This is a “cart before the horse” issue. The business is NOT there for an expanded convention center so the G-BAD is trying to create the demand and justify the expansion.

The G-BAD needs to follow the direction of the voters and stop trying to do end runs around them. Sounds like we need to look at replacing the G-BAD board members if they keep this up.

…..and I thought I was cynical.

The Auditorium District’s only real offense is its poor choice of a title that creates the easily spoof-able acronym GBAD. At least we can feel reasonably sure they’re not wasting taxpayer money on a high dollar marketing and PR firm.

I like the idea of a new convention center. B-FD if they came up with some creative financing. Hardly anything in the construction/real estate business gets done without financing.

My question to B-Guard and commenters Max and Porcupine; can you tell us that you own your homes outright? (I’m assuming you’re not homeless people) None of you have ever had a mortgage? or a car loan? or a student loan?

Student loans are backed by the taxpayers, correct? Maybe we should eliminate those too?

To those of you who support a new convention center; I propose we start a search for a new and improved title and acronym to replace the currently abused one. In fact, it should be done before another lost election makes the Auditorium District a 3 -time loser.

I’ve racked my brain for a new acronym for some 60 to 90 seconds now and couldn’t come up with one. But, for starters, how about B-GOOD or G-WHIZ?

Anyone who supports a new convention center in downtown Boise is just plain smoking bad weed. I have many years in the convention business and Boise does not cut it as a convention town. OK so we build a “down town” convention center. The impacts of the venue are going to cost a lot of money and will be passed on to taxpayers. Real convention centers require lots of truck unloading space and truck parking space. Check out what a mess the Moscone Center is during a convention in San Francisco! If the price of fuel goes up, no business in their right mind is going to send sales people to Boise. The market is too small. What we really need is a fairgrounds we can be proud of like the one in Redmond, OR. A venue like that can handle most of our needs. The convention and trade show business is in a huge period of change and it is totaly dependent on the price of fuel for airlines and freight.

I like boisecynic’s G-WHIZ acronym, ‘cos once again, they are trying to whiz on the voters and taxpayers.

Wirt

Oh if we just would have elected Brandi none of this would have happened….;)

I like most of your opinions and you are dead wrong on this issue. The convention center expansion is a huge need for our urban core “downtown”. The studies make a strong case for the demand, we are losing convention business on a weekly basis due to lack of space. The primary opposition to this is AmeriTel. Why? AmeriTel makes it’s money on locations that are out of urban core’s. AmeriTel want the conventions at their facility. They fight this in every city they have facilities and they use the same tactic, creating fear that our taxes are paying the bill. The hotel tax pays the bill and they don’t like the hotel tax! Sprawl is our enemy, urban density is smart growth, convention space promotes urban business creating incentive for urban density. You are falling into the trap of a corporate empire interested in thier own greed not our city health. With my rant I will add the plan for 2 seperate convention spaces was misguided if not suspicious. I am glad they are looking at adding to the current convention center. It is also a fact that big convention business prefers holding events in one location.

I will confess I own 4 businesses in downtown making my position a bit self-serving. Make no mistake about it I chose downtown for my businesses as I believe our city needs a strong urban core to thrive. Sprawl is our enemy and my choice to locate downtown is my stuborness to practice what I preach. My businesses would probably be performing better if I located one or two in planned developments in Eagle, Meridian, the mall. Please support the convention center plans, we need it badly!!! Fight developers that are destroying our open spaces and quality of life with misguided planned communities. Encourage good development in areas with developed infustructure.

Dave Krick
Bittercreek/Red Feather/Reef/The Front Door

I heartily agree with Dave. Boise downtown is growing with great new developments and downtown housing. Not the crap that went up in the 70s and 80s. An expanded convention center will help bring events and people downtown.

BoiseCvnic, I doubt any of the doubters will take your bet. If they do, all the better.

I admit that I attend things regularly at the Boise Convention Center. That is not a bias. I just happen to have my eyes open to the need for better facilities. People are already coming to Boise. Let’s give them even more reasons to come.

C’mon, people. Face it. We all know that right now, and every day, there are
hundreds, probably thousands, perhaps millions of people in Rockford, Ill., Rome,
N.Y., Miami, Fla.,
Tokyo, Madrid, London ….
discussing where to have their next annual convention or other major shindig.
Imagine the conversations:
“So, where should we go this year?
“How about Las Vegas?”
“Naw, Atlantic City.”{
“Maybe Mexico City?”
“Heck, why not Tokyo or Shanghai, or Macao, ort Nigeria … you know, someplace
exotic?”
“Hey, great idea! How about Boise, Idaho?”
“Boise? Wherethehell is that? Is it near Demoines or Sofa or Davenport or Settee
… anyway, those other towns?”
“Heck, I dunno, but I hear they’re gonna build a new convention center —- and
it’ll maybe be right on top of the old one.”
(Chorus of voices): “Wow. Yeah. Great idea. Hey, I’m for it. Me too, let’s hear it
for Bossy Iowa or whatever you said; I mean, a new convention center, Wow, wow,
wow!”
Chairman: OK, it’s unanimous. Tosies, Idahowa it is.
Meeting dismissed — start packing.”
— gp

At least 3 comments have been made regarding the voters turning down the bond to fund the new convention center. It’s true, twice the bond passage has been defeated, but the tone of those comments (that I get), is that the defeat is final, i.e. forever.

Is that it? One or two elections decide all the rest of eternity. If that’s how things work, then George Washington, dead as he is, would still be our president, no?

No-one, myself included (until now, see below), has offered up any actual facts and figures. Maybe someone could post other links with meaningful info so we could make an “informed” decision and carry on this debate in an “informed” way.

Meaningful info would be; what size CCs do other comparable cities have? How were they funded? Are they making/losing money? Are attendance trends up or down? Choosing a city/s comparable to Boise will probably elicit even more arguments.

Spending a few minutes on google, the best I could find regarding Boise was the following website;

http://www.boisecentre.com/clients/boisecentre/qa.aspx

It states in paragraph 2: “Many local events have exceeded capacity of the Boise Centre on the Grove and cannot expand.” Besides that sentence being awkward, their cause might be better served by actually listing those “events” by name. And I know your next thought, and I agree, the boisecentre.com site isn’t exactly an impartial site of meaningful info.

I spent a while longer to find the following “comparable city” info, so check this out (we can’t let Spokane beat us up like this);

http://www.spokanecenter.com/CCX_info.htm

Or read this lengthy, detailed and informative page:

http://www.spokanepfd.org/Financial.htm

If nothing else, those 2 sites show that Spokane is way ahead of Boise in web publishing.

BTW, B-Guard, is this a record long thread?
ED NOTE-If they ever win one it will probably be the last word. Votes only count with G-BAD IF THEY WIN.

Impossible, how GOOD your work is. I am realy surprised. http://condom2.cars-search.org/