You know what Mom says: Never buy a loaf of bread without squeezing it first or a pair of shoes without trying them on.
Well, what would Mom say about city tourism officials trying to sell skeptical convention planners on another Pennsylvania Convention Center reform plan without knowing how much it will really cut costs?
Mom's advice: Don't do it.
To be sure, scoping out the possible impact of proposed management and labor reforms will be a lot harder than pinching some pumpernickel.
But legislators who are going to be asked to approve a $464 million expansion of the center might want to commission a fast-track, cost-benefit study of the proposed changes. They need some independent analysis to give them confidence that these reforms will stick and make the center competitive - unlike the labor agreement reached last year.
Those halfway measures were much ballyhooed by city officials, but failed to end the center's horrible reputation for high costs and labor woes. Center officials and City Hall were left with a huge credibility problem, with convention planners and upstate legislators.
To make sure this latest, proposed fix will work, the legislature ought to hire a national firm with appropriate expertise as soon as possible, even as the Convention Center Authority waits to see whether the balky carpenters union will join five other unions in approving the reform package.
The carpenters helped stymie last year's reform effort by continuing their featherbedding ways; in fact, their union increased some of the perks it enjoys inside the building, right under Mayor Street's nose.
One new wrinkle allowed carpenters to be involved in work traditionally done by the stagehands. A few such cost-hiking practices live on in the new agreement proposed by the center's consultants, Econsult Corp.
Not all of them are driven by the union's wants; some are demanded by contractors who put together shows at the center. In other words, the high costs at the Philadelphia center is a many-sided problem: Union work rules aren't the only factor. That's why an independent analysis of the reform package would be so useful.
Some hard, good work has gone into the reforms. But a danger lurks. This stuff is so complicated. It's been so hard to get the players to agree. And the sense of urgency is justifiably great, as convention bookings for future years evaporate.
Another danger: elected officials allowing political timetables to overwhelm needed reforms. State legislators may be tempted to delay a deal so that they don't upset carpenters just before the November election.
Still, the real judgment of these reforms won't be political, they'll be economic. Either they will cut costs and aggravation enough to turn around the center's sinking reputation - or they won't. That will be a cold, financial calculation by convention planners and exhibitors that has nothing to do with who supports whom politically around here.
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and the convention center authority cannot afford to get it wrong this time.
That's why they are right to raise the dire threat of a state takeover of the center if the carpenters union doesn't sign on soon to sufficient reforms.
