Yeah, the ri$k is put on taxpayers that are dealing with austerity and service cutbacks.
That is not capitalism, nor is it socialism. That is fa$cism in its purest form, not the intentionally mislabeled nationalist versions often cited in history books and jewspapers.
"Potential remake at South Boston convention center" by Casey Ross | Globe Staff, October 03, 2013
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority on Wednesday filed legislation for a massive expansion of its South Boston exhibit hall, saying the $1 billion project is necessary to make Boston a top US destination for meetings and trade shows.
If approved, the project would increase the meeting and exhibit space at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center by 60 percent. The existing building, which opened in 2004, is already the largest of its kind in New England.
The authority’s executive director, James Rooney, said expanding the center itself could be funded without any new taxes or fees. But he said public subsidies will certainly be needed for a separate project the authority is pursuing — an adjacent hotel complex with up to 1,500 rooms.
That means funding with taxes and fees.
Rooney has long argued that the two projects are necessary to help Boston compete for the nation’s biggest trade shows.
“We are losing 14 to 17 major conventions a year just because we don’t have the space to accommodate them,” he said. “There is a lot of money being spent on meetings and conventions in this country.”
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While the project has been under discussion for several years, the filing of the legislation now signals the director believes it stands a good chance of approval....
And yet "even with its successes, the facility posted a $65 million operating loss in the last fiscal year." That doesn't look like $ucce$$ to me.
One business leader involved in vetting the project said funding it without new taxes removes a major political obstacle.
“That is certainly a promising element of the proposal,” said Michael Widmer of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “But one needs to look through it to understand the assumptions they are basing that on.”
Funding for the expansion could weaken if the economy declines or tourism activity is disrupted, as happened following the 9/11 attacks. But Rooney asserted the expansion could proceed even if such an event occurred.
The convention center authority is also pushing a separate effort to build new hotel rooms around the center.
A developer is currently building hundreds of new rooms nearby on land that the authority purchased last year, and officials will soon solicit proposals for a larger hotel complex with up to 1,500 rooms.
Related(?): Building Boston Up
Rooney has said repeatedly that a lack of hotel rooms in the area is a major disadvantage because organizers of large events are forced to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to transport attendees from hotels elsewhere in the city. The South Boston hall has about 1,700 rooms within a half-mile. By contrast, competing facilities in New Orleans, Chicago, and other cities have more than 7,500 rooms within that radius.
But the effort to build a 1,500-room hotel complex could require tens of millions of dollars in public assistance such as tax breaks or direct subsidies.
Yeah, about $200 million or more so the elite of Boston and beyond have a nice place to hold their parties.
That’s because private developers and lenders have been unwilling to take the risk on such a project without public support....
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Related: A Second-Class City
"More important to bankers, the city is attracting well-off, if not wealthy residents. Nearly 10 percent of households in Boston earn more than $190,000, placing them in top 5 percent of incomes, according to the census. Among major cities, only San Jose, in the heart of Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York, and Washington, D.C., have higher concentrations of wealth."
I meant cla$$, readers.
