Convention Business

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's power play to seize control of the board that oversees the city's tourism and convention promotional efforts sends precisely the wrong signal. It marks a giant step backward in Baltimore's attempts to compete against other cities for convention business.The loss of Crown Central Petroleum owner Henry A. Rosenberg Jr. as chairman of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association is one this city can ill afford. He has been one of the city's biggest and most consistent boosters.

Last summer, when Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke traveled to San Francisco to woo convention business, he flew in the private comfort of a corporate jet -- the Crown Central Petroleum Corp. jet, courtesy of the company's chief executive officer, Henry A. Rosenberg Jr.There, the two men stood together on the deck of the Pride of Baltimore II, the promotional clipper ship, greeting executives who, they hoped, would be so impressed with the city's hospitality that they'd favor Baltimore with their lucrative convention business.

As Wayne C. Chappell prepares to leave his job after 17 years as convention director, downtown's tourism leaders fear he will be hard to replace because the city spends so little to lure conventioneers."

Is tourism good business for Baltimore?This is a dispute that rages on among downtown boosters and such critics as University of Wisconsin urbanologist Marc V. Levine, who says most jobs created by conventioneers and other visitors are essentially low-paying hamburger flippers' jobs. His nTC criticism has been embraced by such groups as Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development and the American Federation State, County and Municipal Employees, which use Dr. Levine's arguments as organizing tools.

Local tourism officials, who won $150 million in taxpayer money to double the size of the Baltimore Convention Center, are now warning that the investment may not pay off without additional funds to promote it.But there's a dispute over where that money should come from, and whether even a heavily advertised convention center can live up to its promise of creating 6,600 new jobs and adding $30 million a year in new taxes by the year 2000.For as workers dig the foundation of an addition to the 15-year-old hall on West Pratt Street, dozens of cities are undergoing similar expansions.

Despite strong support this week in the House of Delegates for doubling the size of the Baltimore Convention Center, doubts remain among some senators about the wisdom of this $150 million project. With just over a week to go before adjournment, legislators should place passage of this bill at the top of their priority list.It would be foolish for senators to turn down this proposal. Why? For one thing, it won't cost the state anything. All of the state's $100 million contribution will be paid out of the added tax revenue generated by the expanded convention business -- plus another $12 million a year in profits.

It's easy for a demagogue in the General Assembly to decry the proposed expansion of the Baltimore Convention Center. After all, this is a $150 million project, with $100 million coming from the state. In a time of taxpayer resentment against any large-sized government spending, some legislators are gleefully trying to block this project.That is a shortsighted and painfully costly position. This is one government initiative where the taxpayer comes out ahead. In fact, were the naysayers successful in voting down this project, taxpayers would wind up owing millions more every year to bail out a debt-laden convention center.

Supporters of the proposed $150 million expansion of the Baltimore Convention Center have changed their tune this year, and the General Assembly seems much more inclined to dance to this one.Instead of stressing the benefits the project would have for Baltimore or the state as a whole, backers are pointing to the 200 tons of chicken that downtown hotels buy from the Eastern Shore, the millions of dollars of produce and seafood they buy from Jessup and...

Evidence mounts that failure to expand the Baltimore Convention Center will cost the state dearly in lost tax revenue, but that an enlarged facility is a real financial winner for the citizens of Maryland.At a recent legislative hearing on the $150 million plan to double the size of the Baltimore center, the legislature's own fiscal analyst said there "is potential for significant 'profit' in terms of revenue." The analyst also pointed out that failure to expand could lead to a sharp drop in state revenue from conventions and trade shows.