PSP are at it again. But this time let’s tax them.

The heading of LNP’s front page announcement is “Downtown Marriott’s owner proposes 96-room, $23M expansion”.

According to the article, “Penn Square Partners announced Friday it wants to expand the almost six-year-old Lancaster Marriott to the east, constructing a 12-story addition with 96 rooms.”

This is wrong from the start. As later noted in the article, the owner is the City of Lancaster, not Penn Square Partners. So what is really happening is the citizenry of Lancaster is once again required to assume the full risks for a hotel expansion over which they have no control, no profits, and which does not even pay real estate taxes!

The article continues “We’re proposing this to address the lack of convention-quality hotel rooms within walking distance of the convention center that’s been identified by two independent studies.”

How many days during the year does Lancaster host a convention that creates a hotel room overflow? To achieve even the requisite 60% occupancy level, there would have to be a major convention in town 265 days a year. We all know this doesn’t occur a small fraction of the time.

And this isn’t even taking into account the current $15 million upgrade to the Lancaster Hotel (former Brunswick, Ramada, Hilton) currently being largely funded, not by today’s citizens, but by their children through the abominable CRIZ program, for which sponsorship Sen. Lloyd Smucker should be tarred and feathered and run out of town.

(The City Reinvestment and Improvement Zone Act pledges future tax money from real estate development to subsidize current development, profiting the current owners but depriving our children of normal tax revenue. What is the next generation to use to pay its expenses?)

In addition, Penn Square Partners has a one sided arrangement with the Convention Center whereby it is able to skim off most of the profits from concessions, an absolute unconscionable rip off.

But if PSP believes the addition is economically viable, let them secure and make public a Feasibility Study from a reputable national authority. They won’t. Because they know it would be negative. The County Commissioners had belatedly authorized a PKF study for the Convention Center which accurately predicted the huge losses that have been and continue to be sustained.

Let us suggest an arrangement that City Planner Randolph Patterson and Mayor Rick Gray should be seeking but, of course, would not please PSP (owned jointly by the Dale High interests and LNP.)

Let the hotel addition be owned and built by PSP, not the city. Let it pay real estate taxes as do all of the other businesses in the city and county.

The Lancaster Hotel is on the tax role. Let the Marriott Annex be treated the same. PSP has feathered its nest sufficiently at tax payers’ expense and risk by the Marriott being tax exempt since owned by the city through RACL (Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster.)

Let’s shut down the public trough. Then we will see just how much confidence PSP has in its proposal.