Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich is banking that fewer unanswered questions will mean more "yes" votes in August when it comes time for the public to decide on an increased bed tax to fund a new convention center.
Begich's optimism comes on the heels of the city's request for proposals for a new Alaska Civic and Convention center, which he announced at a press conference on Feb. 23.
Voters soundly rejected the same tax increase proposal - a 4-percent increase to the city's 8-percent bed tax - when asked to fund a new center in April 2002. The proposition lost by 70 percent when it needed a supermajority approval vote of 60 percent. If the numbers make prospects for a successful vote this time around seem bleak, Begich isn't flinching.
"The people know we need (a new center), but they were very unsure of how it was put together last time," Begich said.
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To reassure the public this time around, Begich is putting forth a two-phase proposal that he says will leave nothing to question when it comes time to hit the polls in August. As with the last campaign, the mayor has again said increased property taxes will not be a funding option.
The first phase of the request process requires developers to find a site downtown for the center, identify a development and operating team, and find a use for the Egan Center. Begich said that the Egan Center would not be left unused, whether as a convention center or redeveloped for another use, such as retail. A new center will also need to offer at least 50,000 square feet of exhibition space. Proposals for the first phase are due by March 22.
The second phase will boil down the number of proposals and require those who make the cut to present a concrete plan. At that point, Begich is expecting to be able to show voters a detailed design of the center, a secured location on which to build, a spelled-out plan for the Egan Center and a price tag.
"The goal here is when the voters see this, they know it will be paid by the hotel/motel tax. They will know how the Egan Center will be used. They will see what other kind of co-development will occur," Begich said.
The mayor is not predicting the number of proposals he will receive, but there were at least a half dozen developers in the audience at the Feb. 23 press conference.
In addition to the majority of city voters, Midtown hotel owners have been vocal opponents of an increased tax that their customers will end up paying. The hotel owners have argued a new convention center downtown would not fill more rooms, but only raise those rooms' prices.
Begich counters, however, that most Midtown hotels were not even built until after the Egan Center was constructed. The mayor also notes that the economic effects of a new center may even be indirect, such as conference delegates returning to the city as tourists.
"People in Midtown say it doesn't benefit us, well that just isn't correct," Begich said. "Step back 10 years ago - none of those hotels existed."
Despite the resounding "no" received by voters two years ago, Begich said the economic value lost by not having a larger center makes the proposal worth pursuing again. According to the Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau, a city entity that promotes tourism and conferences here, the economic value of conventions dropped from $77.1 million in 2002 to $71.8 million in 2003, a drop that Begich largely blames on the loss of conventions to cities with bigger facilities.
The size of the Egan Center, which allows it to host approximately 1,500 people, is prohibiting Anchorage from cashing in on the convention industry, Begich said. The ACVB says it has identified more than 450 meetings that could possibly bring 2,500 to 5,000 delegates to the city if pursued.
Beyond the potential conventions the city could court, the bureau points to several conferences that showed interest in coming, but did not due to the size limitations of the city's current facilities. Begich also says there are conferences that the city has hosted in the past that it can no longer accommodate.
"Let's say we hosted a conference six years ago. Well, their membership has grown but we haven't. We've lost that conference," Begich said. "The second problem is scheduling conferences. Let's say we have two mid-sized conferences coming in, and then we're using 120 percent of our capacity. Because of that we're losing even those mid-sized conventions and trade shows, and the large ones, for sure, we're losing."
The proposal offered two years ago was based on a center that would cost $100 million. Begich said approximately 70 percent of that funding would have come from the bed tax increase. Begich believes that price could be reduced if the Egan Center could be utilized in conjunction with a new center, allowing the new construction to be done on a smaller scale.
