Conventions Money Canceled-Tri-City

by messenger 17 Replies latest jw friends

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  messenger

  . http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/2002/0129/story4.html
  Hotels to help pay rent for coliseum

  This story was published 1/29/2002

  By John Trumbo
  Herald staff writer

  No city money will be spent to help pay the rent at the Tri-Cities Coliseum for the Jehovah's Witnesses Watchtower weekend conventions this summer.

  The Tri-Cities Hotel & Lodging Association is withdrawing its request that Kennewick and Richland each provide $6,000 to help cover rent.

  Association President Kathy Moore said the controversy and negative publicity resulting from the proposed coliseum rent subsidy had become too much.

  The association sent letters to the cities Friday to officially cancel the request.

  Instead, said Moore, Tri-City hotels will put up the cash needed to cover the deficit between what the Watchtower organization will pay and what the coliseum charges. The subsidy would have paid $12,000 of $17,500 needed to expand the convention events from three weekends to five weekends.

  "Although this convention clearly qualifies for hotel tax funding, recent rhetoric initiated by the Tri-City Herald has raised some unwarranted concerns. We value our relationship with the city ... and do not want to put you in a compromising position," Moore wrote in her letter.

  "The hotel association feels this (expenditure) is a good use of the hotel tax funds, but we want the negative press to stop," Moore said Monday.

  Kennewick City Attorney John Ziobro announced a week ago that he believed the expenditure approved by the council in December was not as represented in a background report. The council voted to donate $6,000 to be used for advertising and promotion, but the money was actually going to be used as a rent subsidy.

  Richland's city attorney had not concluded his review of the issue. State Auditor's Office staff had asked both cities to review the proposed expenditures from their hotel tax account to see if it was proper under state law.

  The Watchtower events are expected to bring about $9.5 million worth of business to the Tri-Cities over the summer.

  This will be the group's 10th consecutive year meeting in the Tri-Cities. Moore said the hotel association is eager to protect the Watchtower group.

  "They never asked for the money," said Moore, who said the hotels will step in to pick up the remaining coliseum rent. "We're taking the high road."
• 

  Martini

  Hi Mess,

  Jah never ceases to provide his special blessing to his name people!

  Martini,
  (Biting tongue class)
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  Fredhall

  I'm suprised that everyone is bitching about the money while the economy is in a slump. They should be happy that we are coming.
• 

  avengers

  They should be happy that we are coming.

  Is that what you do at a convention?
• 

  moman

  A massive infusion of WT drones is good & bad.
  Good for volume, but bad for those that are used to NORMAL tips & then get stiffed by the Dubs!
• 

  Fredhall

  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! A shark!!!! You may eat me but don't eat my private parts!
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  RunningMan

  I must question the hotel association's math.

  If each household spends $500.00 on hotels and meals for the 3 days/2 nights, that means that 19,000 out of town households must attend the convention to make these numbers add up. If each household has 2.5 persons in it, that means that the attendance must be 47,500. And don't forget that local residents don't stay at hotels, so this would be the out of town attendance only.

  Now, I've been to tri-cities, and it looks like the population is somewhere around 100,000. Where are all of these Witnesses coming from? Does the entire state drive to Western Washington for the convention? If so, just think about the cost to the individual JW's, just so that the society can save $12-17.5 thousand.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid.
• 

  MadApostate

  Three previous news articles in this series, have already been posted, along with other articles which show that the WTS's DCs are being supported nationwide by public tax dollars:

  . http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=16702&site=3
• 

  nytelecom1

  the district conventions in tri cities span
  WA
  Idaho
  Oregon
  Canada
  and Parts of Utah

  truly it is blessing to see such growth
• 

  RunningMan

  "the district conventions in tri cities span WA Idaho Oregon Canada and Parts of Utah"

  Here we go.

  A quick look at the map indicates that this ranges anywhere from 100 to 600 miles away from the convention site.

  If each of the 19,000 out of town households drove an average of 250 miles each way, and their cars got 30 miles per gallon, that means that JW's burned 316,000 gallons of gas to get to the convention. How much is your gas down there? I will guess $2.00 per gallon.

  This means that JW's spend $632,000 on gas to go to the convention. By holding conventions in more cities (probably unsubsidized), the stadium rental would rise by about $15,000, but individual JW's would save 40 times that amount on gas, and up to 600 times that much on hotel bills.

  So, the Society's blatant efforts at lining their own pockets come at the expense of members, as always. There should be a law against their greed and abuse of their members.