Downtown Venue Blog from the Orlando Sentinel

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On 9/7 a poll showing public support for a vote on the Venues

Once again the Sentinel has used its editorial page to denigrate one of our most outstanding citizens simply because he disagrees with the collective poor judgment of the editorial board. It may be one thing for the Sentinel to claim Mr. Rosen's plan "stinks" but it is quite another to characterize this man as "selfish". Must the Sentinel be reminded that this is the same man who not too long ago donated $30 million to build a hotel management school at UCF? Must they also be reminded that he provides benefits and wages way beyond the industry standards for his employees and has also committed himself to paying for the college educations of all the children from one of our County's poorest neighborhoods?

Yes, Harris Rosen has made a lot of money. He has done so because he is a smart businessman. But Harris has already donated more money to charity than the collective lifetime earnings of the entire Sentinel Editorial Board, Orlando City Council, Orange County Mayor and all the County Commissioners combined. And, yes, he is also smarter than everyone on all these panels. Harris understands that the average working class family can't even afford to go to a Magic game. He understands that the only way to fill the perpetually half empty arena is to build a winning team, not a new arena. He does not believe in spending almost a billion dollars funding venues that most Orlandoans won't even visit more than once in their lifetime and will only benefit rich players, owners and season ticket holders. Harris also knows that whenever a group of politicians get their hands on more money it is ultimately squandered. A $1 billion initial budget quickly becomes a $3 billion catastrophe. What's at risk? It is our ability to pay back the debt on these commitments that could ultimately bankrupt our City and County and destroy future fund raising for essential services such as schools, roads and law enforcement.

Before the Sentinel goes out and labels Mr. Rosen's plan a "folly" again, perhaps they ought to have a long talk with him and understand why this self made man is so sure that our local "leaders" are leading us on a road to ruin.

Brett Kingstone

Stop questioning hotelier's motives for charity
David A. Siegel | Special to the Sentinel
August 28, 2007
I strongly take offense to the way the Orlando Sentinel is portraying Harris Rosen in your newspaper.

I'm not a social friend of Harris. I do not do business with his companies. My only ax to grind is that I feel that your newspaper is victimizing him. Just because a person takes an alternate view of a project that the Sentinel is in favor of does not make him a villain.

Harris Rosen has done more for this community than most any other Central Florida citizen has. They say that every good deed deserves to be punished, and, in his case, this certainly is true.

He is a huge supporter of Tangelo Park, yet the critics say that is because his employees come from there.

He is the biggest supporter of the Central Florida School of Hospitality, yet the critics say it's because he's grooming his future employees.

He has pledged millions of dollars to build a Jewish Community Center in southwest Orange County.

He has donated meeting space in his hotels for dozens of charitable fundraisers.

He treats his employees well and has the lowest turnover rate in the hotel industry.

He donates to dozens of charitable organizations that I know of.

He has also donated hundreds of hours of his own time, working for the betterment of the tourist industry in Central Florida.

There is nothing wrong with having hundreds of millions of dollars invested in the International Drive area and wanting to see it flourish.

Since the Florida Legislature set up the bed tax, it has primarily been used for the purpose of helping promote tourism.

Now, the crowning blow is to spend more than $1 billion (which will probably top $2 billion) on renovating the Citrus Bowl, which is only used for a few football games a year, building a new arena that I believe is used only by many of the same residents every game, and building a grandiose performing-arts center, which, in my opinion, should be paid for by those who support the arts. Since donations of approximately $80 million have been received toward the performing-arts center, why not build a $100 million to $150 million one and pay for it all with donations?

The problem with Orange County, as evidenced by our current convention center, is that the county wants to build something that makes an architectural statement rather than something that is practical and economical to operate. Our current convention center, even though it is very successful and is full most of the year, loses a lot of money that the taxpayers have to come up with. Miami recently built a huge performing-arts center that is losing a lot of money, and recently found out it has totally underestimated what the operating expenses are going to be.

Tourism is the backbone of our community. We need to use every dollar available to support our lifeblood, not use the money that should go to promotion for other means.

Las Vegas has a huge budget to promote its tourism and it's growing at a very fast pace. Everyone has heard, "What Happens Here Stays Here." Hotel growth is phenomenal; hotel occupancy is more than 95 percent, with very high rates.

Contrast that with Orlando, which spends a fraction of what Las Vegas does on promotion, and where 65 percent occupancy is average.

Every hotel on International Drive and U.S. Highway 192 -- with the exception of Rosen's and a few others -- are either for sale or in bankruptcy.

Our tourism industry, our "golden egg," is flat and, if we don't do something about it soon, not only will the bed-tax dollars being used to fund these venues begin to dry up, but our tourist areas will start to look like ghost towns. I don't think our city and county stewards really thought this out before they began patting themselves on the back for a job well done.

Since the Orlando Sentinel is so good at investigative reporting, why doesn't it assign a couple of its top reporters to really do an in-depth study on the benefits of these new venues against the damage that is going to be done to our vital tourism industry?

David A. Siegel is president and chairman of the board of Westgate Resorts.