Last week Pith got a chance to talk to one former [civic consultant]. They didn't want their name, or the name of their former company, reported. Probably because most of what they said confirmed our suspicions.More questions need to be asked of the Metro Budget office before council rubber stamps plans for a new convention center.
According to this Mystery Consultant, their former company employed a lot of very smart number-crunchers whose job it was to manipulate their research so that it pleased their clients. In this case, that meant cooking the books in favor of new or expanded convention centers.
"In (blank) years of conducting appraisals," they say, "I never once saw an assignment where the value didn't hit the bank's target number to make the loan."
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Cooking the Books to Get a Convention Center
Caleb Hannan shares:
This is a time-honored tradition ... I'm trying to think of any convention center, stadium, or other civic development project that didn't involve this kind of sleight of hand. The bottom line is, the Chamber of Commerce and CVB want these big projects and by God they will happen, come hell or high water or high taxes.
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