The recent ratification of a new contract between Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor workers and management was greeted as good news for the city, and it was. The four-year pact brings significant wage increases as well as health and pension benefits, upgrades that were in doubt just two months ago when workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 7 held a one-day Labor Day strike. More importantly, it means the 757-room city-owned hotel on West Pratt Street can continue to fulfill its mission as Baltimore’s primary convention hotel. But the lingering question remains: Can Baltimore do better as a convention city?

The Hilton has struggled with a low occupancy rate, as other hotels have, since the COVID-19 pandemic. But even before then, there were lingering doubts about whether city leaders and the Baltimore Development Corporation acted wisely in choosing to invest $301 million in taxpayer-backed city bonds in the massive hotel that opened in 2008. Back then, there was an expectation that the adjacent Baltimore Convention Center would be greatly expanded. Nearly a decade ago, the cost of a potential state-funded expansion was pegged at $600 million or more. But then Larry Hogan succeeded former Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley as governor and interest in such investment waned.

That’s left the Baltimore Convention Center at a crossroads. Fish or cut bait? Some have suggested that the city government should simply sell the Hilton to the highest private sector bidder and be done with it. Yet practically from the beginning of the Baltimore Renaissance from the Inner Harbor to the state-funded construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium there has been an expectation that the Convention Center would be a key catalyst in the city’s economic future. The problem, supporters have long claimed, is that the state didn’t keep up its portion of the deal. The convention center hasn’t been significantly upgraded since 1996.

This is one reason why state lawmakers were wise to earlier this year approve the creation of the Baltimore Convention and Tourism Redevelopment and Operating Authority Task Force, a board that can hopefully chart a course for the Baltimore Convention Center’s future. Next scheduled to meet on Nov. 18, the group includes representatives of government, unions, and the tourism and hospitality industries. What’s critically important is that the city, state and private sector agree on a common course moving forward. Can the convention trade prosper in Charm City? There are reasons to think it can.

Just look around. While there have been struggles, most notably around the Inner Harbor and with empty office towers downtown, there have also been successes including the stadiums and the CFG Bank Arena, the 14,000 seating capacity concert and events venue just one block from the convention center. If city voters agree to Question F, Baltimore may yet see a redeveloped Harborplace.

And don’t forget new investments in Penn Station and Baltimore Peninsula. The city is already charting a significant increase in tourism dollars. Might the convention trade dovetail nicely in a city with attractions ranging from Fort McHenry to playoff-qualifying NFL and MLB teams?

No, Baltimore can’t be a convention titan like Chicago or New York or Las Vegas, but its proximity to Washington, D.C., and East Coast cities — as well as reasonable prices, a major international airport, renovated train station and, hopefully, a rebuilt Francis Scott Key Bridge — suggest it can be a Nashville or San Antonio or Minneapolis if it has adequate convention floor space and enough hotel rooms to support visitors. Could violent crime prove a problem? It doesn’t help, but as the continued success of Chicago and New York, two cities with similar public safety struggles, demonstrates, it’s not a deal-breaker, at least not if law enforcement can keep visitors safe.

What’s missing is a plan to coordinate these assets and the political will — and resources — to implement it. People have a right to be skeptical about how their tax dollars are spent. It’s possible that the numbers won’t work. Perhaps in the era of teleconferencing, the convention business won’t be what it once was. But it’s surely worth exploring and, if the opportunity is there, making some smart choices and seizing the moment.