Lucas’ conference center

Saturday’s tabloid-style front page headline of the Virginian Pilot was a story about State Senator Louise Lucas and her plans for a conference center and hotel in Portsmouth.

According to Lucas’ proposal, the facility would be adjacent to a 200- to 250-room hotel and a three-story office building. The entire cost of the project would be nearly $65 million, and Lucas’ consultants have estimated annual tax revenues of $2.1 million.

Lucas has raised $1.8 million from 600 investors. As for the rest:

She hopes to fund it through a mixture of $32 million in local Empowerment Zone bonds, conventional financing and at least $4.7 million in cash from the city. She also has requested $8.8 million in city tax abatements for the center and hotel.

But this wasn’t the reason it was front page news. $13.5 million in cash and incentives is a paltry sum compared to Norfolk’s giveaways, which, as of last March, totaled some $43.5 million. No, it was front page news because Lucas had the audacity to say:

“I wanted the African American community to have an opportunity to do something we’ve never been able to do before, and that’s be part of the economic development of Portsmouth,” she said.

Senator – now, remember I love ya – surely you knew better than to say that out loud You can think it, and you can let it motivate you, but you just can’t say stuff like that to the newspaper, especially not this newspaper. Because even if something isn’t about race, they are going to try to make it so. You just loaded the gun for them.

Oh sure – they are going to try to play the angle that you are the new chair of the Senate committee on local government. They made sure to mention that. But read through the comments posted – they got exactly the reaction they were looking for: few comments about the merits of the project, most comments about the race angle.

I have no idea whether Portsmouth can afford the incentives. I have no idea whether the area needs or would support another convention center. But how about this:

“The smartest thing we can do is to treat this project like any other,” said Councilman Doug Smith, who said he is interested in the project but needs more information about its costs and benefits.

“We need to do this in the light of day so everyone understands what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” he said.

What a refreshing idea! Look at this like any other project and decide whether or not to proceeds based on the merits.