Someone is building a hotel and convention center in our region and it’s not near downtown Tucson. The Pasqua Yaqui tribe is building a hotel and convention center west of downtown Tucson. Private money building private projects is a novel concept. Unless and until Tucson government starts getting out of the way we’ll never see a downtown revitalization.
The best quote from the article:
Larry Hecker, a local attorney and member of Downtown Tucson Partnership’s board, said the Sol Casinos project announced Friday can only increase the viability of Tucson as a convention destination.
“I think the more people who identify Tucson as a destination for these kind of things - a destination for conventions and for large group meetings - the better everyone does,” Hecker said. “It just enhances Tucson’s image in the marketplace as a desirable place for conventions and group meetings.”
At the same time, the revitalization of the Tucson Convention Center is progressing “fairly aggressively,” Hecker said.
Kimberly Schmitz, director of communications and public relations for the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau, also welcomed Sol Casinos’ plans.
“The Pascua Yaqui have created some really great products for our destination,” Schmitz said. “An additional 215 rooms to Southern Arizona’s offering are always welcome, and we will definitely look forward to promoting this and the convention center as part of our product.”
How can they do that without paying a mordita to the downtown “assistance organizations”?
The Yaqui tribe is not a “private money building private projects.” It’s a government, in this case subsidized by gambling dollars, investing those dollars into a project in order to attract more gaming dollars. There is no private market for building a convention hotel. Don’t delude yourselves.
The City of Tucson should lease space next to the TCC to the Pascua Yaqui tribe, and let them build the hotel there, along with a casino.
Just for the record, the developer of the downtown Tucson convention hotel (Garfield Traub) has absolutely no skin in the game. They haven’t invested a nickel of their own money. They are a fee developer. They’ve used some of the money that Tucson taxpayers have paid them to sell us this dog, paying hacks like Larry Hecker and Michael Guymon to be their consultant lobbyists. Hecker gets quoted in the newspaper, sounding like a dispassionate booster, and the lazy reporter doesn’t know or disclose that Hecker has a conflict of interest up the yin-yang. A $6K per month conflict.
Just a thought. Have the tribe purchase the Hotel Arizona. They can propose the same deal that Lopez did. If they can build something in Glendale why not downtown Tucson?
Given Lopez’s apparent reluctance to continue the recall I’d say it might be a winning deal all the way round…
Watchdog has noted Lord Hecker’s $6K/mo. gig.
Remember, NOTHING happens in Tucson until Lord Hecker gets his cut. Even the taco truck on S. 12th has to give Larry his piece.