The announcement of the loss of two large annual events for the Tucson Community Center comes as no surprise to Gem Show hosts. The Tucson International Mariachi Conference and Las Floritas will now hold their popular annual events at the Casino Del Sol resort and convention center.
When the voters elected to create what has become Rio Nuevo they supported a revitalization of downtown Tucson. All over the state, communities were building civic centers to attract tourists and generate tax dollar generating commercial venues. Scottsdale, Tempe, Glendale and Phoenix created hubs of tourism which have drawn visitors from all over the world.
Tucsonans wanted to do the same.
The monies directed to the City of Tucson, for the redevelopment of their downtown, were intended for renovation of the Tucson Community Center. However, the public and city officials wanted more. They wanted to do what the other communities were successfully doing.
They said that they wanted a new arena and a hotel. Over time, while big plans were made, contacts were signed, and huge amounts of money were spent, the TCC was neglected and fell into disrepair.
While the new hotel and arena never materialized; a new ticket tax did. The ticket tax added $2 to every ticket for every event at the TCC was to be used for the renovations to the venue.
Now the City Council wants the Rio Nuevo District to pay for the much needed renovations despite the fact that the improvements are the responsibility of the City.
Recently, a Gem Show host complained about the sorry state of the Tucson Convention Center to officials. He told them that his guest were having a “bad experience” after “spending $50,000 chartering buses” to get to the show. For the bed taxes and ticket taxes his guest pay to attend events at TCC, they get graffiti and cold water in the bathrooms, pot holes in the parking lot, and walk past dirty walls and over torn carpet.
Tucson’s Gem Show was not a taxpayer funded creation of the City of Tucson and Rio Nuevo, but it is one of the few downtown centered events that does draw visitors from across the world.
The Gem Show still thrives, and questions still go unanswered. The question most on the minds of Gem Show hosts is “where did the money from the ticket tax go?”