This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It seems that every legislative session has a theme. This time, it's The Year of The Developer. First, the prison move and the massive windfall that will surely follow to select developers. Now, it's the Salt Lake megahotel ("Fund proposed for hotels hurt by 'megahotel,'" Tribune, March 3).
Lawmakers want to set aside $75 million (of our money) for someone to build a huge hotel that will compete with the unsubsidized private businesses that already are the core of our city's convention and tourist industry. And $8 million would be spread around to those hotel owners to help soothe their pain (or quiet their gripes).
Our legislators constantly espouse unwavering confidence in capitalist markets (see: health care coverage), rightly believing that if there is a market need, it will be filled. But what about this megahotel?
If it were needed all that badly, and if it were a sure thing financially, wouldn't it already have been built with private money and not need a $75 million public money giveaway? I feel another windfall coming, and it ain't going to the kids or the schools.
Marc Jackson
Salt Lake City