Mayor Tom Leppert Toasts the Newly Reopened Mercantile Place

• All I can ever think about when I see Tom, either in print or in person, is how much his eyes resemble those of a great white shark. Creepy, man.

• Mmmm look like veuve-clicquot...

• Thanks to the Old Bastard and the Idiot for the information. If the convention hotel were a public-private partnership along the lines of Mercantile Place, I would be all for it.

• Can Tommy Boy take a picture where he doesn't look creepy?

• it's a shame photographer Patrick Michels didn't mention that the champagne bottle leppert's holding is 8 feet tall, but in his giant hands, it appears normal.

• Now they need a big retailer on the first floor of the Merc to finish it off. How about a Barnes and Noble?

• The Merc is privately owned. A TIF kicked in $58 million (I believe), and the city and county offered property tax abatements for something like 15 years. The city's investment is capped. If the Merc loses money, that comes out of the owners' pockets. The convention center hotel will be 100% publicly owned will cost the taxpayers ten times as much, the taxpayers will be on the hook for any operating losses and the hotel won't pay any property taxes as long as it is publicly owned. Quite honestly, I think a lot of people who are opposed to the convention center hotel would be for it if it was a true public-private partnership, but hiring a private company to manage a hotel that the taxpayers pay to build and operate is not a public-private partnership.

• My Mr. Mayor Man looks good even in photos where is is wasting expesnsive champagne during a economic downturn. In my mind, that is a photo of us at the first gay wedding reception in the new country of Texas.

• The Mercantile Project does not expose the City of Dallas to operating losses. The Mercantile has tax incentives and a TIF to help offset the cost. The CCH will be owned by the City of Dallas which will be responible for all operating losses, capital expenditures and maintenance expense. The Mercantile Project will eventually pay property taxes to the City. The hotel will not pay taxes, being a city owned property.

• Someone please educate me. On what terms is Mercantile Place a public-private partnership? How are the terms different than those proposed for the convention hotel, which is also being promoted as a "public-private" venture? Thank you in advance.

• Most people who read this blog are probably against the hotel, but has Unfair Park written much about Proposition 2 and what that would do to the city if it passed? Angela Hunt is asking people to vote NO on 2, and I hope this blog urges its readers to do the same.

• The park is 100% finished? When I walked by it the other day, all I could see was dirt. Anyway, it's hard to argue that the Merc wasn't a wise investment by the city of Dallas. Congratulations to the people who had the vision and drive to make this happen.

• Seems to me they need to turn the West End Marketplace into affordable apartments. That would anchor a young crowd around there giving that place some anti-douche, non tourist vibe.

• <i>"These things don't come together unless it's a public-private partnership."</i><p> And the public-only convention center hotel must interface on the tax payers private parts.

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