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By Lori
Weisberg, The
San Diego
Union-Tribune March 19, 2012 San
Diego Convention Center with expansion — San Diego Convention Center
Corp.
As hoteliers prepare this month to begin voting on a special room tax that would help finance a $520 million expansion of San Diego’s Convention Center, the mayor’s office has been orchestrating a plan to effectively give the lodging industry more control over marketing of the center. A hastily scheduled meeting of the San Diego Convention Center Corp. will be held Monday to consider turning over its responsibilities for booking the center for conventions and trade shows to the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, governed by a 30-member board, half of whom are representatives from local hotels. The following day, the City Council will consider an amendment to accomplish the same objective. San Diego hoteliers, who
are being asked to approve a new levy of up to 3 percent of room rates,
have been pressing Mayor Jerry Sanders for some time for a commitment
to give them more representation on the Convention Center Corp. board,
arguing that the bulk of the expanded center cost will be financed with
room tax revenue. Their mail-in ballots are due by April 23. Some council members, however, have made it clear they would not support a change in the board’s composition. In the meantime, Sanders’ office says it has been looking at ways to more effectively market the center in hopes of generating additional overnight stays in hotels. The special meeting of the Convention Center Corp. was prompted by a request from Steve Cushman, a special assistant to Mayor Jerry Sanders on the convention center project, said corporation president Carol Wallace, who opposes the change. “The industry has been clear they want to be involved in the marketing and sales of the convention center so this seemed like a good solution,” Cushman said. “We’re going to spend $520 million, so we have to make sure we have the most effective sales team we can have, and that’s what this is all about.” For the rest of the story please visit:https://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/16/feud-brewing-over-marketing-of-convention-center/ |
Contact: Lori Weisberg, Staff Writer San Diego Union-Tribune 350 Camino de la Reina San Diego, CA 92102 619-293-2251 [email protected] |