Downtown Tucsonan - February 2008 - (Page 9)

Vital Signs Growth of Gem Shows Challenges Local Infrastructure City’s GemRide Connecting Shows During I-10 Construction By Tom Whittingslow or over 50 years the Gem and Mineral shows have been a major contributor to tucson’s economy, now bringing in more than 55,000 visitors and $100 million annually. the growth of the shows, which now number nearly 50, is testing the tucson community’s infrastructure and capacity to host a major, spread-out event; this year’s shows will be the first during the 3-year Interstate 10 widening project, which has closed entrance and exit ramps in the downtown area and forced local traffic to the frontage roads. one of the major shows, the american Gem trade association (aGta), has been a part of the event since 1981, and its cEo, douglas K. Hucker, is concerned that tucson is straining to keep up with the growth. aGta has more than 1,000 members who are active in mining, research, marketing and the retail of colored gem stones. during its 27-year history it has become a leading industry force in the ethical promotion of natural colored gemstones and cultured pears. Each year it brings in more than 10,000 registered guests and is responsible for a huge portion of its income. It also funds much of the gem show advertising in the trade journals. In addition to tucson, aGta “GemFair™ exhibits in Las Vegas and new York. aGta has seen first hand what other cities can offer and make comparisons. Hucker cites three issues that he feels the tucson community needs to focus on in order to remain a competitive host of the gem shows: parking, hotels, and communication. He asked that his comments be introduced in the context of being one of tucson’s greatest supporters but he points out that as the aGta has grown, the city’s resources have become strained. “the city needs to understand that this is a huge event; that any city in the country would die to have it. the number one issue is parking. when people spend a lot of time trying to find parking, they are not spending money buying our product.” He adds that his association spends thousands of dollars each year running buses, shuttling its buyers from 15 different hotels around the city. the city’s GemRide, run by the department of trans- F portation’s Parkwise division, connects visitors to the Gem shows with four parking hubs, three in the downtown area (22nd and I-10, west congress, and the tucson convention center) and one at the tucson Expo center at I-10 and Irvington. Parking is $5 but the shuttle rides are free, and the 9 routes hit the main gem show venues. Hucker would like to see the city’s shuttle system expanded to include significant hotels. “what the city needs to do is find a location for remote parking a mile or two out of town. this will require some type of additional transportation (connecting the hotels to the venues) that should be paid by the city.” these issues have been the focus of Hucker’s ongoing conversations with elected officials, city and convention center staff. “now we’d like to know what has been done.” what has been done this year is the expansion of the GemRide shuttle system, from 4 routes in 2007 to 9. Parkwise director chris Leighton predicts that the GemRide system will carry 100,000 passengers this year, up from 67,000 last year. among the routes serving far-flung gem show locales are the citrine Route, which makes stops at hotels along north oracle, stone avenue, and Grant/I-10, while the Garnet Route runs up to westward Look Mineral show on Ina and the whole Bead show at the windmill Inn at campbell and River. of the parking situation in the downtown area, the most concentrated area for the Gem shows, Rich singer, director of the tucson convention center says, “we intend to do the best we can. we had a dry run on January 15th. that sunday it all peaked at 2:00 pm with the Glassman Foundation Family arts Festival, the tucson symphony orchestra, Harlem Globetrotters, the Quilt show, and the Indian arts show all at once. we have a lot of parking resources downtown, we just under-utilize them. on a weekend the city/state Garage is empty and that adds 750 spots; around our building (tcc) we have 1,400 spots. we asked our employees to park remotely— that freed up another 70 spots. I parked in the Pennington street Garage. “we’ll be doing the same thing during the Gem show.” aGta’s second concern is hotels, specifically hotels rais- ing prices for the Gem shows without improving service accordingly. the plans that are in the works for an arena and new convention hotel can’t be brought to fruition soon enough for Hucker, who points out some interim problems. “our attendees are professionals in the luxury business; they spend a lot more dollars than anyone else. they don’t hesitate to spend $200 for a hotel room, usually a lot more. “there’s a perception among some of our buyers that if hotel rates, in some cases, are being doubled, they don’t get the service and attention that they deserve. I’ve heard some of our buyers say, ‘this is just too much. we’ve got to move this show out of town or I’m not coming back.’” Hucker usually stays at the convention until 8:30pm but when he gets back, he says that there is no place open to eat in the downtown area. according to the downtown tucsonan’s Restaurant & cafés guide (page 10), several restaurants in downtown are open until at least 9:00pm: ascolese’s Italian Ristorante, Barrio Brewing, Barrio Food and drink, Bennigan’s, café Poca cosa, caffe Milano (Fridays and saturdays), casa Vicente, coyote café, cup café, cushing street Bar & Restaurant, El charro café, El Minuto café, Enoteca Pizzeria & wine Bar, Grill (24 hours), Iguana café, sport’s on congress, and subway. Finally, Hucker addressed communication. “I’ve been married for 20 years, and sometime we just have to sit down and talk things out. It’s time that the city begins communicating with us. In the entire time we’ve been here, I don’t think they’ve even done a customer satisfaction survey.” If tucson and the Gem shows can endure a few difficult years with I-10, the completion of that project will also bring the opening of improved facilities at the tcc, an arena, new structured parking and 700 new high-quality hotel rooms in the tcc area that should serve the Gem shows well. despite the perennial paranoid rumors that tucson could lose part of its treasured Gem show to Las Vegas, Hucker concluded, “It would be very difficult for us to pack up and move.” february.08. downtown tucsonan 9

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Downtown Tucsonan - February 2008

Downtown Tucsonan - February 2008 Contents From the Editor Downtown Lowdown Vital Signs Downtown Restaurants & Cafes Downtown Live Arts Galleries Performances Film Events Museums Historic Downtown Downtown Travelogue Billboard Classifieds

Downtown Tucsonan - February 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.