December 6, 2010

This column I wrote about economic development was published in the Scottsdale Republic on Friday December 3, 2010:

Recently the Scottsdale Republic printed an editorial (“Full scrutiny should be required for Equidome project”) expressing skepticism about the proposal to upgrade and expand the Equidome at WestWorld, branding it a pet project of the “horse set.” However, the editorial writers have it wrong – the Equidome project is not about horses at all. It’s about money – tourist dollars that Scottsdale needs to keep our city financially healthy.

I just finished a grueling election campaign (thank you Scottsdale voters for re-electing me), and during that campaign I got two messages loud and clear from the voting public. One was “cut government spending.” The other was “make things happen immediately on economic development.” We got that same message about economic development from Scottsdale voters in the March election, when they overwhelmingly approved an increase in the bed tax. We in city government sold that proposition to the voters by promising to use some of that money to develop new tourism attractions to bring more dollars into Scottsdale. The Equidome project is step one in living up to that promise.

The idea that upgrading and expanding the Equidome at WestWorld to allow it to host events during the currently underutilized summer months is not speculative at all. Each year WestWorld hosts 70 equestrian events which attract 220,000 attendees and contribute over 100 million dollars to Scottsdale’s economy. Upgrading and expanding the Equidome will allow us to eliminate 15 days of conflicts with other revenue-producing events and to book an additional 40 days of currently non-utilized revenue producing time. The bottom line is that WestWorld works as a generator of tourism dollars, and the Equidome project will build on the success we already enjoy as one of the top venues in the nation for equestrian events.

The Equidome project has several other advantages. It can be totally funded from bed tax collections and from increased revenues at WestWorld – Scottsdale residents will not have to pay a dime to make this tourism generator happen. Even better, increased revenues from the Equidome project will, for the first time ever, allow WestWorld to generate enough revenue to pay for the direct expenses of running the facility. And, unlike the other competing proposals for bed tax funding, the Equidome project will begin producing new tourism revenues within a quick two years.

Although I am not an equestrian myself, I support preserving Scottsdale’s equestrian heritage because it is an important part of our city’s special character. But my support for upgrading and expanding the Equidome at WestWorld has little to do with horses. I support the Equidome project because it is a smart use of bed tax dollars that will quickly bring in more tourism revenues and more direct revenue to Scottsdale’s treasury. All of the current and newly-elected members of the Scottsdale City Council promised the public we would make economic development our top priority. We should deliver on that commitment by moving the Equidome project forward as fast as possible.