Hotel a bargain for city

We should be celebrating the new addition to the Convention Center and the new Davenport Grand Hotel, but The Spokesman-Review’s headline is “Council rejects hotel deal.” I don’t know any more facts other than what was reported in the recent article.

I was particularly disappointed by the comment and tone of former Spokane City Council President Joe Shogan: “There’s no way in hell this council can pay for this. If Mr. Worthy wants to be paid let him go to the millionaire mayor and get his 300 grand.” This is obviously an attempt to demean an outstanding mayor, and the best hotel developer and manager.

The city needed a new hotel in order to sell conventions at the expanded Convention Center. I believe Worthy was the only developer who would agree to build one even though he would be competing with his two other downtown hotels. The city needed the facility, and Worthy built one quickly within two years on contaminated property the city tried to develop for the last 40 years.

This new hotel will create hundreds of jobs, millions in tax revenue and millions in sales within the Spokane area annually for possibly 100 years. The contested issue is $318,000. Please keep everything in perspective, and settle quietly and quickly.

David Hamer

Spokane