San Jose to upgrade convention center

from the Mercury News --

San Jose City Council approves bonds for upgrade of aging convention center
By John Woolfolk
Posted: 03/15/2011 06:15:59 PM PDT
Updated: 03/15/2011 09:56:20 PM PDT

"San Jose officials Tuesday unanimously approved bond financing for a $120 million renovation of the city's aging convention center despite potential risk to a city budget already awash in red ink.

The project posed a quandary for city officials, who are grappling with a $105.4 million shortfall in the city's general fund that may trigger major reductions in basic services such as police and libraries. Should economic assumptions and safeguards underlying the convention center financing not hold, the city would have to pay bondholders out of a general fund now in its 10th straight year of deficits, further eroding services.

But putting off the project would mean that the San Jose McEnery Convention Center would surrender business to more modern venues in Santa Clara and San Francisco." ...

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