Gaylord Give Away

How much corporate welfare will Gaylord Opryland Hotel receive before the public says enough? The politicians in Nashville are only too glad to give away our tax-confiscated funds and subsidize Opryland Hotel at the expense of all the other accommodations in the Nashville hospitality industry. The hotel tax should go back into the general fund, not go to one particular company. Opryland sustained flood damage- so did many of the rest of us, businesses and individuals alike, and many are not eligible for any form of government assistance. So, why should aid be extended to one multi-billion dollar corporation which has already received hundreds of millions in government largess? The resort complex was given millions in tax abatement to initially locate a hotel, entertainment, and theme park here. Roads were built or reconfigured at taxpayer expense to facilitate traffic flow to the complex. Eminent domain was employed to remove some recalcitrant property owners who stood in the way. The theme park was a beacon for tourism and an icon to the locals who often purchased season passes to use every year. Then Opryland unceremoniously closed the theme park after receiving even more government beneficence, only to replace it with a shopping mall. And the resort of late has been no boon to the local jobseeker as area workers were supplanted by Puerto Ricans flown in to labor in a period of contract work and kept in barrack-type motels. Let the billionaire owner, the flood insurance, and the shareholders bear the cost of repairing what destruction the flood hath wrought on Gaylord. They have resources aplenty and they can not pick up one of the largest American hotel complexes outside of Las Vegas and move it anywhere. No matter what, subsidy or not, Opryland is staying in Nashville.