San Diego doesn’t know how to fund a $700 million expansion of the convention center, but plans are still moving forward.
The first of two public workshops on the project will be held Wednesday. Steven Johnson, with the Convention Center, said public input is important.
“That will help inform the architectural and planning aspects of the next phase that we’re going through right now,” he said.
Johnson said environmental assessments are being reviewed and stakeholders are being given the opportunity to weigh in on what they’d like to see in the expansion -- if it’s funded.
Johnson said he doesn’t know if a public vote is necessary to approve the expansion because the city hasn’t decided how to pay for it.
A task force put together by the mayor to study the project listed several funding options in its final report. Among them are raising the taxes on hotel rooms in San Diego, tacking an extra fee onto tickets for the San Diego Zoo or SeaWorld, or charging more for taxi rides to and from the airport.
