Polls back local workers for project
By Tanya Mannes
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
December 6, 2007
CHULA VISTA – Two recent surveys of Chula Vista voters offer differing opinions on Gaylord Entertainment's plan to transform the city's bayfront with a $1 billion hotel-convention center.
Both polls asked about union labor and local jobs.
Gaylord has promised that if its project is approved, it will give hiring preference to local construction workers. The unions say the only way to ensure local workers is a binding agreement to use union labor, which the company won't sign.
After a year of negotiations, Gaylord's senior vice president, Bennett Westbrook, said in July that he would no longer pursue the project because of the unions' “unwavering, unreasonable demands.” But he later resumed talks with Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego, citing “overwhelming” community support.
The surveys – one from Gaylord, the other from a union-environmental coalition – show that residents want local workers for the bayfront construction jobs. Gaylord's survey, however, showed 70 percent said the company “should not be forced to use only union workers” as long as the company “is committed to hiring local workers.”
The Gaylord poll results were released last week.
Yesterday the Local Jobs First Campaign released the results of its poll of 400 Chula Vista voters. Of those surveyed, 83 percent said it is “very important” that local workers build any new development on the bayfront.
Gaylord's poll of 400 city voters found that 64 percent support the company's project. The union poll, which didn't ask specifically about support for Gaylord's proposal, found that 84 percent of voters said future bayfront development is “very important to Chula Vista's economy.”
Gaylord's $1 billion project would require the city and the Port of San Diego to pay for infrastructure and part of the convention center. The project's public benefits include a more accessible waterfront with a new park, thousands of new jobs, a likely boost in property values and millions of dollars in tax revenue.
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