when even the Greater Chamber of Commerce has reservations about your business plan. Worse an attempt by private investors to build a downtown arena has already failed because no one would give them the money. And that was back when they were giving money away to people who could never pay it back.

This is a plan that only an advertiser would try to sell. An undersized arena with no proven anchor tenant next to a perpetually struggling convention center. If Wedeen is so taken with the idea then he should put together an investor group, build it with private money and prove us all wrong. If he's successful, he'll be fabulously wealthy (at least until Obama and Co. get a hold of him) and he should be.

There are 400 MILLION reasons not to build a new Downtown Boondoggle and each one comes from "investors" who have no direct control over the enterprise. Talk about greed! When someone asks for their dream to be built not through their own efforts and abilities but on the backs of his fellow citizens... that's greed and the worst kind of greed.

Polling the People

We're not the only ones polling these days. One of our Eyes let us know that they received a phone poll on Saturday. They weren't sure who paid for the poll but it sounded an awful lot like a poll from on high because it touched on all of Mayor Marty's pet projects. Questions included the downtown arena, a new downtown hotel, the 19th Century Streetcar, etc.

From what our Eye told us, the questions were often of a "push" nature and were designed to elicit favorable responses. Like the hotel question which we were told included a long explanation of how the hotel wouldn't cost the taxpayers.

We've got a better idea for a new downtown hotel... let developers bear the cost and the benefit of a new hotel if the market will support the venture. The very fact that they're polling on the subject means that the city has some plan afoot to use tax payer money in some fashion to support the it.