CTroyMathis
12-21-2002, 12:53 PM
$160 million proposal wakes up public
Bud Kennedy commentary
Star-Telegram
Bud Kennedy
FORT WORTH - When a preacher saw a "panther's" tracks near the courthouse square in 1875, the few hundred hardy townsfolk of dying Fort Worth swung into action.
"A public meeting was immediately called," the Dallas Daily Herald teased.
"Fort Worth never does anything without a meeting."
More than 127 years after that public forum on the original Fort Worth Cat, this city still won't do anything - especially not approve a $160 million convention hotel - without meetings.
Don't worry. You'll vote. The election on Fort Worth tourism and downtown development is exactly when it should be: May 3.
That's the day of the City Council election. If you don't like the idea of the city building a convention hotel - or other big plans from this heavily planning-driven council - that's the day to bring in your own personal petition.
Sometimes, this is a council of visionaries. Sometimes, they're only hallucinating.
Obviously, whoever thought voters pinching Christmas pennies would simply OK a $160 million hotel loan had forgotten about the panther.
Fort Worth folks might go along with the city building a hotel to spur tourism. But not this exact hotel, and not borrowing this much money. Definitely not without meetings.
As much as I complain about this smug City Council - which pushed its own grandiose plans and ignored door-to-door democracy - building a convention hotel is probably a good idea.
The ultimate payback adds up to more than the price tag. Even if the hotel itself struggles - and these days, most do - we'll still earn money all over town selling steaks and souvenirs to new convention guests.
The question isn't whether City Hall should "go into the hotel business" or compete to make money.
The question is whether a sensibly funded convention hotel would bring in more tourists - and make all of Fort Worth more money.
The dollars-and-cents end of the deal has been fine-tuned well. It's getting closer to fail-safe, although a strong review could probably save more public dollars.
There's still a skyscraper-high stack of questions that need answers, though - from the proposed location on isolated 14th Street to the city's preference for a luxury high-rise Hilton instead of a moderate-priced business-class hotel.
Also, there's this little problem of what to do for the city's old convention hotels.
One, now a Ramada Plaza, could offer a perfect peek into the future of a Hilton convention hotel.
That's exactly what the Ramada was - a luxury Hilton - from the 1960s until the aging Hilton Inn Fort Worth closed and changed hands in 1991, when Fort Worth was suffering from defense cutbacks on top of the 1980s Texas economic bust.
Another hotel, the city's most historic, might lose business if too many conventioneers move to a new city hotel.
When President Kennedy woke up there on Nov. 22, 1963, it was still the Hotel Texas. Now, the stately, 81-year-old hotel is a Radisson Plaza.
Yet the hotel's Dallas owner chooses to spend money fighting City Hall instead of simply restoring the landmark to the four-star level.
Normally, I'd agree that City Hall should not be dabbling in the hotel industry. I'd rather see city inducements offered first to private developers - say, money to attract a new business hotel like Hilton's Doubletree brand and maybe even money for upgrading the Ramada or Radisson.
But City Hall has been trying to cut some kind of deal for a new hotel for much of the last 21 years.
That's how long it has been since anybody built a downtown Fort Worth hotel from the ground up: 21 years. We've gone nearly a decade with no showcase hotel alongside the convention center.
So I can definitely see why the City Council got into such an all-fired hurry.
The hotel is worth talking about - before and after May 3.
The Fort Worth City Council finally heard the roar of the people. And the panther.
Bud Kennedy commentary
Star-Telegram
Bud Kennedy
FORT WORTH - When a preacher saw a "panther's" tracks near the courthouse square in 1875, the few hundred hardy townsfolk of dying Fort Worth swung into action.
"A public meeting was immediately called," the Dallas Daily Herald teased.
"Fort Worth never does anything without a meeting."
More than 127 years after that public forum on the original Fort Worth Cat, this city still won't do anything - especially not approve a $160 million convention hotel - without meetings.
Don't worry. You'll vote. The election on Fort Worth tourism and downtown development is exactly when it should be: May 3.
That's the day of the City Council election. If you don't like the idea of the city building a convention hotel - or other big plans from this heavily planning-driven council - that's the day to bring in your own personal petition.
Sometimes, this is a council of visionaries. Sometimes, they're only hallucinating.
Obviously, whoever thought voters pinching Christmas pennies would simply OK a $160 million hotel loan had forgotten about the panther.
Fort Worth folks might go along with the city building a hotel to spur tourism. But not this exact hotel, and not borrowing this much money. Definitely not without meetings.
As much as I complain about this smug City Council - which pushed its own grandiose plans and ignored door-to-door democracy - building a convention hotel is probably a good idea.
The ultimate payback adds up to more than the price tag. Even if the hotel itself struggles - and these days, most do - we'll still earn money all over town selling steaks and souvenirs to new convention guests.
The question isn't whether City Hall should "go into the hotel business" or compete to make money.
The question is whether a sensibly funded convention hotel would bring in more tourists - and make all of Fort Worth more money.
The dollars-and-cents end of the deal has been fine-tuned well. It's getting closer to fail-safe, although a strong review could probably save more public dollars.
There's still a skyscraper-high stack of questions that need answers, though - from the proposed location on isolated 14th Street to the city's preference for a luxury high-rise Hilton instead of a moderate-priced business-class hotel.
Also, there's this little problem of what to do for the city's old convention hotels.
One, now a Ramada Plaza, could offer a perfect peek into the future of a Hilton convention hotel.
That's exactly what the Ramada was - a luxury Hilton - from the 1960s until the aging Hilton Inn Fort Worth closed and changed hands in 1991, when Fort Worth was suffering from defense cutbacks on top of the 1980s Texas economic bust.
Another hotel, the city's most historic, might lose business if too many conventioneers move to a new city hotel.
When President Kennedy woke up there on Nov. 22, 1963, it was still the Hotel Texas. Now, the stately, 81-year-old hotel is a Radisson Plaza.
Yet the hotel's Dallas owner chooses to spend money fighting City Hall instead of simply restoring the landmark to the four-star level.
Normally, I'd agree that City Hall should not be dabbling in the hotel industry. I'd rather see city inducements offered first to private developers - say, money to attract a new business hotel like Hilton's Doubletree brand and maybe even money for upgrading the Ramada or Radisson.
But City Hall has been trying to cut some kind of deal for a new hotel for much of the last 21 years.
That's how long it has been since anybody built a downtown Fort Worth hotel from the ground up: 21 years. We've gone nearly a decade with no showcase hotel alongside the convention center.
So I can definitely see why the City Council got into such an all-fired hurry.
The hotel is worth talking about - before and after May 3.
The Fort Worth City Council finally heard the roar of the people. And the panther.