THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501060156
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
When the Beacon endorsed Cellar Door for the Beach Events contract, it was no surprise to me or other members of the VBEU Board of Directors; we had always felt that your editorializing on the Beach Events program was biased and subjective. However, on the editorial page, that is your prerogative. But when Beacon reporter Bill Reed, who has produced the bulk of your coverage, took another cheap shot at VBEU in his Jan. 1 column, I could not help responding.
Bill, whose coverage of Beach-related news in the past has been very good, again repeated in his column that VBEU ``couldn't get it together when it came to accounting'' and again his assertion that Council should be commended for awarding the contract to Cellar Door . . . ``rather than hand it back to VBEU with all its good ol' boy and girl connections.''
Now, the facts as to the first assertion are that VBEU had an absolutely clean record of accounting for the city's funds. Bill has repeatedly claimed that VBEU had a poor record on accounting. The fact is, he is absolutely wrong. The city did change the required reporting format many times; but in each case VBEU adjusted and provided the required reports, which were found to be accurate and correct.
The second assertion ignores the incredible record of accomplishment of the VBEU program and denigrates that record by implying that we were considered only because of the political connections of the VBEU board. The fact is, the city staff found our past program to be outstanding, and our proposed program, had we been awarded the contract, to be second only by a few points to Cellar Door's proposed program. Cellar Door scored 94 points on the staff's scale, and VBEU scored 91. Clearly, we were considered to be a competent contractor and lost out to a contractor that the staff and Council considered to be slightly better.
We do not agree with the city's evaluation. We continue to believe that our program, which focused on producing major events of significant impact to draw overnight visitors, would serve the public interest better than more and more pure entertainment events which are very expensive and which produce lots of day visitors but not much significant economic impact. However, we had our opportunity, and we were not successful in convincing either the staff or Council of the efficacy of our position.
It would be indeed refreshing if the Beacon would truly evaluate the Beach Events program as a component of the city's economic-development strategy, instead of focusing on Bill Reed's continued overused, untrue assertions about VBEU. I know that our board is proud of our record of accomplishment. We are proud of the fact that in an ODU study of the economic impact of the 1993 Neptune Festival, it was documented that we returned $386,000 in direct tax revenue to the city. We are proud of the North American Fireworks Competition, the American Music Festival, the Virginia State Games and the growth of existing events which, with our help, grew to attract even more visitors - events like the Shamrock Sports Festival, the Columbus Day Soccer Tournament, the East Coast Surfing Championship, the Rose Memorial Soccer Tournament and the East Coast Volleyball Championships, just to name a few.
In fact, I recently was invited to serve on a panel in Richmond at a Virginia Tourism Division conference on the economic impact of events as part of a tourism-development program. I was invited to focus on the VBEU program as an example of the success of sporting events in attracting visitors. Many in the audience, professionals in the business, were astounded at the number of events that VBEU produced or sponsored and the impact of these events in producing economic impact. It remains to be seen if participatory sporting events will be a part of the new Beach events program.
Bill Reid of Cellar Door won the competition as Council awarded the Beach events contract to his company. What we did as volunteers, for the benefit of the community, he will do for profit. As the mayor said in explaining her vote for Cellar Door, ``It's a business decision.'' That statement should be a wake-up call to all who volunteer and assume that their effort for the city is appreciated by the political system.
Michael J. Barrett
Virginia Beach by CNB