The Observation Deck

While as a Republican and Lakewood/Clevelander, I find it pretty cool that the RNC is coming to Cleveland in 2016. But, on the downside the security measures will probably make downtown look like fortress, based on past convention reports.

No fears, Tim....downtown will be cleaned up like Disneyland.
The panhandlers will be rounded up and shipped away for the week.

And the "Free Speech Zones" will probably be located somewhere near the IX Center.

The convention is better than nothing but not much better:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014 ... story.html

The average attendee spends $500 and rarely leaves the convention area.

The host city also has to subsidize the convention from public and private sources to the tune of $60 million.

Another point of view:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/ ... and-lebron

Bill Call wrote:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014 ... story.html

The average attendee spends $500 and rarely leaves the convention area.

I am definitely not suggesting this is going to be a financial home run for Cleveland. However, it's awfully convenient that the study decides to leave out the money spent on hotels. Buried in the study is a sentence that dismisses the amount spent on hotels. So, the total is definitely over $500.

Personally, I think it is a wash financially. We make more in catering/hotels and lose more from locals not going downtown because they want to avoid security and hassles.

However, the intangibles make it worth it. For better or worse, our city will be on international viewing for a week. Can't buy that coverage. Or did we?

Matthew Lee wrote:Personally, I think it is a wash financially. We make more in catering/hotels and lose more from locals not going downtown because they want to avoid security and hassles.

However, the intangibles make it worth it. For better or worse, our city will be on international viewing for a week. Can't buy that coverage. Or did we?

It's still a plus for the county. If local people avoid downtown bars by coming to Lakewood or going to other suburban bars or restaurants, then those dollars are still being spent.
Unlike sports (where many people are now cancelling their Indians or Monsters tickets in order to buy Cavs tickets), it is NOT a zero-sum game.

However, some folks in the media and local government are greatly overstating the visibility of this event. Unlike 1968 Chicago, "The whole world will NOT be watching". In fact, even the US will watch very little.

CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC will be camped out in town...but they have relatively small audiences. The major networks will only broadcast about three hours, primarily the candidate's speech.

In order to avoid 1968-type debacles, the parties have taken all of the news out these conventions and turned them into "Made for TV" infomercials. Ironically, this has turned them into very boring TV.

The GOP has already made its first gaffe of the 2016 convention.

Their Florida contingent has attacked LeBron's decision....I'm sure that will play well at the Q.

http://deadspin.com/the-hottest-lebron- ... socialflow