The City Council voted unanimously to expand the Austin Convention Center however a referendum vote will decide whether the project will commence or not.
The Neal W. Kocurek Austin Convention Center, whose Logo Design features simple lettering with a line running behind a circle, was scheduled for redesign and expansion after the City Council voted in favor of the proposal in March. The southeast part of Downtown was also planned to be redesigned at the same time. The redevelopment of the site is expected to make it able to host more gatherings and put up new public spaces and pedestrian access.
Opposition to this plan was led by a group known as Unconventional Austin. The group is against the redevelopment of the Convention Center because it feels that the project will only benefit hotels in the Downtown area as well as a convention industry which is largely considered to be a failure. The group was able to submit 30,000 signatures which is 10,000 more than the minimum that was required to force a referendum in November.
The project was supposed to be funded by an increase in the Hotel Occupancy Tax paid by tourists visiting Austin. Unconventional Austin feels that the money would be better spent on a number of other projects that would better serve the public such as live music, environmental displays, parks, and a new transit system. The City Council’s lawyers say that using public funds in the manner suggested by Unconventional Austin is not in line with state regulations that dictate how Hotel Occupancy Tax is supposed to be used.
Austin's HOT income is approximately $100 million every year.
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