GARDEN GROVE : City to Pay for 4 to Attend Convention

The City Council voted this week to spend $17,000 to send four staff members to a shopping center convention in Las Vegas in the hopes of attracting new business to the Civic Center area.

The city has sent delegations in six of the past seven years to the International Council of Shopping Centers. City representatives staff a booth and hand out brochures and maps of Garden Grove to developers and business people from around the nation.

The Agency for Community Development has established working relationships with shopping center developers and major retail tenants over the years, according to Matthew Fertal, the city’s economic development director.

However, critics claim that previous efforts have been unsuccessful and that the trip should be scrapped as an unnecessary expense in this financially strapped city, which faces a possible $7.7-million deficit in the 1993-94 budget.

Councilman Robert F. Dinsen said Friday that nothing has been accomplished at the convention that couldn’t have been achieved by officials staying at home.

Dinsen said attending the three-day convention in the hopes of attracting new business is “wishful thinking” on the part of his colleagues and voted against the expenditure.

Mayor Frank Kessler pointed out, however, that at previous conventions, groundwork was laid that eventually helped attract a T.J. Maxx store to the city.

Efforts in Las Vegas also helped to find tenants at the Smith’s Food and Drug Center and were instrumental in upgrading a Target store, he said.

“You never know,” Kessler said. “The people you talk to may not be interested today, but in six months you might get a telephone call from them.”

The City Council voted 4 to 1 to pay for four staff members to make the trip. However, council members who go to the convention must pay their own way.

Councilman Mark Leyes, who said he expects to attend this year’s convention, said the money financing the city’s participation comes from the redevelopment budget and must be spent for redevelopment purposes. He described the expenditure as a “very good investment” for the city.