San Juan, Denver land future conventions

Heavy lobbying from cities stirs intense debate on NAHJ board

Midway through Wednesday’s marathon, five-hour meeting to determine future convention sites, NAHJ board members were swimming in boxed chocolates, leather binders and offers for free airline tickets and city tours courtesy of convention officials wooing the organization to their cities.

After two hours of intense debate, the board tentatively selected San Juan, Puerto Rico, for 2009, and Denver for 2010. Next year’s convention is slated for San Jose, Calif., while the UNITY convention will take place in Chicago in 2008.

“We’ll be looking for the place where there’s a large Latino population, with convention and hotel facilities to manage a large number of people and with support from local companies,” said Sam Diaz, NAHJ financial officer and assistant technology editor at The Washington Post, before the meeting. “You don’t necessarily need all these things, but these are things you want to think about.”

The selection process begins months, sometimes years before decision day, according to board members. It starts at the organization’s headquarters in Washington D.C., where NAHJ officials reach out to cities.

Late last year, NAHJ officials contacted Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orlando, Fla., and Denver as potential sites, said Iván Román, NAHJ executive director. Other cities, including San Juan, contacted NAHJ on their own upon hearing of the association’s search.

It was up to Román to visit the cities and narrow the field. Las Vegas was cut because its convention center would not waive rental fees, and the facilities and logistics were poor, Román said. A couple of casinos showed interest but never bid, he said.

And what about Los Angeles, the city that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa personally invited NAHJ to during the 2005 convention in Fort Worth, Texas? Its convention and visitors bureau was more interested in giant citywide conventions and declined to bid on NAHJ so soon, Román said.

On Wednesday, officials from San Juan, Denver and Orlando pitched their cities at the board meeting armed with fancy presentations, gifts and perks.

Denver’s gift was a box of chocolates. San Juan provided leather binders. Orlando gaveout binders and upped the ante with complimentary tours and attraction tickets for board members.

None of it would affect decision-making, said Cindy Rodriguez, an at-large officer and columnist at The Denver Post.

Orlando was cut after some board members argued NAHJ would be returning to Florida too soon. San Juan was a near-unanimous choice. Denver was tougher and resulted in a heated debate over family friendliness between the Mile High city and Orlando, before passing 9-4 with one abstention. “It’s very disappointing to see members aren’t thinking about being fiscally conservative and thinking about finances,” said Manuel De La Rosa, Region 5 director and a television reporter in south Texas. He said that Orlando would attract more famiclies.

Contact Moises Mendoza at Mendoza@thehoya.com. Staff writer Analiz González contributed to this report.