City sees ray amid event's clouds

As the back-and-forth over the true impact of the Democratic National Convention continues, the city of Boston conceded yesterday that its initial assessment didn't include $70 million in negative impacts. That's the expected cost of transportation shutdowns, lost tourism, and the fact that the convention is keeping the city from hosting other high-profile events this summer.

But fear not, the city said yesterday: The report prepared in April also didn't include $70 million in positive impacts, convention benefits that planners contend will be felt over a 12-month period. That means that despite the negatives, the real impact of next month's convention will be $154.17 million, about $16,000 more than city officials previously thought.

"The negative impacts that will occur during that one week will be more than offset by the positive impacts that will continue for months and even years," said the revised report, issued yesterday by Mayor Thomas M. Menino's office.

The report left some local economists scratching their heads. David G. Tuerck, whose Beacon Hill Institute last month predicted that the convention would cost the local economy as much as $50 million, said the mayor's office appears to be counting some of the benefit dollars twice.

The city is also including some $30 million in gains derived from the "advertising value of exposure." That struck Tuerck as laughable. "I wonder what the advertising value of having to shut down the city is," he said.

Meanwhile, Boston's convention host committee has received a $1 million donation from an Indiana couple who are among the Democratic Party's leading soft-money sources. That gift provides organizers with a boost as they try to cover $5 million in convention cost overruns.

Mel and Bren Simon, who control a real-estate investment company and own the Indiana Pacers basketball team, became just the 12th convention "platinum benefactors" by giving the donation, according to Boston 2004's website.

Their donation underscores a point being made by advocates of campaign finance overhaul: that political conventions are increasingly becoming a way for big donors to give unlimited sums to candidates. The Simons are among the biggest mall owners in the United States.

Jack Corrigan, Senator John F. Kerry's top convention liaison, said the host committee and the Kerry campaign are less than $3 million from covering the $44.5 million in costs slated to be covered by private donors.