Forwarded on behalf of Karen Gruenberg of the Greater Mpls Convention and Visitors Assn: I am writing to clarify the recent article published in the Star Tribune regarding the presentation made to the City Council by the Greater Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association for a three year strategic plan. The article reported incomplete information. The GMCVA presented a first time - three year plan to the City Council to explain the strategic plan that will generate more visitors and conventioneers to Minneapolis in the coming years, which in effect results in more general fund revenue to the city. The purpose, of course, is to create new sources of revenue (through taxes charged to visitors outside the Minnesota market) to create more additional financial sources for Minneapolis improvements. Last year convention attendees, alone, spent $450 million in the market creating $12.8 million in unencumbered general fund revenue for the city. These are new dollars, dollars that would not have been brought to this city if we did not book conventions for the Minneapolis Convention Center. This is the first time a long-range plan has been presented. The Star Tribune article mentioned only two items on the plan, one which is a different initiative then the norm of how we have done business and the second an idea. A small portion of the of $1.5 million dollars would be set aside to create a fund to help offset the cost for conventions that fill slow periods for the hotel industry. The impact of securing these conventions directly impacts the pockets of all Minneapolis businesses, not just hotels and will generate million of dollars in spending. If we had been able to help offset an operational cost of the Barbershop Convention, an additional $13.7 million would have landed in Minneapolis during historically slow time, business that would have filled restaurants, hotel rooms and generated retail traffic - all elements of our city that makes it remain a prime city in which to work and live. Regarding the issue of parolees entering the hospitality work force. With such a low unemployment rate in the Twin Cities the GMCVA announced that it will EVALUATE all options to assist in finding employees that will help us serve the visitor. One such program suggested was to explore opportunities for using people just entering the work force - parolees. What was missing in the article were other options that we will be evaluating such as daycare options to attract parents to work in the hospitality industry, the expansion of training programs called Pathways and the Minneapolis Academy of Travel and Tourism or the exploration of union training programs. We built the convention center and now are expanding it for the purpose - generating more traffic to Minneapolis resulting in more monies to the marketplace including taxes brought in from outside Minnesota which allows our city more dollars to pay for improvements in Minneapolis. The additional dollars are placed in the General Fund which reduces pressure on property tax. The additional 1% we are seeking comes from the tax on hotels which goes directly into the General Fund, where ALL our funds come from and are dedicated revenues for the visitor industry. We need to tell people about our product, that is what the bulk of the increase will be spent on. Unfortunately that was not mentioned in the article. Thank you! Karen Gruenberg Greater Mpls Convention and Visitors Association VISIT MINNEAPOLIS - THE COOLEST PLACE ON EARTH --forwarded by David Brauer, List manager, Mpls-issues
