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Councilman demands BACVA accountability
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Related Topics: BALTIMORE
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People sit on the steps in front of the Baltimore Convention Center.
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Baltimore City Councilman Jack Kraft will seek to tie funding to the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association to its ability to bring in convention dollars.
“We have the ability in our budget to place certain review provisions that would allow us to hold up funding of the agency, and I am considering asking for that type of language,” Kraft said.
Presently, 85 percent of BACVA’s budget comes from the city’s hotel/motel tax, which accounts for about $8 million. The rest comes from its members and marketing partners for a total operating budget of $9.9 million.
However, across the country many convention centers are operating at a loss, and the new head of BACVA has projected a 60 percent drop in bookings for 2008.
“Conventions are booked five to seven years in advance, and I don’t know what happened with my predecessor; they did good in 2004-2005, but bookings for 2006-2008 have a gap, and that’s the drop we are seeing currently,” said Tom Noonan, president and chief executive officer of BACVA.
“We are trying to close that gap with more corporate and pharmaceutical bookings, but there is a dip. However, we will have a strong showing for 2009 through [the coming years],” he added.
Noonan hopes to open a New York office, launch a new ad campaign for the 757-room downtown Hilton Hotel, and increase his sales and marketing staff.
Trends Analysis Projects LLC, a third-party consultant, also will come in to evaluate the destination.
Jeff Eastman of TAP said his company outlines strong and weak months almost eight years into the future.
He has conducted studies in more than 35 other cities across the country and can benchmark regions against each other for measurement.
“I mean, we lay it all out there, the good, the bad, the ugly,” Eastman said. “It’s transparency at its best.”
Noonan praised the objectivity of the study.
“What I like about it is, it’s not us saying it, and it’s not the hotel community," Noonan said. "It’s a guy who’s a pro saying what we should be doing it.”
Eastman said the single largest advantage of using TAP reports is to get the hotels, convention centers and bureaus working on the same page.
For Kraft, that is not enough.
“I want them to have the money they need to do this job, but I want the job done,” he said. “We have a lot of money invested in BACVA’s success, and we owe it to the residents of the city to ensure a return on their investment.”
rchappelle@baltimoreexaminer.com
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Examiner Reader said:
The 2000 census recorded 8.5% of the Tenderloin population as youth (under 18 years of age). Where did the over 500 additional youth come from?
4 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader for the laughs said:
Yes, if we can finally get a Tenderloin supermarket and get rid of some of the corner liquor stores that would be more of an accomplishment for the residents. Having a museum helps those who would make money off of it. The residents need quality food and hope for a brighter future. If the property owners are looking for a boost in their value of property they should work with the community and not hide behind limited partnerships and incompetent property managers.
9 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader for the laughs said:
Here is another story about the Tenderloin were paid employees are contacted by the media to discuss the exact same issues they are making a living on. Again, another news article that disempowers residents into mere statistics. So, who exactly going to make some money related to this article?
10 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Many of the tenderloin's residents live there because they can AFFORD to. Immigrants can get a start there and its a place where people on fixed incomes can make something of a home. What I'm hearing here is a call for gentrification in search of increased rents. Where are the current residents going to move? Its not like San Francisco needs one more costly neighborhood to live in.
3 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
they should have an oral history of prostitution in the tenderloin museum. heh, i know that gal!
2 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
""As it stands, the neighborhood has dozens of empty storefronts and one of the highest crime rates in The City — though only about 15 percent of that crime is perpetrated by people who live there, said Tenderloin Police Station Capt. Gary Jimenez. As of July, the Tenderloin had seen about 3,500 arrests. The area is one of five San Francisco neighborhoods where police have boosted manpower to curb violent crime."" Can anyone please confirm that Supervisor Daly is moving from his condo on Stevenson Street to Eddy so he will oversee the non-gentrification of his District 6. Remember the Supervisor does not want any trees planted on Eddy since that will beautify the area and bring in the white yuppies....yeah right typical Karl Rove technique..yeah its all the white yuppies fault. While your at it why not throw in the guppies and families with children.
3 agree | 5 disagree
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Sean from Baltimore said:
Remember the original variety, quirkiness and charm of the Pavilions? It's GONE. The interior layout has been hacked up and blocked off, restaurants keep closing, and the remaining high-quality specialty shops are leaving one by one. The upper floor of the Light Street Pavilion is a WASTELAND beyond the food court. General Growth Properties has done a HORRIBLE job.
6 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
rouse, then owner, said this about horrible place 10 years ago, hat in hand for city $. do your homework. some figures and perspective might make your business stories relevant to somebody.
6 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
journalism -- or press release, which some construe and present to the world as journalism on the cheap. it shows.
6 agree | 4 disagree
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Bill said:
um...Fire & Ice *is* a national chain. Ok, so fill the empty space with 'upscale national retailers'. What have you got? TowsonTown Center South. BFD.
6 agree | 5 disagree
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Rocko said:
I was in OC this past weekend and it was VERY quiet down there. Much fewer people than I am used to seeing this time of year. I have been going to OC at least8 times per year over the past 20 years, and it was much quieter than usual.
4 agree | 5 disagree
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mike johnson said:
As a native born Baltimorean, I have always had an inferiority complex next to Philly and Washington DC. There have been places that are must-sees for people coming into town, like the architecture around Mount Vernon, the restaurants of Little Italy and Inner Harbor East, the wineries in Carroll and Harford County (in season), and the world class gems of the Walters and BMA. Historically, Philadelphia shined in the colonial period and has been lovingly restored. Washington is the home of a thousand federally funded tourist attractions. Baltimore became a major city in that period of time after the powdered wig era and before Washington became capital of the world. Americans have lost track of how much of the US of today would not exist without the sailing ships, steam locomotives, warehouseman and factory workers that met here. Show me the last time one of the conventioneers was murdered in Baltimore. Baltimore is a city, not Disneyland, but I like it.
283 agree | 288 disagree
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