So, they want to expand the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

According to the Globe:

Encouraged by the steady growth in its bookings, Boston Convention & Exhibition Center officials yesterday took a key first step toward an expansion of the $700 million, three-year-old South Boston hall.

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, which runs the center, said it will invite consulting firms next week to submit by Sept. 5 a master plan for developing 22 vacant acres on the 62-acre site.

Okay.

Who's going to pay for this?

The first-phase of the convention center cost $800 million, paid for by the state, funded by bonds. These bonds are being paid back through revenue from the center, plus a $10 fee charged on each car rental in Massachusetts.

In addition, the convention center runs an operating deficit, every single year.

So, unless you buy into the idea that having the convention center pays off in other ways, either through sales and hotel taxes or by encouraging tourism, or indirectly by making our city "world-class", you have to wonder why we keep encouraging this type of "negative" growth.

Read on: Convention hall sees success, looks to grow - By Peter J Howe, The Boston Globe