WWAY Calls Out Mayor for Convention Center Promises

Well said.

WWAY:

In his January 2009 State of the City address, Saffo told the city, "It is the largest construction project in the region, and currently creating hundreds of desperately needed jobs." He went on to say 1,000 people would be involved in the construction, and 1,200 will work there. He'd made the 1,200 jobs claim during his first State of the City address two years earlier.

Really, Mr. Mayor?

You know the TV station is just across the street from the convention center downtown. We were able to watch day after day as it was built. Obviously it took a lot of people to do that. But I never remember anywhere close to a thousand people working on that structure.

And then 1,200 more jobs would be created once it was finished? Last time we checked there were, what, about 30 or 40 people who worked there? Mr. Mayor, where are the other 1,160 jobs?

[...]I know, I know. You're talking residual jobs, right? Jobs created because of the "economic stimulation" that the convention center and the new hotel might bring. Problem is Mr. Mayor, it's hard, if not impossible, to prove those jobs exist.