SAN DIEGO
A planned expansion of the San Diego Convention Center has hit a major snag. The local hotel workers union, Unite Here, filed suit to block a proposed tax that would be used to fund expansion for San Diego's convention center, arguing that it sidesteps a state law requiring approval by two-thirds of voters.
Although the suit revolves around technicalities of state law, it is part of a broader dispute between the union and the hoteliers, with the union pressing for better salaries and employment opportunities for its members.
A plan adopted by Mayor Jerry Sanders and the City Council last month would allow the city's hoteliers to vote on the suggested tax. But he Unite Here suit said that the plan violates a state law that two-thirds of the "qualified electorate" vote on the proposal. It maintains that under state law, the qualified electorate includes every voter within the area where the tax is to be imposed.
Work on the expansion—which is slated to add 225,000 square feet of exhibit space, 100,000 square feet of meeting rooms and 80,000 square feet of ballroom space to the existing center—was expected to start this year and finish by 2015.
