Sunday, September 26, 1999

Sabin plan may cost city $51M

---

Portune, Cissell ask council to contribute to expansion

BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

An aerial view of the Dr. Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        Cincinnati City Council could decide as soon as this week whether to contribute municipal funds toward the proposed $405 million expansion of the downtown convention center.

        Councilman Todd Portune said he and Councilmember Jeanette Cissell will ask council Wednesday to approve an ordinance that would commit the city to financing $51 million of the proposed expansion.

        “It's time. It's time for the city to decide in clear and unequivocal terms whether we're going to expand the city's convention center or not,” Mr. Portune said.

        “I don't know if the votes are there or not,” he said. “But I do know if we don't act favorably on it, the project is dead.”

        The proposed expansion of the Dr. Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center has been discussed among civic and business leaders for nine years. This latest effort is widely viewed by civic and busines leaders as the best chance to get the job done.

        Proponents argue that doubling the size of the center would attract more out-of-town visitors — and their money — to Cincinnati. They point to a study that predicts a $312 million economic impact from the project.

        But critics say such expansions are more about boosterism than economics and that

        convention centers rarely produce such results. Local anti-tax activist Tom Brinkman Jr. has vowed to mount a petition initiative to challenge any council vote that would help fund the expansion.

        Mr. Portune, a supporter of the expansion plan, said other groups expected to commit money to the project aren't likely to do so unless the city commits its funding first.

        In addition, he said, “the project becomes more expensive the more we wait.”

        Greater Cincinnati Convention & Visitors Bureau President Michael Wilson wouldn't go so far as to say the project would die without council approval next week.

        But he called the city's funding “essential.”

        “The benefits affect first the downtown area,” he said. “The other fact of life is it's the city's building. ... It only makes logical sense that they should certainly be part of the initial funding for the expansion.”

        Exactly what impact the $51 million expense — paid back over 30 years — would have on the city budget is unclear, although officials say no property tax increase would be needed. Council members have varying plans for making room in the budget for it.

        Proponents of the expansion do have some money lined up:

        • City council in June approved a 1.5 percentage-point increase in the citywide hotel tax, which is expected to generate enough money to support $17 million in bonds for the project. That tax increase will take effect Jan. 1, only if proponents can raise $20 million in private contributions by then.

        • Delta Air Lines pledged that same month to pay $30 million for naming rights to the expanded center. Top officials have said they want a name that honors Dr. Sabin, whose oral polio vaccine is credited with virtually wiping out the disease.

        But no other funding has been announced since then, and proponents are hoping for millions in contributions from Hamilton County, the state of Ohio and even from Kentucky.

        Mr. Wilson said he doesn't know of any specific deadlines council must meet, but he agreed with Mr. Portune that the longer the community waits, the more expensive the project will become.

        “The time is now to act,” he said. “The city is hopefully poised to take action.”

       

---

Sabin plan may cost city $51M
Cigarette marketing targets night life
History might help fuel dreams for blacks
The prime of Jeff Ruby
Distractions vs. real issues
Listen carefully to our frail elders
Let's declare war of sexes officially over
Can't get to Denver from here
Politics 101: Big money buys access
Amid fun, beer fest recalls tragedy
Archdiocese faces growth
Concourse C ready in Oct.
Light rail planners to seek input
Special needs multiplying
'All arts, all my life'
Immigrant saved from deportation
Justin fight unlikely to go federal
Pastor guides community as well as church
Pigeon invasion has town baffled
Three ready to admit they ran bet ring
Residents fight Main St. widening
Turfway changes; turnout grows
Golf goes high-tech at Oxford course
Perfect score just the beginning
Save Our Treasures
'Snoops,' 'Jack & Jill,' fall down
GET TO IT
TRISTATE DIGEST