So how long a stretch is it
to the brass ring?

Usually, a story has one bottom line. Right now, the Concord seems to have three and that currently is the problem.

The first bottom line, the one that has prompted a need for two others, is that Westchester County developer Louis Capelli wants Sullivan County to fund $22.5 million for a convention center at the new Concord Hotel he wants to build. He says the “four-star-plus” hotel that he would build would not be a complete, year-round destination without a convention center.

Last Thursday afternoon Capelli spent several hours trying to convince the Sullivan County Legislature that: a) he does have a legitimate plan and his effort is ongoing, and b) the county can afford to bond the investment that he wants them to make.

The second bottom line is that of at least two county legislators, Rodney Gaebel (RC-5) and Chris Cunningham (DC-1), who remain skeptical about indebting county taxpayers again. Struggling out of a long period of economic recession, budget shortfalls and debt, county legislators, and the supervisors before them, have for years been approached with developers’ plans involving various levels of county involvement. In recent memory, there has been a failed performing arts center at Sackett Lake, sports promoter Jay Acton’s plan for a year-round, combined baseball stadium-hockey arena and Joseph Murphy’s plans for the Concord. With few exceptions, developers’ plans have not been able to withstand close examination and have disappeared.

A third bottom line is that of state Senator John Bonacic (RC-40), who would be involved in procuring some $20 million in state funding for the Concord project. Last week, Bonacic said he wants the other parties, especially the county legislature, in “300-percent” agreement before he begins any serious efforts to obtain new state funding for the Concord.

Capelli says he will front the money to build the 78,000-square-foot center, which would be completed along with the first phase of his new hotel. He says he would seek reimbursement from Sullivan when it’s finished. He says economic projections predict new tax income to the county would more than cover the $1.6 million estimated annual bond payments on the project.

If you are going to be a skeptic, you have to look at the worst-case scenarios of situations. So what would be the worst-case scenario at the Concord? Let’s say the bonds are approved and sold, and Capelli’s hotel project, for whatever reason, stalls or is shelved or shut down.

Sullivan County would be in the position of finishing and operating the center independently. What would that mean?

Officials and people in the business community have talked about the need for a convention center in Sullivan County for years. It was considered seriously enough that shortly after the legislature began, the county spent $54,000 to fund a February 2000 study. And that is as far as it went.

Again from the skeptic’s viewpoint, getting behind this idea now means that Sullivan County is ready to build and operate a convention center at Kiamesha Lake, with or without the rest of Capelli’s $250-million project.

It should also mean that legislators sit down with Capelli and play hardball about the details. If it’s going to be the Sullivan County Convention Center, as Capelli says, and the taxpayers are paying for it, as Capelli wants, then Sullivan County is going to do more than supply the money. The county is going to have to be an owner or long-term leaseholder, and the county is going to be involved in the management.

To do otherwise would be to invite an experience similar to the admittedly depressed Apollo Mall. Sullivan County owns the Apollo Mall, but has leased its operation to a management firm. Tenants and customers complain that the firm has allowed the mall to languish and deteriorate in the face of regional competition.

The bottom line, then, to the legislature is: wish Godspeed to Mr. Capelli, but don’t commit yourself to anything you aren’t ready to build and manage on your own, for all the people of Sullivan County.

David Hulse, News Editor