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Good morning Chairman Davis, Congresswoman
Norton, and other members of the House subcommittee. I am Councilmember Charlene Drew
Jarvis, chair of the D.C. Council Committee on Economic Development. In September, 1994,
D.C. Law 10-188 was enacted and established the Washington Convention Center Authority as
an independent public instrumentality of the District of Columbia government. The Authority was established for the purpose of acquiring land on which to construct, equip, maintain, and operate an appropriate new convention center to promote trade shows, conventions, and other events and to maintain and operate the existing convention center until such time as the new facility is completed and opened for operation. As such, I am pleased to report that after much collaboration and a lot of hard work by the Authority, the Council and participation by various associations and concerned citizens, the reality of a new convention center will soon be realized. Project groundbreaking is anticipated for early Fall and will mark the start of the largest economic development project ever undertaken by the District. This project, which will be paid for by hospitality industry customers, is necessary to sustain revitalization of the District. Local businesses will expand, areas will develop commercially, and quality of life in our neighborhoods will be enhanced. The Districts economy is dependent upon government and services, which includes the hospitality and tourism industries. The consulting firm of Coopers and Lybrand has estimated that these two components of the Districts economy account for approximately 82 percent of total employment and are expected to dominate Washington's economy in the future. The current convention center opened in 1983 as the nation's fourth largest facility with 380,000 square feet of exhibit space. Today, however, the current center ranks 30th in size and can compete for only 54 percent of large national trade shows and meetings. This lack of ability to compete results in millions of dollars of foregone revenue for the District each year. We need a new convention center the government has conducted a great deal of research and analysis on the feasibility of a new center and the Council has approved legislation authorizing the financing plan for a new state of the art convention center that not only will be able to compete well into the next century, but also will include a plan for future expansion should that become necessary. The Washington Convention Center Financing Amendment Act of 1998, was introduced into the Council in September, 1997 and referred to the Committee on Economic Development. Two public hearings on the bill were held jointly with the Committee on Finance and Revenue; and additional Council hearings were held at which the public was allowed to comment on the new convention center project. The bill passed on two readings by the Council, was signed by the Mayor, approved by the Financial Authority and is currently before the Congress for its review. The Act amends the Washington Convention Center Authority Act of 1994 the law that I previously mentioned which created the Authority and established its mission. The Act also:
It is indeed with pleasure that I present today this legislation for the subcommittees consideration, and would be pleased to answer any questions members may have. Thank you. |
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