NewsLanc.Com

    Providing Lancaster City & County with an Alternative Source for Local News and Commentary  _________________________________________________________
 February 24, 2007                                         Publisher: NewsLanc.com LLC                                    Volume 1, Number 25
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CC Marketing Plan Based on Long-Withdrawn Studies A Convention Center Authority consultant revealed at the Feb. 22 meeting that the entire Convention Center marketing effort - costing taxpayers over $1 million to date - has been relying on studies that are so outdated and irrelevant that its authors explicitly asked NOT to be associated with them. Daniel Logan, president of Growth Business Development, used the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) 2000 and 2002 studies as the basis for his presentation despite PwC having clearly requested the Authority not "promote" the project using the PwC name. In 2006, PwC director Robert Canton wrote that the "...answer may very well be consistent with County Commissioners' belief given changes to the industry, changes in the Center/Hotel building program, and changes in the competitive environment... Canton asked, "Is it possible that my attempts earlier this year to convince the Authority to let us update our study may have been met by resistance due to our candid comments regarding the challenging state of the industry and the proposed development?" Board member Laura Douglas asked Logan if he took into consideration the more comprehensive and current 2006 PKF Consultants Feasibility Study. Logan said that he had not read it! The PKF study recommends exploring "either a downsizing of the project or an alternate use for the site.

Editorial: Downtown snow removal Requires know how A shopper trying to reach the Central Market midday on Saturday, Feb. 17, encountered pedestrian crossings blocked with three foot high plowed snow. Car passengers risked serious injury clambering over curbside frozen snow banks to reach the sidewalks. Aggravating the matter, many center city landlords and tenants failed to keep their sidewalks passable. Two rubber tire back hoes could have opened all the intersections in a day. Also, rubber tire front end loaders and dump trucks could have removed plowed snow from the right side of the streets to provide safer areas for car passengers to exit. Revitalizing downtown requires attracting and safeguarding shoppers, office workers and residents. The city need not trail privately owned shopping centers, office parks and apartment complexes. City officials' failure to cope with the emergency was tantamount to hanging out a "Stay away" sign. Break free from the monopoly press! Visit www.NewsLanc.com daily.

Board Members Accuse Wachovia Bank of
"purposefully entering into unsound guarantees"

The following are excerpts from a Feb. 16 letter from Convention Center Authority Board members Jack Craver, Laura Douglas and Deb Hall to Kathleen Smarilli, President, Wachovia Bank Central Pennsylvania Region: "As is evident from [the PKF Consultants 2006 Feasibility Study] and the calculations that follow this letter, there is expected to be an annual cash flow deficit of $1,744,220...[Thus] $1,744,200 of $2,264,000 in [Convention Center annual] Operating and Fixed Expenses will go unpaid. "We note a similar situation concerning Wachovia's proposed guarantee of Hotel bonds. ...Debt service on the $24 million in hotel bonds at 5% will amount to $1,925,822 per year,

creating a [hotel annual] short fall of at least $1,801,822... "In short, we cannot but presume that a department in your bank is knowingly and purposefully entering into unsound guarantees in full recognition that the convention center and hotel are not financially viable and in anticipation of default and further subsidy at a later date at the expense of the Lancaster City and County taxpayers... "We ask that you intercede in this matter and have Wachovia re-underwrite its financing commitment for the project..." (Full text of letter is available at www.NewsLanc.com/wachovia.pdf).