By BJ Austin
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-826696.mp3
Dallas, TX – The leaders on both sides of the Dallas Convention Center Hotel debate squared off today before a commercial real estate crowd.
Hotel backer, Mayor Tom Leppert talked about "vision" and being competitive in the lucrative convention business. Anne Raymond, with Citizens against a Taxpayer Owned Hotel, warned about empty existing hotel rooms and the bad economy.
: 15 oc: hotel
Leppert: You have to be competitive. That's what this is all about. And it's building a tax base for the future.
Raymond: With the backdrop of a 100 million dollar budget shortfall in next year's city budget, we should not put the taxpayers on the hook for a half-a-billion dollar hotel.
Voters will decide May 9th if the city should build and "own" the hotel.