Subsidizing low-wage industries

This is not an investment in the city; it is corporate welfare to a billionaire. Investments by the city should be for public goods, not for the private good. Having the taxpayers subsidize 20% of the cost of a hotel (for the nth time) in the lowest wage employment category is beyond ridiculous. In fact, it is damn near criminal.

The tourism / hotel industry downtown is a minor portion of the total Indianapolis economy. Just because some big numbers are thrown around does not mean the numbers are significant.

The wage earnings (2004, US Bureau of Economic Analysis) for the category "Accommodations and Food Service was $846,174,000, which equates to 2.4% of the total earnings in Indianapolis, at an average wage just shy of $18,000. The total private earnings in Indianapolis in 2004 were about $31,000,000,000, with an average wage of about almost $52,000. So, yeah, let's subsidize an industry where the average earnings are little more than a third of the average earnings in the total economy. Good idea. Please don't stop!