For us, the question is not whether cities should invest in convention centers,
convention center hotels, or other accoutrements of a tourism infrastructure.
The issue is whether the decisions made about these investments involve a full
range of participants and the possibility of vigorous public debate. In a political
and economic environment in which political power is generally fragmented
and diffused within municipalities, policy entrepreneurs are tempted to find
ways around democratic processes. We argue that the proponents of convention
centers have largely bypassed local democratic processes, with the result that
new facilities and expansions have often been undertaken irrespective of
whether they will enhance the ability of a particular city to successfully compete
for a larger share of conventions and meetings.2 As a means of illustrating how
this politics unfolds, we present a brief case study of convention center politics
in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis case demonstrates that decisions about the
city’s investment in its convention center have been made within a closed community
linking local proponents with the meetings industry. At the conclusion
to the paper, we provide evidence that the St. Louis case is not exceptional but
typical of most cities in the United States, and perhaps elsewhere.