[WildTurkey]

Tourism does produce real jobs, even for those who never walk across.

Tell that to the workers at Turtle Bay Park that are being layed off.

[Carry_Okie]

Tell that to the workers at Turtle Bay Park that are being layed off.

Ok.

Despite the latest layoff, Turtle Bay's managers express confidence as they prepare to open Sundial Bridge and the McConnell Arboretum this summer. Of course, that's their job. It's intriguing that a slightly more objective source is endorsing the Turtle Bay vision.

Kevin Hafenstein, a Redding native who sings tenor for the Los Angeles Opera, hopes to sink $7 million to $10 million into developing an upscale hotel on the site of the Casa Blanca Motel. A onetime luxury landmark that put the miracle in Miracle Mile, the property today is a ramshackle shell on the edge of the arboretum. But with the park finally taking shape next door, Hafenstein sees a glimmering future hiding behind the Casa Blanca's crumbling walls.

As I said, the benefits are hard to quantify, but they are real and not uniformly distributed whether you believe it or not. It is not unusual with such projects that they develop slowly. Similar things were said about Golden Gate Park.