MEGAPLEX SUMMIT CONCLUDES WITH A PLAN TO STUDY MORE PLANS

     In Boston, a meeting of MA political and business leaders
concluded with "an agreement that a state-financed convention
center should be built in Boston" and that a study should be
completed by June 1 "to review a half-dozen recommended Boston
sites for the $500 million convention center along with the
feasibility of fitting an add-on stadium at each location."
Legislative authorization is necessary before the study can
begin.  Included in the proposal is $35M for "highway
improvements outside Foxboro Stadium" as well as possible
improvements to the Springfield Civic Center.  Boston Mayor
Thomas Menino, who attended the meetings:  "I think it's a real
advance.  Finally we've got a plan in place" (Ackerman &
Kindleberger, BOSTON GLOBE, 1/24).  In today's BOSTON HERALD, MA
House Republican Leader Edward Teague questions the need for the
convention center.  Teague: "It is almost universally true that
every city that has built a large convention center has done so
with very rosy forecasts and projections that far too often have
failed to pan out" (Phil Primack, BOSTON HERALD, 1/25).