Business
Forget Convention Center Expansion, Fix What We Have
January 2, 2012 
As 2012 opens the calendar we can plan on all sorts of schemes to attract visitors, create jobs, woo businesses, and otherwise grow ourselves into prosperity. The G-BAD boys and girls have expansion on their collective mind.
How about simple fixing up existing Greater Boise Auditorium District facilities and make them better–not bigger?
The Wall Street Journal published a story Saturday (Dec. 31) which revealed that cities from “Boston to Austin” are building bigger convention centers at a time when the convention business is totally over built as it is. A Boston Globe writer is quoted as declaring convention center building as “a racket.” The WSJ piece cites Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, Austin as places that continue to expand facilities and fail to live up to predictions.
Those cities and many others across the nation all cite surveys with the central message of, “If we build it they will come.” Problem is, they don’t come. Convention business is on the decline and it isn’t just a “bad economy.” In 2010 the industry reported 86 million conventioneers compared to 126 million in 2000.
The GUARDIAN has reported frequently on the need for directional signs for visitors. With at least $11 million in room taxes burning a hole in their pocket, we think directional signs, promotional maps, and more “user friendly” policies like free parking could go a long way toward enhancing the visitor experience and getting repeat customers. More construction and higher overhead aren’t exactly selling points that attract visitors.
We could fix up Table Rock as a “Vista Viewpoint” to view the entire valley, open the Boise Depot to the public daily during summer months and include some free bus shuttles–that way visitors would have a feeling they are getting something for the taxes they pay at hotels.
Mayor Dave Bieter constantly declares, “Boise is the most remote city in America for its size.” He is correct and that is one reason we will never be a destination travel location. Better to attract folks wishing to experience the Payette and Salmon Rivers, Sawtooth Mountains, and great skiing (when we have snow) than to attempt to compete with less remote cities featuring naked dancers, Mickey Mouse, Broadway Shows, or Lake Michigan shoreline dotted with museums.
One of the signs of “worldliness” is knowing one’s place in the world. And Boise’s place is not as a major convention city which has no directional signs and closes it’s best assets to public access.
The WSJ story also noted cities tout expansion of facilities as a sign of local pride and confidence rather than just a way to build more hotel rooms and restaurants.
To insure more advertising-free Boise Guardian news, please consider financial support.
Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Jan 2, 2012, 5:49 pm
Dave Dave Dave; Tisk, tisk. It’s not about the end result. It’s about rolling in the dough during the process. Just think of all the studies and consulting fees, all the over-billing. If we focus on the already over-built space that we have now, what will all of Team Dave’s friends do for a living? How boring, how boyscout of you!
Jan 2, 2012, 11:56 pm
Can you say “New Hawks Stadium?”
Jan 3, 2012, 4:46 am
For example the less than loudly announced/admitted fact that the city of Boise paid,if I remember correctly, one million dollars to the latest broke developer of the great hole in downtown Boise.
Jan 3, 2012, 8:40 am
The Doppelganger in the room for all the waste and spend projects along with G-bad is CCDC and every urban renewal agency in Idaho.
Urban Renewal agencies breed a culture of handouts for developers and development that simply won’t pay its way. Property taxes is the source for all urban renewal money and most people don’t get it.
Money siphoned off for UR has to be replaced and results in higher and higher levy rates for all taxable property inside and outside the boundaries of the UR district.
Jan 3, 2012, 11:54 am
High fives again for your voice of reason and common sense.
The horse-before-the-cart approach shouldn’t be the status quo as it’s been in the develop-now-plan-later approach of years past.
It’d be far more forward-thinking of leadership to give people more and better reasons for coming to our “remote” valley and utilizing the area’s under-used abundance of current convention and visitor facilities… (IMHO, heavy on the overly-hyphenated-run-ons.) = >
Jan 9, 2012, 1:51 pm
Guardian, Proud you are keeping the heat on this dead end convention center issue. The promoters of it are all extremely self interested. Boise is the WORST place for a big convention center. My last convention industry magazine was about 6 pages. Used to be 12 issues/year now it seems like 4.
What CEO is going to send managers to a convention in Boise? NO cheap flights to BOI unless you are lucky. Naked nudie bars = Vegas. Biggest convention town in America.
Boise has a lot of pizza joints. Why don’t we start with legalizing full on naked strip clubs in Boise first if we want convention traffic. With pizza.
Jan 30, 2012, 12:31 pm
This is so typical of the warped business strategies of bureaucracy. You see, bureaucracy never operates an entity as a business. Say, as a small business person would. Example; The Boise Convention Center numbers have free-fallin’ over the years. What has their strategy been? Raise the rates in an astounding ratio over the past few years.
Feb 26, 2012, 11:47 pm
When is some aspiring reporter going to do a story and analysis on how the GBAD marketing team is spending money like its going out of style? When are we going to see a list of conventions they’ve brought in? What a scam! $9 million in the bank and Pat Rice and Hy Kloc can’t slap their #$% with both hands and get a convention center built so they set up a marketing team to burn money like its going out of style. Where are the recall petitions everyone promised?