Monday June 30 2014
This weekend I wrote a spoof on the efforts of those now in downtown San Antonio to get the rest of us to move there.
The same thing was happening in Odessa, TX when a new mayor was elected there in the 1990s. Same story, City Hall and the news paper, both downtown, wanted more people downtown. The result was a Federal Grant that planted trees in the middle of Main Street, but I don't think anyone ever moved downtown. Years earlier attempts ot put a new coliseum downtown failed.
Now here the City Council goes again, buying land to attract a hotel. Here is an excerpt from a radio show In a Monday radio interview with conservative talk show host Jason Moore, Odessa Mayor David Turner defended the city’s decision to bring the project to the area. Turner represents the City adn Moore is the conservative radio talk show dubious about the use of city money for land with no vote by the citizens.
“To get anything downtown, we're going to need an anchor,” Turner said during the interview.
During a Thursday interview, Turner echoed his sentiments about the project.
“Well, if the town expands like it’s has … then there’s going to be quite a bit of land that is sitting vacant downtown,” he said. “It (the project) will help bring in people and drive up the taxable value of an area that is slowly having people moving out.”
During the interview, Moore expressed displeasure with the city spending taxpayer money on the land, and was concerned city officials could spend more without taking the construction issue to local voters.
Turner has previously said that he is against taking the issue to the voters because that would mean the city would have to use more taxpayer money. Instead, Turner and multiple council members have said they want to use the land as incentives to have a hotel chain take on the project themselves.
Long said he is still hoping to have the project located in the downtown area.
“You don’t have to navigate town or deal with traffic or even know the town, you’re right there,” he said.on the topic of hte City trying for a downtown hotel.
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