Okay let us forget for a moment that every single high school dance ever portrayed in a movie took place in the gym. Let us also forget that each high school still has (I believe) a serviceable and free-standing youth center that can handle high school dances. And let us suspend disbelief for a moment and consider that the current Midland Center is somehow completely unsuitable for....let us remember what we are talking about here....a high school dance.

Is it wise to spend $66 million dollars in order to shield our precious young-uns from the gruesome horror of having to hold their high school dance at The Midland Horseshoe? Or the Midland Hilton? Or the Holiday Inn's event center on west Wall?

When arguements are presented for black tie balls and high schools dances as being any sort of impetuses...impetii...or whatever, for a new convention center one would almost be forced to guess that Midland currently has no existing facilities whatsoever to hold any sort of event.

But Midland has several. The question has been and always will be: Is it worth spending $66 million dollars PLUS $4 million per year in debt service PLUS $750,000 per year in operating losses in order that we may handle events that cannot be handled by the current Midland Center, nor the Midland Horseshoe, nor the Chaparral Center, nor the Holiday Inn's or the Hilton's big ballrooms, nor the new $48 million (or $65 million) performing arts center to be built and that hasn't even been designed yet?

In short, is the cost of this project worth the marginal gains that we might realize?

Further, this is not a question that we are asking in a vacuum. There is an upcoming school bond issue that will expand a lot of the out-dated facilites that our precious young-uns use each and every school day.

If you think we have plenty of tax headroom to do everything then neither bond issue presents a problem, no tax burden is too high, and you are born 'economic developer'.

If you think that we don't have unlimited tax headroom and need to have some priorities you then get to choose between schools that are used each and every day by local students and a convention center large enough to garner the Antioch Christian Church and their 100 room nights.

And if you think we have no tax headroom at all and are generally a sorehead, an aginner, and "non-progressive" in the terms of the proponents of a new center then you simply start a blog. You know...like this one.

Although, we are slipping on our non-progressive aginner-ness being for the school stuff. We have to work on that.

Also in this thrilling multi-part series: Convention Center: Part I - Black Tie Events