The N&R reports on the possible use of hotel tax revenue to help build a proposed $50 million downtown performing arts center.
At issue is whether or not the city can legally use the revenue for the PAC. Greensboro Area Convention and Visitors Bureau president Henri Fourrier — based on the advice of the bureau’s attorney —questioned whether the hotel tax revenue it could legally be used to build the PAC downtown. Legally speaking, the “city must use hotel tax revenue to pay for projects at the Greensboro Coliseum until the debt on the entertainment complex is paid.”
What struck me when reading the article was the attitude of a certain mover and shaker:
Community Foundation President Walker Sanders called the tourism bureau’s perspective “shortsighted.” The foundation convened the community task force at the City Council’s request.
“You have a 63-person task force who has dropped everything and is meeting weekly to address this important issue, and I would expect the Convention and Visitors Bureau to be supportive of the work of the task force,” Sanders said.
Fourrier said the tourism bureau is not against a downtown performing arts center.
“We just want the letter of the law to be followed,” he said.
Interim City Attorney Jamiah Waterman disagreed with that opinion, while according to the N&R Mayor Robbie Perkins “called the issue a legal technicality that the city staff will resolve” (hint hint).
Coliseum director Matt Brown has publicly stated he would prefer the PAC be part of the coliseum complex, in which case the hotel tax revenue could legally be used.
