Election Season is Underway, He Reminded Them
City Manager Rick Daniels with Mayor Yvonne Parks (photo by Bruce Montgomery)
Desert Hot Springs, CA – Members of a new city committee, The Music Festival Committee, are all experienced with music and events, with some coming some from the city joined with others from many desert communities. The Committee was formed to both investigate a failed 2010 music festival and to examine salvaging the canceled event with a new attempt intended and promoted to be independent of city interference.
Instead, meetings are being steered by Mayor Yvonne Parks and City Manager Rick Daniels. One of the prime architects of the previous festival, Ms. Dot Reed, chairperson of the Community Cultural Affairs Commission, frequently oversees meetings as the quiet matriarch of civic events sits silently.
The Committee is discussing the city’s proposed Request for Proposal under consideration to solicit the next event festival promoter. Committee member Linda Lennon-Roth, an experienced event promoter, was assigned investigating payments made to promoter Tony Clarke, associated with the Baruch Gayton firm of Los Angeles, who failed to produce the most recent music festival.
Daniels suggested that if any of the committee members should think ahead about what are the ten most embarrassing questions that a news reporter could ask you, and how would you answer.
“Election season is underway,” Daniels reminded them, then instructed Committee members to prepare answers for…
“What makes you think it’s going to work this time?”
“Why are you any smarter than the people who were doing this before?”
“How have you plugged the holes that sunk the last ship?”
Those were some of the examples Mr. Daniels tossed out.
“How are we going to get our money back?” questioned Ms. Lennon-Roth.
Mayor Parks then answered that the thing that just keeps coming out is that we just threw away $250,000.
“$265,000,” Ms. Lennon-Roth helpfully corrected. We gave him the first $15,000 for the feasibility study.”
Mr. Daniels said, “Well, at least we got work product for that.”
Mayor Parks said “These assets, they have some value.”
“Perhaps,” Ms. Lennon-Roth answered.
“You don’t think so?” the Mayor asked.
“No. Personally, not. I mean, maybe.”
“I’m going to shut up,” Mayor Parks said as she continued interjecting herself into Committee matters.
The festival committee was created to determine first, is a festival feasible? That question has not been properly addressed as the Committee continues to rely upon the one and only feasibility study (continually referred to as “work products” and “assets”) that was concocted by Tony Clarke who is acknowledged by all as both as unqualified to produce both a music festival and lacking qualifications to produce a feasibility study.
Parks and Daniels continue steering the Committee with the conclusion that a music festival is feasible, based entirely upon Clarke’s flawed foundation. The subject politically motivated, by Parks and Daniels own admission. Those politics are trumping sound business practice. The failure of the 2010 music festival is something Parks and Daniels want off their records. Their ONLY way to do that is replace the failed music festival of 2010 with the promise of a successful music festival sometime in the future.
Were the Committee to arrive at the conclusion a music festival is not feasible and the festival does not happen then both Parks and Daniels stand to lose politically.
And that is why the Committee is being pressured to announce a new music festival on their Nov. 1 meeting, just days before the Nov. 8 election.
