Mayoral Candidate Betsy Hodges Comes Out Against Subsidies for Block E Hotel Stop Block E-style corporate

handouts and make greater investments in our common ground October 25, 2013 (Minneapolis) Standing outside the Minneapolis Convention Center today, mayoral candidate Betsy Hodges announced that she would not use public subsidies to finance a proposed 1,000-room Convention Center Hotel. The cost estimates for the hotel project a $300 million-plus cost, requiring around $125 million in public subsidies. That money would cost the City the opportunity to make investments in our common ground, like education, transit and public safety. The first time I was in City Hall, I was fighting against public subsidies for Block E, said Hodges. I have spent my entire career fighting for our priorities and against corporate handouts with taxpayer dollars. I will not spend taxpayer dollars on the Convention Center Hotel. I have been talking about building and growing Minneapolis into the future. The question before voters is: How? How do we bring another 107,000 people here successfully? How do we build a great city? Will we go back to the days of Block E and subsidies, begging people to come here with an open checkbook? Or will we continue the progress Mayor Rybak, the council, and I have made in the last decade building a city that people choose to live, work and invest in? I say we must build on our progress away from the old way of doing things, with smoky back rooms and picking winners and losers in private markets. We must not turn to the public to fund luxury projects that private investors won't touch when those taxpayer dollars should be used for investment in the common ground. Studies show that the proposed new hotel would take about five years to fill its rooms even after being built. The hospitality industry citywide would suffer from having more rooms than the market would bear. Minneapolis hotel owners have come out strongly against the project, and private investment will not cover the proposed project. Minneapolis has a thriving hospitality industry, and studies show that our hotels will continue to expand to meet market demand. If there is any industry whose market does not need public intervention, it is the hotel industry, said Betsy Hodges. The private sector can meet the needs of our Convention Center. Instead of rushing in with the city taxpayers wallet wide open, the private market could take advantage of this opportunity without a dime in public handouts. For example, they could build a hotel using 100% private financing, with a smaller number of rooms around 500 that can be put to use right away. Then, they could work with the other Minneapolis hotels near the Convention Center to help them expand to meet demand as it increases over the coming years. There is no clearer way to distinguish candidates visions for growing Minneapolis than by using this issue as a litmus test. We need a mayor who has not already pledged away his or her ability to lead on this issue who has not pledged away his or her ability to say no to this or other corporate subsidies. We need a mayor that will make the investments in the common ground that will result in permanent investment and growth. ### For Immediate Release, October 25, 2013 CONTACT: Aaron Wells, aaron@betsyhodges.org, (612) 751-4255