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Dallas Convention Center Hotel Debated

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.