Thursday, February 16, 2012

Yes Weekly's Eric Ginsburg on the Downtown PAC: Anybody hear about how our homeless child population just doubled?

“We have a performing arts center right now and it’s a liability to this community. It’s the pits. Something’s got to be done for this city to compete with a performing arts facility”... said Community Foundation president Walker Sanders.

Isn't unemployment really the liability?

Community participation in the process will prevent residents from rejecting the project, especially at the polls, he said.

Meaning the task force intends to sell voters on the debt?

At the request of interim City Manager [and former taxpayer funded Greensboro Partnership Lobbyist] Denise Turner Roth, the Community Foundation [which is part of the Greensboro Partnership] began creating a task force with three committees, a subcommittee and an advisory board.

[taxpayer funded] Downtown Greensboro Inc., the United Arts Council, city council and other stakeholders submitted names of people who should be on the task force...

If all those in favor got to submit task force member names,
what are the chances of the task force
concluding the PAC is a great idea?

Stakeholders and DGI = Those who would profit?

Some residents ...say funding a project of this magnitude during tough economic times is a bad move, especially if a bond referendum passed that would likely necessitate raising taxes.

So there will definitely be a tax increase?

Residents have also said they feel the outcome of the task force, which aims to “create an open, candid and constructive dialogue around the needs of a performing arts center,” is a foregone conclusion because of who is leading the process.

True that.

The [taxpayer funded via the Greensboro Partnership] Community Foundation, which supports creating a new [taxpayer funded] performing arts center, hired Mayor Robbie Perkins’ former campaign manager [Lobbyist] and marketing and advertising veteran Ross Harris to manage the task force.

...Perkins has expressed his strong support for a performing arts center, particularly one built downtown and managed by Greensboro Coliseum Director Matt Brown.

Why Matt Brown?

“I’ve been around this community for a long time and I think I’ve proven myself to be objective,” Harris said.

Bullshit.

“I can assure you in no way will these results will be biased based on my relationships with Robbie. It’s an open process and we aren’t going into it with any preconceived notions, and that’s really the truth.”

Bullshit.

Sanders said there aren’t foregone conclusions in the process; otherwise they wouldn’t be creating the task force in the first place.

Bullshit.

He said the foundation picked Harris because of her decades of experience and because she knows everyone in the community.

...Harris said she did not think they were rushing the process, but that is was necessary to move quickly because even the current schedule wouldn’t allow a performing arts center to be opened until late 2015 or early 2016.

Sounds like what a lobbyist would say, doesn't it?

"We are not rushing, but we "need" to move quickly,
or we won't get to go until 2017,
so let's rush"?

“The fact that she managed Robbie’s campaign is kind of icing on the cake,” Sanders said, adding that city council’s leadership is why the issue is even on the table. “There is no way you could do this process if you don’t engage people that are already a part of this. Transparency is the solution to conflicts of interest. Everyone knows where people stand.”

Also Bullshit.

Like the study for the Greensboro Partnership 2012 Strategic Plan
that the Partnership refuses to release?

..."We will measure success if people can at least say it was an objective and open process… and allow everyone to make an informed decision,” Sanders said.

Will the task force release the data behind the feasibility study?

...the ability to raise about $10 million in private funding...

Wasn't it $25 million?

Is the GN&R saying it's now $8-10 million?

...The task force is not conducting a comparative study between downtown locations and the originally proposed coliseum site, but is only focused on downtown options.

Why not?

What happened to transparency?

Is it transparent to not compare what should be?

Most likely a lie of omission?

Part of the reason a new performing arts center came up and that the process has a short timeline is due to increased funding of $11 million through the hotel/motel tax becoming available for cultural investment, Sanders said.

...with the bond debt paid off to the crumbling War Memorial Auditorium, they say now is the time for a new facility.

Performing Arts Center Lie Number 2?

...Holliday said within the first two years of operation, DPAC nearly put the Carolina Theatre in Durham, which is not affiliated with the one in Greensboro but is run by the city, out of business.

After an infusion of funds and some collaboration, both cultural centers are thriving just blocks from each other, which is what Holliday would like to see happen in Greensboro.

So the Carolina Theater goes under
if even more money isnt' borrowed?

How much?

The task force plans to hold three public [sales?] hearings on the proposed performing arts center in April and May."

Ginsburg

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NEWSBUSTED at NEWSBUSTERS.ORG 2-18-2015