It was pretty pathetic to watch Darrin openly laugh at councilor Stehly when she was questioning him about a budget amendment for the Black History Museum. Once the video comes up you will see him. Sadly, Stehly couldn’t see this because she was tele conferencing due to family issues. It is incredibly disrespectful for anyone to laugh at the councilors when they are being questioned about budgets, it is even more egregious for a Director of a Facility that the city owns, subsidizes and maintains with our tax dollars to laugh at the very person who is allocating the money on behalf of the taxpayers. Darrin learned well with his brief stint in city government from one of the best. Avoid, confuse and embarrass your foes. Sad really. But I wouldn’t expect anything less from a guy who hired a cartoonist youth pastor to help run an arts facility.
UPDATE: Apparently the city received the 2017 financial report from the Pavilion a couple of weeks ago. So they must of had their annual meeting without little fanfare.
DOC: WP-2017-FS
As you can see they are up $490K from the year before. What I found interesting was that ticket sales were up $1.2 million from the year before, but expenses were up $1.1 million.
Well, you have to give them credit, they are staying consistent with last year.
But what makes the delay interesting is that there is a new sheriff at city hall. Mayor TenHaken is probably eye balls deep (or at least his COS is) in budget meetings. So how can you justify the yearly subsidy to the Pavilion and all the extra goodies they get from the entertainment tax when you have no idea how did last year?
Well the rumors are out there. I guess due to good ticket sales and fundraising they are up almost $500K. Maybe they are keeping that under wraps from the public so they keep their yearly subsidy? Not sure?
It would be wise for Mayor TenHaken to pressure the Pavilion to release that annual report before the budget hearings start. In other words RIGHT NOW.
Paul says his faith prevents him from attending;
Paul TenHaken This event was promoted before I had the opportunity to accept and my schedule does not allow for me to be there. The mayor’s office is a 24/7 job, but Sunday’s are for faith and family and not campaigning. I have had a chance to meet many of you over these past few months and I look forward to talking with all of you in the near future.
While I won’t defend Paul’s excuse, because I do not attend religious ceremonies on Sunday, I have a feeling he knew the piling on would occur. All the better for Loetscher I guess.
I have had an idea for awhile that a percentage of the Entertainment tax (3rd penny) should be put towards local arts projects and local artists. Community theatre would be a perfect recipient of these monies;
After 15 seasons, the Sioux Empire Community Theatre is making a plea for donations to stay afloat.
“The reality is, community theatre can no longer survive on ticket sales alone,†board president Kimberly Jacobson and producing artistic director Patrick Pope wrote in a post on Facebook.
Rumor has it that SECT even asked the city to write-off rental debt last year. Not sure if that is true, but if it is that’s not good.
Right now the 3rd penny has been used for building upgrades to the Pavilion after the bonds were paid off. SMG has asked to get some that money also to use towards the Orpheum and Canaries Stadium. I have often argued that since the 3rd penny brings in around $6.5 million a year, they could easily split off $1 million of it to go towards local arts organizations and projects. Besides, it is a local tax we pay, shouldn’t it go towards local projects?
The Pavilion has been in turmoil for a long time, and the multiple terminations at the end of 2017 shows there is a major restructuring going on at the institution. The Sioux Falls Arts Council is also seeing some major changes. This would be a perfect time for the new mayor and city council to take a hard look at how this money is being spent. It’s obvious the money is there, it just needs to be spread out better. The board members of the Pavilion need to be reigned in and shown there are other artistic opportunities in this city that contribute to a more diverse economic impact. Diversifying this funding would help the community as a whole.
You have to realize not everyone is into going to a concert at the Denty or a musical at the Pavilion. People want local artistic options also, let’s give it to them by spending the LOCAL tax on LOCAL arts.
I still haven’t figured out exactly if this editorial by the Argus is about anything, but I certainly found this line troubling and extremely inaccurate;
It is a valuable city asset akin to our parks system, one that enriches those of us who already call Sioux Falls home.
It is NOTHING like our parks system when it comes to value. Many things in our parks system are FREE due to the taxes we pay. What is free at the Pavilion? Nothing. I suppose you could sit in the lobby and take a nap on one of the benches. The Pavilion use to offer many free events and a free visual arts center. Not any more.
And that is another reason why you cannot compare our parks system to the Pavilion. Taxpayers take it in the shorts on many fronts with the Pavilion. We NOT only subsidize operations, but the city also robs the 3rd penny entertainment tax to make upgrades to a building that really isn’t that old and went almost $20 million over budget. The 3rd penny should really be used to promote tourism and FREE public art programs in our community.
The Pavilion doesn’t give any cultural value back to the community UNLESS you pay for it, TWICE. Once in your tax bill and again when you buy a ticket.
Do we need the Pavilion? Most definitely. But I think they should bring back some FREE programming so we can truly compare it to the city’s GREATEST asset, our Parks System.