City chases elusive conventioneer yet again

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Ignoring the disappointing returns from previous expansions of the city’s convention facilities, the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council has appropriated $150,000 to continue the study of a 1,000-room convention hotel.

Yesterday’s discussion was a rerun of past discussions. A consultant comes to town and tells city officials their convention assets are falling behind. Rick Hughes, the president of the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association, puts an entirely speculative price (in this instance, $4 billion) on the convention business lost to other cities.

But, for reasons I described a year ago, the council should be wary of the convention-industry complex. As I wrote then, attracting conventioneers is like running on a hamster wheel — the job’s never done.