How is this =really= different from WalMart jumping in and crushing all
the local stores? Think for a moment.

Because the City built the hotel complex only after shopping the idea
around to all the big-box hotel chains -- and failing. Without
exception, the big chains rejected the notion of building a giant
luxury hotel and conference center in little Coralville, Iowa, because
they knew there was no way to net a return on their investment within
their lifetimes.

So, the Mayor of Coralville and his cronies -- flush with tax money
from the huge mall that was built there (after the anti-business lobby
drove them out of Iowa City, BTW) -- simply decided to build it
themselves, and lease it back to Marriott Corporation.

I'm sure Marriott is still pinching themselves, trying to figure out if
they're dreaming. They got a brand, new $60 million hotel for ZERO
investment, and don't have to worry about paying ANYTHING but a monthly
lease. It's a hotelier's dream -- and a taxpayer's nightmare.

Some citizens of Coralville tried to stop this madness -- they knew
that they would end up holding the bag, down the road -- but to no
avail. There simply is no law prohibiting a city from building a
hotel, and calling it "urban development", in Iowa.

WalMart only builds where they think they can make a profit.
Governments don't CARE about profit -- after all, it's not *their*
money. THAT is the difference, and that is why a government-owned
hotel is "unfair"...and Walmart isn't.

(Incidentally, the same anti-business lobby in Iowa City recently
succeeded in disallowing WalMart from building a Super Walmart just
down the road from our hotel on airport-owned land. They sued, and
delayed, and delayed, and eventually made it impossible for Walmart to
obtain a zoning variance to allow them to build a gas station on the
site. Walmart had agreed to pay our airport $3.2 million for that
land -- which would have made our airport debt-free, and would have
opened the area up to all the development that follows a new Walmart.


The anti-Walmart crowd is successfully using the courts to stifle free
enterprise -- ANY free enterprise -- that they think is "unsuitable".
Somehow these self-annointed saviors believe that the unwashed masses
who flock to Walmart every day aren't capable of making these decisions
for themselves, and must be led toward the light. It's sickening.)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"