The Music academy, Art school, New king street garage, Brunswick renovations, Jazz club going in north prince, The square across from Bin's park is being fixed up, Bin's park, Eastern Market, Tabor community services, (brand new today) strip mall on south duke planned, Musser Park fix up, Quilt Museum, and private investers like myself have taken interest in property renovations. But now why I waste my time on trying to make you believers is way over your head. Anyone can doubt something and if it does fail? You can run around and tell everyone you were correct. But it is the people who have heart that believe in things like America and working hard to make something good that gives you character and pride to hold your head high. I don't think it'll be good, I know it.

In what way are any of these (other than your own personal investments) a direct result of the over $150 million taxpayer dollars being spent on the hotel and convention center project?

Neither the Academy of Music, nor the art school expansion, are connected in any way to the hotel and convention center project. Binns Park was initiated with a massive private donation. The work on the east side of Lancaster Square is meant to be temporary; to date, NO developer will touch the site. Eastern Market, Tabor, and the proposed strip mall on S. Duke St. are NEIGHBORHOOD projects, again in no way shape or form a result of the taxpayer-financed hotel and convention center project. Musser Park improvements were proposed long before the hotel and convention center project was. The Quilt Museum expansion was also planned independently of the project across Penn Square. And the Brunswick was in dire need of renovation.

The E. King St. parking garage was indeed a direct result of the hotel and convention center project, and is yet another example of our taxpayer dollars at work. But a building contemporary to Thaddeus Stevens' home was demolished in the process. It looks like the powers-that-be won't let a little thing like history stand in the way of "economic development".

Once again, a project supporter has claimed that the hotel and convention center project is responsible for "economic development" initiated by non-profit organizations and other factors that have absolutely positively nothing to do with this massive expenditure of taxpayer dollars. If you are going to claim the hotel and convention center is directly responsible for economic development in downtown Lancaster, then next time be prepared to provide a list of improvements that actually are a result of the project.

I have to agree. I believe most of what is happening in the city would be happening without the CC, which is a good sign, I think.

I was responding to the highlighted section which asked for 5 example of all the things happening downtown. Those are indeed 5 things.

Furthermore, if you don't see all the investment, construction, planning, and revitalization of the city as interrelated, then you'er purposely trying to to be obtuse.

The convention center might be a dog, but its still part of a larger effort to recover the city. That not a justification of its existance, just a recognition of what's being denied here.

Once again, we actually agree on something.


If you look at the history and context of the hotel and convention center, you will see that this is not true. The one study that provided a unified look at downtown revitalization (the 1998 LDR International report, available at http://www.lancastercampaign.org/plan/index.htm) clearly called for the adaptive reuse of the Watt & Shand building. The only mention of a convention center project was for a "conference center" in the east side of Lancaster Square, at a cost of no more than just over $7 million dollars - less than the amount already spent on Stevens & Lee. And the 1998 Pinnacle Advisory Group study clearly found that a convention center would be inappropriate for downtown Lancaster (which is why it has been kept from the public).

The hotel and convention center project took on a life of its own, independent and irregardless of whatever else has been happening in downtown Lancaster. We will all find out soon enough that it will do much more harm than good to Lancaster's economy.