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To prepare for my primer today on the potential Convention Center expansion, I read through the minutes and presentations that The Mayor’s Citizen Task Force On The San Diego Convention Center Project has reviewed over the past eight months.
If you’re interested in reading more about what the task force has been doing, let me suggest four primary source documents that I’ve linked below. I’ll also highlight some particularly relevant sections.
- The Mayor’s Citizen Task Force On The San Diego Convention Center Project Draft Final Report, Aug. 27, 2009. This report is what the task force will consider at its final scheduled meeting Monday. It was just released this afternoon.
- Market, Feasibility & Impact Analysis for the Proposed San Diego Convention Center Expansion, May 26, 2009. This report by San Francisco-based Economics Research Associates is the best overview of the proposed expansion and its pros and cons. Some highlights. Pages 21-23 discuss the business that the Convention Center could lose without an expansion. Pages 39-47 discuss the competitive market for convention centers. Pages 58-63 are an interesting recap of interviews the consultant did about San Diego with those in the meeting industry. Pages 72-77 discuss the economic impact of an expansion on San Diego.
- Power Point presentation by financing consultant PiperJaffray. This is the latest financial data that the task force has received. Page 3 is a breakdown of costs. Pages 4-7 talk about debt service. Pages 8-10 discuss possible revenue sources.
- For those looking for an anti-expansion point of view, here’s a May 5, 2009 presentation by University of Texas at San Antonio Professor Heywood Sanders, the nation’s top critic on convention center expansions. Linked here is a transcript of his presentation and here is a transcript of his question and answer session with the task force. Sanders also wrote an op-ed for the U-T.
All the documents and presentations are on the task force’s website.