June 21, 2011
Rhode Island is the Place Small Enough for Netroots Nation?
Professor William Jacobson of the Legal Insurrection blog has compiled several mainstream media sources saying that Netroots Nation has selected Providence as the site of its 2012 convention of progressive activists and new media participants, because the small size of the Providence convention market will prevent the annual RightOnline convention from being held simultaneously nearby. For several years now, RightOnline has scheduled its convention in the same city, at the same time as Netroots Nation.
If I may inject a randomly local suggestion, if the organizers of RightOnline are searching for a venue for their 2012 annual convention, one place they may want to look is the Crowne Plaza in Warwick, RI. The Crowne Plaza advertises meeting facilities able to hold up to 2,000 people, is a traditional gathering place for Rhode Island Republicans on election evenings, and has hosted a number of events put on by the Rhode Island chapter of the Republican Assembly. The Crowne Plaza is also about 10 minutes by car away from downtown Providence, and there's plenty of cheap parking at the Providence Place Mall, near the Convention Center, for RightOnline conventioners who might want to visit Rhode Island's captiol city for whatever reason...
Two birds, one stone.
Andrew,
We're already ahead of you on things regarding this. Thanks for publicizing the story.
By the way, do we happen to know which two hotels are off-limits to conservatives?
PS Only those who are afraid of competition use non-compete clauses.
Posted by: Will at June 23, 2011 4:46 PMAndrew,
It's the Westin and Biltmore... rather high-end hotels for such a downtrodden organization of poor liberals.
"It is insisting on a noncompete clause in every contract at the Rhode Island Convention Center as well as the Westin Providence and Providence Biltmore hotels, Raven Brooks, Netroots executive director, told Washington Wire. A convention center official said he was not immediately aware of the arrangement."
Posted by: Will at June 23, 2011 4:55 PMIf RightOnline wasn't acting like a stalker, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
Any convention gets a discount rate from a hotel. It's a smart business practice. And I'm sure the hotels don't want bad fraternity pranks in their halls, either. Would you want intense fans of rival teams in your hotel?