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If industry wants to build a Convention Center, it should build a Convention Center whereever it wants. To ask taxpayers to build one is an outrage.
If building the Javitz Center wasn't a lesson in government behaving stupidly then nobody is paying attention.
To add insult to injury, the Governor is proposing wasting a fortune in Queens while the mayor and the MTA are pushing on wasting money to run a subway costing a gazillion dollars to the moribund Javitz Center, What's the plan, to have the subway open to the Javitz Center on the day they demolish the Javitz Center?
Again, if corporations want convention centers let them pool together and build as many as they like. But the taxpayer is in no financial condition for much more corporate welfare.
Aren't there plans to extend the 7-line under the Hudson River to NJ?
I don't think those were actual plans. They were just proposed after the ARC project (which would've added more NJT tracks under the Hudson) was scrapped because NJ didn't want to pay for it.
In any case, I'm not sure what should happen. On one side of the coin, real estate is very expensive when it's that close to Midtown Manhattan, and so a better use would be for residential development (maybe it'll stop another neighborhood in the outer boroughs from becoming too expensive, and I'm not talking about gentrifying areas), but on the flip side, they already sunk millions of dollars into building the Javits Center and it would be a waste to move it out.
Personally, I'd be more in favor of it if it meant that the former LIRR Rockaway Branch would be reactivated (preferably as a subway line), so riders would have an easier time accessing the convention center, without having to pass through some of the neighborhoods on the (A) train.
It's a great idea to expand the attractions of NYC outside of Manhattan. The majority of the NYC's attractions are situated in Manhattan. The city will benefit more since $, more police presence, and improvements in infrastructure will follow in the area.
Imagine if all the businesses, large corporations, attractions etc where evenly located in every borough. Ghetto/Hood areas would be minimal, yellow cabs would be all over the city, not a lot of crowding on the trains, etc.
What will happen if the Gov succeeds in this gambit:
Nearly all of the shows that come through NYC regularly and are small enough to relocate to Manhattan hotels will do just that.
The rest will either acquiesce to using the the new, inconvenient location or decide to skip NYC altogether.
The new convention center will not be a total failure but it will rarely be at full capacity either, and there will be "dark" weeks, even during what is considered high season in the Northeast.
I can say, having been in the business since the late 1990s, that the above is pretty much always the result of states/cities/developers trying to use a convention center relocation as an engine to jump start a remote area.
In the eyes of the national meeting planners I work with daily MANHATTAN is the one "pro" of having an event in NYC in a sea of "cons". These include weather, cost, and the second-worst union climate in the US after Chicago.
But Manhattan is a huge "pro", which makes this an even worse idea for you guys than it has been for most other convention towns.
Last edited by DobermanBoston; 01-08-2012 at 04:11 PM..
It's a great idea to expand the attractions of NYC outside of Manhattan. The majority of the NYC's attractions are situated in Manhattan. The city will benefit more since $, more police presence, and improvements in infrastructure will follow in the area.
Imagine if all the businesses, large corporations, attractions etc where evenly located in every borough. Ghetto/Hood areas would be minimal, yellow cabs would be all over the city, not a lot of crowding on the trains, etc.
You have a point there. It would make it easier to get employment, as the major employment centers would be closer to the residential neighborhoods. And subway trains often run packed in one direction and relatively empty in the other, so this would "even them out" so to speak (and that structure makes it cheaper for the MTA to operate the subway system). I think a lot of European cities like Paris follow the same "multi-modal" system as far as where employment centers are located.
I thought the Javits was up for a major renovation & expansion. I wouldn't be oppossed to NYC developing multiple convention centers. Queens isn't a bad choice. Jobs would be careated, there is lot's of land & CAN be accesiple to all the major highways, subways & airports. However the over all infrastructure needs to be over hauled & rasing taxes to accomplish this must be allowed.
A sign that another Convention Center is needed would be the Javitz Center turning away business. As far as I know, it is FAR from that point.
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