Demanding Answers as the Dallas Convention Center Hotel Moves Forward

One of Sanders' harshest critics is HVS Convention, Sports & Entertainment Consulting, which has a more upbeat assessment of the industry. In one of its reports to the Dallas City Council, HVS said that convention attendance in Dallas increased nearly 24 percent from 2006 to 2007, and it expected this "strengthening trend" to continue through 2010. Each time the city has hired HVS to study the economic feasibility of a convention center hotel (2001, 2004 and now in 2008), it has reached virtually the same conclusion: The Dallas market needs more hotel rooms, hotel supply is the reason for lost convention business, and a headquarters hotel would increase demand at the convention center.

With the city moving forward on the purchase of the Chavez property and the use of public money to develop the hotel, Mayor Leppert's unflinching support for the project could be enough to make it happen. Gonzalez says Leppert has brought "strategic leadership" to the project along with energy and "additional clarity."

Sanders has seen this before. He says that like Houston and other cities, Dallas has a standing policy commitment to make this hotel a reality. "Based on the public statements from the mayor and the information that's been laid out by city staff, it's pretty clear that the city is committed to doing this project," he says. "It sounds like Dallas decision-makers have found the answers before they've even fully posed the questions."

With Rasansky now banned from the debate and Hunt still seen as an outcast after her stance on the Trinity referendum, the council is poised to take a decisive step on April 23, when it is scheduled to vote on whether it will approve financing for the purchase of a site for the hotel.

"All I want to know is what the hell is the city participation in this?" said Rasansky, pre-muzzling. "How in the world can we go forward without knowing what the cost is?"