The following letter was faxed tonight to the two gentlemen charged with running the two main, competing convention facilities in Las Vegas - one funded entirely with private money, the other with $200 million in taxpayer subsidies…
February 20, 2007
Rossi Ralenkotter
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority
3150 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, NV 89109Bill Weidner
Sands Convention Center
201 E. Sands Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89109Gentlemen,
I’ve been reviewing the Governor’s Transition Team report of February 12, 2007, on “Gaming and Tourism” and was particularly struck by the section on the Clark County room tax.
According to the report, over $200 million a year (and growing) is collected and used to subsidize operations of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), despite the presence of substantial “private convention and exhibition space” now in Las Vegas, as well as the huge amount of “private advertising and promotional activities” which market the Las Vegas convention and tourism industries to the nation and the world.
This raises some important public policy questions: “Does LVCVA still need this much of a subsidy from the room tax? How much is enough? And could some or all of the money be better spent on critically needed infrastructure improvements in Clark County, especially road construction along the I-15 corridor connecting Las Vegas to southern California tourists.
On the other hand, I’m sure LVCVA believes its efforts are, in large part, responsible for the continuing financial success and vibrant economy enjoyed by Nevadans, and that its revenue stream from the room tax should continue.
Because this issue is of such importance - not just to the economy of Southern Nevada, but the entire state – and because you two gentlemen are probably the foremost experts and spokespersons on this issue, I am writing to invite you to participate in an open forum to discuss the matter publicly at a mutually convenient date and time in the Las Vegas area.
Please advise as to your willingness to participate in such a forum, which Citizen Outreach would arrange, co-ordinate and host. I am open to suggestions for a mutually-agreeable moderator, as well as recommendations for an appropriate neutral venue.
I hope you’ll agree to contribute to further enlightening the public and the media on this issue. Please let me know if you we can count on your participation. I can be reached in Carson City at (775) 884-9264 or via email at: chuck@citizenoutreach.com
Thank you in advance for your consideration and your willingness to help “shed some light” on this important public policy matter.
Sincerely yours,
Chuck Muth
President
Posted on February 21st, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
[…] A follow-up to our invitation to Bill Weidner of the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas and Rossi Ralenkotter of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) to discuss the LVCVA’s $200 million per year (and growing) subsidy from the hotel room tax and whether or not that money would be better spent on road construction and such rather than advertising to folks who already know that Vegas is a destination resort. You’ll recall that Mr. Weidner accepted our invitation immediately, while Mr. Ralenkotter’s office said the LVCVA chief was out of town and would consider the request upon his return. Well, he’s back…and as the kids would say, he “chickened out.” […]
The proposed expenditure to renovate the Las Vegas Convention Center is a ridiculous waste of the money that was raised by Las Vegas resorts. This will be another expensive fiasco and big time loser like the monorail and the Freemont Experience.
According to figures being used to promote this boondoggle, if Las Vegas lost a few of the biggest conventions in the world then the hotel rooms would be empty and the casinos would be bare during the days that those conventions are elsewhere. Figures don’t lie, but liars can figure.
Would Las Vegas lose all that much convention business just because the Las Vegas Convention Center lost out on some really big conventions? How many days out of the year does Las Vegas host shows at the Las Vegas Convention Center that have 100,000 or more people? Spending $890 million dollars just to facilitate 40 or 50 days a year when the biggest of the big conventions are in town doesn’t even make sense.
The “What stays…” slogan and ad campaign was one of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time. Why isn’t the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spending the proposed $890 million on something else like that?
The analysts and experts say this money has to be spent on the Las Vegas Convention Center or the sky will fall and Las Vegas will become a ghost town. The wonderful thing about the biggest hotels in the world, which just happen to be in Las Vegas, and just happen to have casinos, is they don’t have to make $1 off of their rooms and restaurants in order to make a fortune. So, if the average convention visitor spends $1600 on non-gaming, and Joe and Jane Tourist who come here to gamble and have fun only spend $750, who’s to say the casinos don’t come out ahead with the gamblers instead of business people who are too busy working to play in the casino? Wouldn’t it be terrible if hotels had to lower their rates to fill up there rooms so they could make their fortunes off of casinos like they used to in the good old days. (Remember back when Las Vegas was still the number one gambling place in the world?)
The gaming business is the still the most profitable business in Nevada. Let the resorts with casinos take care of getting their own convention business and filling up their rooms, instead of adding to the existing non-functional facility that is poorly located on a lot that has no decent access to freeways.