Last night I had good intentions to go to the Event Center task force meeting. But I decided to paint instead, so I suck. I had several questions for the group. Like why hasn’t anyone from the group or the mayor’s office released data on how much our current entertainment facilities are booked and attendance (because this would not help their cause). I did some rough googling about six months ago and what I could see was this:
Percentage of days in a year facilities are booked:
Arena: 50-60%
Wash Pav Great Hall: 40-50%
Orpheum Theater: 50% (This has increased significantly)
Belbas theater: 10-20% (rather pathetic considering this is a fantastic small acoustic hall)
This doesn’t take into account all the private college theaters and Brandon’s performance hall.
Now remember, these are DAYS not attendance. These facilities only sellout about 5% of the time (combined). What am I getting at? THE NEED IS NOT THERE and the numbers don’t add up, that is why NO one will talk about it.
We will need a new facility in about 10 years. I think another task force should be organized in about 6-7 years. In the interim, the city and state legislators should work to totally overhaul our tax code in SD. Which would include:
– Eliminating Video Lottery
– Eliminating the tax on food and clothing
– Instituting a corporate entertainment tax (this tax could be municipal optional)
– Instituting an advertising tax
– Instituting a luxury tax
Once a clear way to pay for the facility is available, then we can move forward.
I don’t miss Robert Morast
Since one of the worst entertainment writers the Gargoyle Leader has ever seen has left I’ve been hearing mumblings and rumblings about how he is missed (mostly from his nerdy friends who played video games and drank Yahoo with him). Even Scott Hudson shed a few tears today.
I have told several of them that it has improved the LINK significantly because now they have a person who actually INTERVIEWS the bands, and is a musician. Yeah, Jay may not be as young as Robert, but at least he doesn’t have to ask his wife about a band every time he has a story to write (yup, Boberta’s dirty little secret, his wife was his main source).
I’m sorry, his editorials may have been funny, I even got a kick out of his slam on me in his last column, but he couldn’t interview to save his life. I’m glad the LINK is finally covering local music, those of us who get out of the house on the weekends and go see local music appreciate the coverage. Sure, I’m disappointed that I don’t hear about some national acts as much as I used to, but like Scott said in his post today, that’s the job of the promoter, not the newspaper. Local musicians who have limited resources and play for next to nothing deserve the coverage a Hell of a lot more.
Robert Morast, good riddance. I hope there is an angry little man giving you Hell in Fargo.
I was at the meeting last night. What the main concern seemed to be was that our current space for conventions is insufficient and we need more in order to draw in conventions that want to be here but can’t come do to size concerns. We’re still a pretty cheap place to do business.
Unfortunately, they still haven’t addressed location or what they want to do with Howard Wood.
There were also several older folks there last night whose main concern seemed to be making sure the acts booked at the new EC wouldn’t just appeal to the young folks. For all the time they spend bitching about how young people are so selfish, they sure sounded awfully selfish themselves. The point right now is to focus on where the thing goes and how much it will cost, not which acts are coming.
They should have built the Convention center bigger when they had the chance, not sure what that has to do with a new EC. I would totally be behing doubling the size of the Convention center, it has proven it has an enormous economic impact on SF.
As for the old-foggies, they already have their own place to see entertainment, the Washington Pavilion.
They complained about the pavilion too. Too expensive for “regular folks”, and all the tickets get sold out too fast.
The CVB reps were there probably weith the idea that the new EC will be built near the old arena. Big mistake. The convention center should be greatly expanded.
I suggested implementing a park-and-ride service that will allow the city more flexibility in locations. If you don’t need three square miles of parking lot around the EC, you can pretty much put it anywhere – including DT. It works like magic at Jazzfest. Last year, we walked down to LHS and hopped on the bus, completely avoiding any traffic.
For concerts, you could have party busses with local DJ’s on them creating buzz about the concert and reporting on the craziness going on. It’s great promotion for the next show.
I have a feeling this thing will get voted down because of the current constraints on the methods of funding available. You’re right that there need to be new ways to fund the EC. I think the advertising tax would pay for the capital outlay and a corporate entertainment tax would pay for maintainance and future upgrades.
What amazes me is how ignorant and unimaginative people are.
The CVB guy was the one who suggested the party bus thing. He used to work in Vegas doing about the same thing as he does here.
The task force was, for the most part, old white dudes with a few others mixed in.
Letting Kelby and Dana lead the last group was a really bad idea that screwed up peoples’ perceptions of the project. They turned it into a monster – not suprising given Kelby’s idea to put a huge glass dome right in the middle of town. Why doesn’t he just be honest and build a giant penis with his name on it?
Or buy a Harley, it has the same effect on a man’s ego.