We won’t mince words like others have when writing about the recommendations by the city council appointed committee which is trying to sell us all a “BIG” bill of goods on the bond projects which they have recommended to the council.
We don’t have to wait for the “listening group” or better put; political action committee to trumpet the results of their listening tour and tell us how wonderful all these pork barrel projects are for this city; we will go on record on this date as saying that when the issue comes before the voters, and believe us it will, the only good vote is a “NO” vote; on all the projects.
When over two thirds of the bond money is targeted for only 3 projects which would result in an overbuilding of entertainment facilities; we must question the sanity of that recommendation. This city has never been a location which promoters look to, to stage plays or concerts of the magnitude that would be needed to make the projects worthwhile. In order for these types of taxpayer investments to pay off, events must be scheduled at these venues almost every weekend; do you see this city supporting 3 different events at 3 different venues on the same night? We don’t; canceling concerts and plays due to poor ticket sales is already a common occurrence here.
In fact, recently a blues music concert had to be cancelled due to poor ticket sales; it had nothing to do with the venue it was scheduled for. But it did have to do with a culture in this city that doesn’t support these types of events.
We point to the Wells Fargo Amphitheater as a prime example of a fiscal boondoggle. This latest facility was finally finished after years of delay and cost overruns; and the last time we counted there had only been 2 possibly 3 plays staged there; the popular play “Oklahoma” and the most recent Moonlight Musicals production. A quick look at the coming events for the rest of the year shows just one Moonlight Musicals production scheduled for the rest of the year. At best, the new venue has produced 4 events over a 1.5 year period and at a cost of over $4 million dollars.
Is that the kind of return on investment that we want as taxpayers; we say no.
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