Note #9105 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06063 Feb. 7, 2006
Pittsburgh chosen as site of 2012 Assembly
Steel City will be host of Presbyterian GA for the first time since 1958
by Jerry L. Van Marter
LOUISVILLE - The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) will recommend that the 2012 Assembly be held in Pittsburgh, a longtime Presbyterian stronghold.
The last time the Assembly met there was 1958.
The proposed dates for the 220th General Assembly are June 30-July 7, 2012.
Commissioners to the upcoming 217th Assembly in Birmingham, AL, will have to approve.
"It's very easy to make this recommendation," said Deborah Davies, manager of Assembly services for the Office of the General Assembly (OGA). "There are many hotels and restaurants in close proximity to the convention center, which is very well suited to the meeting."
The price is right, too.
Because of a geographic rotation plan, the 2012 Assembly must be somewhere along the Eastern seaboard. Pittsburgh is expected to be much less expensive than the other finalist cities - Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston and Orlando, FL. OGA officials estimate the cost of a Pittsburgh Assembly at just over $1.5 million; that's more than $240,000 less than it would cost to meet in Philadelphia. Of the finalists, Boston was by far the most expensive, at $2.2 million.
Average Assembly hotel prices in Pittsburgh are estimated at $125 per night.
Support for the Assembly - another key selection factor - is very strong in Pittsburgh, said Gradye Parsons, OGA's director of operations. Pittsburgh Presbytery is one of the largest in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and is also home to Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. The presbytery has already starting working with neighboring presbyteries to create "a huge pool of local support," Parsons said.
After Birmingham, the next two Assemblies will be in San Jose, CA, in 2008, and in Minneapolis, MN, in 2010.
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