Convention Center Expansion Updates

[We vs us]

Sorry for the awful formatting, but I clipped this directly from the Resolution text:

Convention Center Expansion
320 The City Council desires to re-envision the Convention Center as an active, community
321 oriented civic building that enhances the culturally rich fabric of the Palm District and
322 desires to begin the process to expand the Austin Convention Center. To that end, the
323 Council directs the City Manager as follows:
324 1. The City Manager is directed to recommend an initial design for a Convention
325 Center expansion and to begin with Convention Center Scenario 5 (as outlined in the
326 UT Center for Sustainable Development Study) because, of the scenarios presented,
327 this one best represents the desired re-envisioning of what a convention center can
328 be, including not only additional convention space but also optimizing public space
329 and enhancing place-making and connectivity within the Palm District, especially
330 along Second Street, Waller Creek, and Palm Park. The Council directs this action
331 with the understanding that other and additional elements could and perhaps should
332 be included, that any design will need to meet practical and financial considerations,
333 and that the City Council, the staff, and the public will need to be afforded ample
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334 opportunities for appropriate explorations of different aspects of this scenario,
335 including the financial rationale, estimated costs, and potential funding options.
336 2. The City Manager is directed to analyze and recommend a financing plan for a
337 Convention Center expansion as described above. Funding mechanisms should
338 include but not be limited to consideration of the recommendations of the Visitor
339 Impact Task Force, a potential two percent increase to the Hotel Occupancy Tax
340 under Section 351.1065 of the Texas Tax Code, and public-private partnerships.
341 Expansion financing and funding for ongoing Convention Center operations may not
342 include general obligation debt, any property tax pledge, General Fund revenue, or
343 reserves. However, should it be recommended that non-convention center elements
344 be included in the expansion (for example, a fire station relocation), separate
345 financing or funding may be proposed.
346 3. The City Manager should explore all possibilities related to land leasing, acquisition,
347 and the establishment of public-private partnerships for the expansion project.
348 4. The City Manager should work with stakeholders in the Austin Hotel and Lodging
349 Association and the Downtown Austin Alliance to prepare for the establishment of a
350 Tourism Public Improvement District allowing for up to a two percent assessment
351 on a taxable hotel room night to generate revenue that would make available
352 funding, directly or indirectly, to help address homelessness in Austin, especially in
353 the area near the Austin Convention Center.
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354 5. Convention Center planning, design, and financing efforts should assume
355 participation in Green Building and LEED certification programs as well as the
356 Better Builder Program or a program with comparable worker protections. The
357 assumptions should also take into account the Council’s desire to create a zero
358 waste, net zero energy, and net positive water facility. The efforts should consider
359 including, if practical, a new Downtown fire station, an Austin Energy water chiller,
360 as well as any other municipal needs the Manager might identify.
361 6. The City Manager is directed to incorporate these efforts into the Palm District
362 planning effort described in this resolution. The beginning of the convention center
363 expansion process should inform that planning process, just as that planning process
364 should inform the expansion process. The two processes should also operate
365 independently.
366 7. The City Manager should present as much of this convention center expansion
367 analysis and initial design as is available by July 31, 2019, and should present a
368 timeline, if not already completed, for the design work and for the documents,
369 actions, and ordinances necessary to adopt and initiate the additional hotel
370 occupancy taxes and to undertake an expansion

It's kind of a wild document. They want to roll A LOT of districwide planning efforts together into grand effort. It's essentially Adler's Downtown Puzzle with 5x more pieces. Major takeways for the CC are:

• Council has selected scenario 5 from the UT study. Doesn't say if it's 5.1 or 5.2 -- maybe both?
• They approve of increasing the occ tax by 2%
• They approve of the Tourism Improvement District (which is Adler's mechanism to simultaneously fund the CC and fund homeless programs)
• They want the building to be LEED certified (no surprise) and want to look in to incorporating a fire station and/or a chiller facility
• City Manager is to come back with an overall timeline by July 31, 2019.

[freerover]

Impressive number of supporters for the downtown puzzle resolution.

[We vs us]

Lots of hotel folks are going to be there, from what I hear.

[The ATX]

According to KXAN, the CC voted to proceed with Scenario 5.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by The ATX

According to KXAN, the CC voted to proceed with Scenario 5.

It’s an indication to staff but we aren’t at the approval point yet.

[shoreditch]

FWIW, I was at the Mueller Farmers Market this morning, and there were volunteers out getting people to sign a petition against the convention centre expansion already. So, at least from the vocal farmers market NIMBYs we can expect no good will.

[drummer]

Originally Posted by shoreditch

FWIW, I was at the Mueller Farmers Market this morning, and there were volunteers out getting people to sign a petition against the convention centre expansion already. So, at least from the vocal farmers market NIMBYs we can expect no good will.

Interesting. What were their primary reasons?

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by drummer

Interesting. What were their primary reasons?

Well, we know it's not worrying about the city's debt obligations or rating. Ha!

[shoreditch]

Originally Posted by drummer

Interesting. What were their primary reasons?

I didn't stop to hear them out, but the one point I did hear the person trying to make was 'why are we spending a billion dollars on a convention centre expansion when AISD is closing 11 schools!'

It seemed like the typical arguments of more development = more traffic = more expensive housing = less affordability and ease of getting around town.

[the Genral]

Has anyone ever considered expanding the CC under it?

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by the Genral

Has anyone ever considered expanding the CC under it?

freerover or someone else can probably provide more accurate info, but I think that is what the 5.x option that City Council voted for does. I think it goes both higher and lower.

[ATXboom]

Originally Posted by The ATX

freerover or someone else can probably provide more accurate info, but I think that is what the 5.x option that City Council voted for does. I think it goes both higher and lower.

That is my understanding as well. Very much like Washington DC’s convention center...

[freerover]

Originally Posted by the Genral

Has anyone ever considered expanding the CC under it?

What do you mean? One of the things studied was building on top of the existing convention center but it was deemed too disruptive and expensive.

For option 5, the new section will have 2 floors of expo floor which is kind of nice. The South extension in the Vegas convention center is the same and it's nicer than having to walk a mile across a more sprawling convention center floor.


IIRC, the underground floors will be all utility access.

[GoldenBoot]

The following is being disseminated by AIBA (Austin Independent Business Alliance):

More than a year ago AIBA became involved with the Tourism Task Force in working to reallocate some of the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) to promoting local business to tourists. After all, we are a huge attraction to tourists. Tourists don't come here to experience what they have at home. They come here to experience the flavor of our local culture. And local business is one of the greatest expressions of that local flavor. Unfortunately, we weren't successful.

I didn't start out being against expansion of the Convention Center. I really didn't know enough to be for or against it. But what I learned sitting in hours and hours of meetings and presentations enlightened me and left me with an opinion—a very strong opinion.

When I learned that the Convention Center produces only 4% of Austin's tourists but garners more than 70% of all public tourism finding, I was left scratching my head. When I learned that SXSW alone represents 30% of the 4%, I started to ask questions. When I learned that Visit Austin wants to expand the Convention Center to the (now estimated) $1.2 Billion, I started calculating return on investment. It didn't take long for me to realize this makes no sense. The convention industry is flat. Even if the Convention Center saw a 50% increase in business (extremely unlikely, when did you last see a 50% increase in business?), that's only a 2% increase in visitors. Cultural tourism (that's us local businesses) is what's growing.

All this led me to ask "If Austin has $1.2 Billion to invest in attracting tourists, how could that money be better spent?" If 96% of our visitors come for reasons other than an event at the Convention Center, what could we do to attract more? What could we do that could also benefit Austinites too? More arts venues? Taking care of our parks? Supporting the music community that we all love 365? Bring more tourists into local businesses so that money could circulate all over Austin? Enhance something in every part of town instead of just downtown? The possibilities are almost endless. And this is where I landed. Squarely against expansion of the Convention Center. It doesn't make sense on any level.

But this isn't my decision. Right now, it's not yours either. The HOT revenue is a community asset that should be treated as such. AIBA has members who would like to see the Convention Center expanded. They believe this could be good for their business. I can respect that. But as a community asset, I believe it should be up to us, all of us, how it is allocated. While I may be against expansion, out of respect for all our members AIBA is not taking a position on expansion. My role here is educational advocacy—informing you of the facts so you can make your own decisions.

However we are partnering with SOS Alliance and others to give you the vote. We're doing this through a petition to have a ballot measure added to call for public votes when spending billions of your dollars. In the coming weeks you'll be hearing more from us about the petition. To be clear, the petition isn't to stop expansion of the Convention Center but to let the public decide. I hope you can all get behind this choice.

For now, read more information on this at www.unconventionalaustin.org. It's still under construction but all the basics are there. You can download the petition here.
If you are so moved to get involved, we have many options.

(a) Either have clipboard on counter and ask people to sign themselves, or allow petitioners outside your door.
(b) Have a small front and back handout on the counter explaining why it is important to support the hotel tax citizen petition ordinance.
(c) Be listed publicly as a supporter
(d) Host a "signing day" at your business that would target getting signatures and also have a tip jar for donations to the campaign.
(e) include a short blurb in any customer list email or newsletter about why it is important to prioritize our hotel tax tourism dollars for local art, music, business, parks, and historic preservation and to limit expenditures for the Convention Center. Not against the Convention Center, just don't want the Convention Center taking all of the money when it's not bringing visitors to town and does nothing to help 99% percent of local residents and businesses (we can help with this).

If you have any questions or just want to talk about this, please don't hesitate to contact me at [email protected].

AUSTIN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS ALLIANCE
REBECCA MELANÇON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, [email protected]
WWW.IBUYAUSTIN.COM • 512-441-2123
PO BOX 49545 • AUSTIN, TEXAS 78765

[We vs us]

Merits of the argument aside, isn't this too little too late? I assume that the earliest a referendum could make it onto the ballot would be in 2020. And by that time the Council will have had time to greenlight this project completely.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by We vs us

Merits of the argument aside, isn't this too little too late? I assume that the earliest a referendum could make it onto the ballot would be in 2020. And by that time the Council will have had time to greenlight this project completely.

The referendum would be in November if he can get the petition certified by early August.

[ILUVSAT]

How many public referendums can be placed on a single ballot? Isn't there already one against the MLS/McKalla stadium on the ballot for this coming November?

I thought there could only be one and that any additional ones must be at least six (or nine) months apart (hence the McKalla referendum was not on this month's ballot due to a referendum on November's ballot)?!?

[freerover]

Originally Posted by ILUVSAT

How many public referendums can be placed on a single ballot? Isn't there already one against the MLS/McKalla stadium on the ballot for this coming November?

I thought there could only be one and that any additional ones must be at least six (or nine) months apart (hence the McKalla referendum was not on this month's ballot due to a referendum on November's ballot)?!?

There can only be 1 special election in a 6 month time span. That's why the MLS vote wasn't in May. I don't think there is a limit to how many petitions you can have in a special election. We had 2 last November.

[ILUVSAT]

Originally Posted by freerover

There can only be 1 special election in a 6 month time span. That's why the MLS vote wasn't in May. I don't think there is a limit to how many petitions you can have in a special election. We had 2-3 last November.

Okay. Thanks.

So, I guess there is a chance this could get on the ballot in November.

Don't you think the law makes it far too easy to get these on a ballot?

[freerover]

Originally Posted by ILUVSAT

Okay. Thanks.

So, I guess there is a chance this could get on the ballot in November.

Don't you think the law makes it far too easy to get these on a ballot?

Absolutely. It's a way for special interests to try to override council elections. Someone from Bastrop should not be able to start a petition to change Austin laws.

There also needs to be more transparency. The name of this petition is "Petition to Support Austin's Music, Arts & Cultural Tourism for the benefit of all of Austin." Petitions should be titled based on what they actually do and not the author's interpretation of the effects. It should be called "Petition to prevent convention center expansion."