Erie Convention Center Authority executive director Casey Wells called a news conference to announce the big news the Bayfront Convention Center didn’t lose as much money as it was projected to! Oh, it still lost money, just less than expected, or at least that ‘s what Mr. Wells would hope you believe.
Here are the facts that were laid out at the press conference: for 2007 the Convention Center hosted 157 events and drew 62,736 people, with projections calling for just 56 events and 26,800 people.
For 2008 the facility is on track to host 284 events and 198,516 people far exceeding the 131 events and 59,500 visitors projected by C. H Johnson Consulting, the Chicago-based outfit that conducted the feasibility study for the Authority.
As for dollars and cents, the Center had an operational shortfall of $167,097 in 2007, which was substantially lower than the $838,932 shortfall that was budgeted for by the Authority.
Sounds like a very positive start right? Here’s the problem, most of the events the convention center played host to were not new events or out of town guests, they were regularly scheduled events that were cannibalized from other Erie facilities. A good portion of that cannibalized business came from facilities owned and operated by the Authority like the Tulio Arena and the Warner Theater.
What Mr. Wells didn’t include in his run down of all the good news for the Bayfront Convention Center is the impact on the operating budgets of those other Authority facilities. The Tulio Arena in particular has had a history of operational shortfalls that have been foisted off on the taxpayers and the loss of regular business to the Convention Center certainly must have had an impact on that bottom line.
You’ve got to wonder why no one in the local media raised the question to Wells about the overall shortfall at all of their facilities. This is about accountability to the taxpayers who footed the bill for this $113+ million boondoggle.
A good follow up question would have been to see a break down of how much out of town business actually took place. If it was only local meetings and events that would have taken place anyway, then the Center has had ZERO economic impact. The only true measure of economic impact is the attraction of NEW dollars to the community; otherwise it’s only a matter of moving the same dollars around in the same pot.
It’s down right laughable when Wells claims that they forecasting for the Convention Center to “fully stabilize,” after five years. How long have they been saying the Tulio Arena which continues to operate at a loss would stabilize?
2 comments:
FFL, this is just another glaring example of the out-of-control authorities that we are blessed to have here in Erie. They answer to no one because they do not have any responsibility to the taxpayers. I believe that all authority members should have to stand for election by the people, since we provide their salaries and the funds they squander so well.
Exactly. Casey Wells, Ray Shreckengost and the rest of those money-wasting politicians should stand for election by us. But they won't, because they'd surely lose.
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