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What a pleasure to sit next to my pals Mary Colacicco and Janie Davis! We finally stopped talking when President Dick Troncone called the meeting to order. Thank you to Serhat Pala, who just joined Rotary in August, for his inspirational moment, Bill Dick and Suzy Spafford for leading us in “America” and Bert Wahlen for giving us the news. Students from University City High School were introduced by Richard Anderson and
George Gildred welcomed new honorary member Elena Salsitz, Honorary Consul of the United Kingdom. It’s always interesting to hear our new members introduce themselves and Melani Gordon, a self-described “serial entrepreneur,” did an outstanding job of telling us about her life. Jo Dee Jacob gave a great plug for the Diana Venable Scholarship Auction. “Kiss the Pig” could turn out to be the biggest source of funds yet.
Brad Gessner, Chair of the Day, introduced our own Chris Cramer to talk about the Convention Center. Chris is the Chairman of the Board of the Convention Center Corporation. He described in words and pictures what the Convention Center has meant to San Diego since it opened in 1989:
---it was an immediate success prompting plans to expand from the
start
---it has been an essential part of transforming downtown into a
destination hub
---it drives $1.5 billion in economic activity each year
---we’ve had 15 million attendees since it was built 20 years ago,
generating over $359 million in tax revenue
---it’s received 31 awards from the hospitality industry
Chris made a case for the Center to expand. Right now, we have to turn down a number of bookings because the space is too small and there are several conventions already coming to San Diego that have indicated they may move because of this issue. He estimates that if the Convention Center were to add 225,000 square foot of space it would generate $373 million more in revenue each year. There needs to be a coalition of revenue sources---new hotel, new parking and retail, contribution of land, and certain assessments---to make this a reality. Yes, if we build it, they will come!!
Bill Beamer closed our meeting with a wonderful eulogy for our recently deceased member Harry Cook. Harry’s wife Arlene and son Richard joined us for the meeting.
Editor of the Day: Jill Spitzer
Photography by Mike Conner
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