THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 11, 1994 TAG: 9412100097
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
A committee of city staff has recommended that the coming year's contract for Oceanfront events go to Cellar Door Productions of Virginia. On Tuesday, a wise City Council would agree. Virginia Beach Events Unlimited, which has run the events programs for several years, came to Council last week to cover a $70,000 cost overrun on Labor Day's American Music Festival. That's two whopping overruns in two years. That's two reasons to leave VBEU out of this week's contract vote. There are others.
But accepting the proposed agreement with Cellar Door may not prove as easy as it should be. VBEU was begun and is run by prom-i-nent local citizens. As volunteer or paid participants, they have tremendous sweat equity, and political capital too, in the events programs. Despite VBEU's recurring accounting and accountability problems, handing the contract to Cellar Door may seem, at the least, disloyal.
But the contract's award should not be politically or personally based, as each bidder's bigshot foes claim it might be. Council should make a business decision: If the major and minor events programs are to continue (yes), and be privatized (yes), which of the two contenders will better manage the near-million in city funds? That's right big public bucks. They should produce a bigger public bang, more often, than VBEU has recently produced, and not just in terms of weekend and holiday fireworks that fizzled.
The city staff committee concluded that Cellar Door can not only produce at least the same quantity and quality of entertainment that VBEU can but - the committee's decisive factor - do so more cheaply. Surely Cel-lar Door, ``the top-grossing promoter in North America'' by one industry count, can do even better. The contract coming before Council Tuesday provides the company incentive to do better for itself by doing better for the city. That should help both's bottom line.
The events programs are supposed to be large-scale and small. Will the small get short shrift from a national and international corporation, especially since it's dickering to manage the city's amphitheater as well? Coordination between Oceanfront and amphitheater events could be a good, even economical thing. The events contract requires a Steering Committee of resort busi-ness-peo-ple and other Beach residents: Including members of organizations the events programs have served could ensure the smaller, community-based events their due.
And if for some reason Cellar Door fizzles on its contract? Then the city has a ready remedy, and when a contract's been awarded businesslike an easy remedy, too: Don't renew. by CNB