There is an excellent, short article here from the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal. It explains that, despite an economic downturn that has significantly harmed the convention center business — on top of a longer-term, more gradual decline in the business — cities nationwide continue to build new convention centers.
Rather than embarking on this misguided and costly path, Mayor Berry should be applauded for focusing attention on everyday governance issues and game-changing, but basic ideas like the Paseo/I-25 interchange.
You forget that Mayor Berry tried to tie money for his pet project, an arena, to the Paseo/I-25 funding and was rejected by Albuquerque voters.
I believe you mean the softball complex which is far different from an arena. We didn’t care for that idea (and spoke out about it in advance of the election), at $25 million, it was far less costly than a $300-$400 million arena would have been.
I also think the Mayor learned from that mistake.