The Columbian Blows it: In Our View - Visit Vancouver

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The Columbian totally… but understandably… blew it with yet another in their bogus, rah, rah, editorials concerning the opening of the money-losing Pollard Hilton.

Of course, the ownership of the Columbian stands to benefit directly from the downtown renaissance. But the fact is, the Columbian is, once again, on the wrong side of the issue…. Like they are on their rabid light rail support and their efforts to keep the Columbia River Gorge Tom Koenninger’s personal park.

In the end, you can paint lips onto a pig…. And it will still be a pig. With the city’s current, unabashed efforts to raise taxes (HOW much have they spent on this government subsidized pig? HOW much are they costing us with their incestuous relationship with the downtown developers? HOW much do all the tax breaks add up to? HOW much is the free rent for the port-commissioner’s daughter’s restaurant?) and their increasingly expensive regulations, they’re doing everything they can to hurt small business while they expand their empire at the expense of the taxpayers.

Oddly enough, the professional PR types for the city, usually known as newspaper reporters, have failed to mention the lawsuits the city filed to keep their population silent on whether they wanted this pig built in any of their glowing articles or editorials. I wonder why that is?

They've also managed to skip over the part where the taxpayers of this entire county are on the hook for $70 million in taxpayer funds when this pig collapses under the burden of a disinterested populace and the construction of the Cowlitz Megacasino.
I, personally, do everything I can to avoid setting foot in Vancouver proper. I will NEVER live in Vancouver or any city LIKE Vancouver, a city governed by a council once likened by an acquaintance as the “Taliban City Council of Vancouver.”

I will also never set foot in the Pollard Hilton. I will never set foot in the convention center. And I will not spend a dime in the criminal enterprise known as downtown Vancouver. I feel sorry for those who have to live there… and contempt for those supporting this unjust “system.”





In Our View - Visit Vancouver

Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Columbian editorial writers

It is widely presumed that today's grand opening of the 226-room Hilton Hotel will be a seminal moment in Vancouver's emergence on the Northwest convention and tourism scene. It should go without saying but we'll say it anyway that we wish the hotel well. We cheer it, the city and everyone involved with attracting conventions that might otherwise be booked in cities such as Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Chelan, Wenatchee, Yakima, Spokane, Portland, Eugene and Bend.

But conventions and tourism aren't always the same thing, and attracting people to town who are not coming for a convention and who don't have relatives here is tough and expensive. It also takes a dose of reality about what there really is here to see. In our view, Vancouver's tourism niche as opposed to its convention niche is as a jumping-off point or "gateway" to other places.

We're all adults here, so let's face facts: Vancouver itself is not a multiday vacation destination for people with no meeting to attend or relatives to visit. Certainly we can be proud of a few places tourists might like to see here, such as the Columbia riverfront, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Officers Row, the Vancouver Farmers Market and, if the timing is right, an outdoor concert.

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