Times are tough for the Burnsville Performing Arts Center…
Laughing at it is easy!
While continuing to impatiently wait for the April 2009 VenuWorks PAC data (it’s 13 days overdue to the public now), I thought there was nothing really to say about the Burnsville Performing Arts Center. Well, according to faithful Burnsville watchdog ThoughtLeader, I was wrong.
As you can see from ThoughtLeader’s comment which states that the George Jones concert at the Burnsville PAC has been canceled and thus there is not one single viable act booked (they have the International Festival of Burnsville – Fiesta Caliente there but I’m sorry, that doesn’t count worth a shit) scheduled for the main for the main stage of their TWENTY MILLION DOLLAR waste of taxpayer bucks through July 2010!
With the Burnsville Performing Arts Center expected to lose more than three quarters of a million dollars in 2009 alone (nearly 3x as much as originally expected) and Burnsville having to make serious cuts in their own budget, wouldn’t you think that VenuWorks would have some serious pressure by the Burnsville City Council and Staff to get the PAC packed? Unfortunately, there has been no indication that any such thing is happening.
So what do you think of the PAC now that the only event scheduled for “summer” has been canceled (it is estimated that only 380 tickets were sold and revenue was in the $30,000 range) and that there is only “one” event scheduled for the main stage through next year (July 2010)? Do you think that the Burnsville City Council and Staff should be on VenuWorks like flies on shit or do you think that they are just biding their time until their contractual obligations to keep them on as management runs out and they can be replaced?
Whatever you think about the complete and utter failure that the Burnsville Performing Arts Center continues to be, go ahead and comment on and let us know what you think!
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June 2nd, 2009 at 8:11 am
We might as well just copy over all the other comments for this issue from the other threads and save ourselves the trouble. :)
I do wonder what exactly the contract with VenuWorks looks like. I find it hard to believe that they are holding up their end of what was agreed to.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:15 am
Before they at least had George Jones to fall back on. They were advertising him heavily in the local paper and were using him as their one big event for the summer. Ooh look, we have George Jones!
A little over two months ago the Burnsville City Staff felt everything was going great. I want to know what they think now. I really want to know why this hasn’t been an agenda item at the City Council meetings. Fuck, there should be a special worksession called just to deal with this problem.
They’re worrying about flower baskets in the Heart of the City and they’re expecting to lose over 4x as much money on the PAC yet it’s not even a topic of discussion? Hell, every time Charlie brings it up the rest of the council ignores him and rolls their eyes.
I think it’s time they start listening.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:38 am
I checked out VenuWorks’ website because I was curious about what other facilities they manage and where they are. One thing that jumped out at me — and maybe this was discussed before, I don’t remember — was that all of the places they manage, with the exception of the PAC and a college campus theater in Chicago, are in smaller markets that probably have much fewer venues available. If I were hiring them, that would be a big concern for me: how well would they be able to book and promote acts when they’re not a big fish in a small pond?
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:48 am
Hey, just wait til the Benchwarmer Bob’s space opens up and the owner starts having comedians come in, as he indicated in a recent interview. Then the PAC’s black box theatre will have competition for those acts. I’m just wondering WHERE are all the PAC supporters? The PAC opponents were such a “small but vocal minority” according to the City when this thing was being contemplated. Now that it is built, where ARE all the people who wanted it? And, what exactly, is VenuWorks getting paid to do over there?
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Let’s all meet at the PAC parking deck, this friday at 7:00, for a George Jones ” Wish you were Here” Tailgating Party. Brats, burgers and whatever. In fact we could bill this as an unscheduled event for “I Love/HATE Burnsville” week. This event would be for the Burnsville property taxpayers who are paying for this white elephant. We could have Mayor Lizzy ” I know whats best for Burnsville” Kautz as the main speaker, telling us why she ignored the highly paid consultants who advised the City of Burnsville NOT to build the PAC and to burden the taxpayers for this empty monstrosity………… Has anyone heard from Mayor Kautz or council individual Gustafson lately? Are they in hiding? What about the one time council individual Workman. Oh that’s right, she’s doing the same thing at the county level now……. pushing for secret meetings!!!! Heaven help us all !!!!!
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:46 pm
:-(
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I called the PAC to see why the $80 George Jones Concert was CANCELLED. Randall informed me that ticket sales were sluggish and less than 250 tickets had been sold.
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Tim,
Your wish is our command. You can read the VenuWorks contract with Burnsville here (PDF).
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:42 pm
BTW, they saved the best for last. Go ahead and just scroll to the end of the document and read on.
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:46 pm
“they saved the best for last”
You mean the part where there’s no business plan???
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Way to ruin it for everyone else ;-)
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Actually, I think Article 7.12 is the best part. The City can terminate VenuWorks as early as December 31, 2010 as long as they fail to meet budget (done).
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Well, to be fair to VenuWorks, they are doing their job to the specs of the contract:
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Spoiler alerts, people! :)
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:59 pm
“Well, to be fair to VenuWorks, they are doing their job to the specs of the contract”
True….true. Come to think of it, they’re exceeding even our wildest expectations.
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:59 pm
This is an addendum/disclaimer to my previous post…..There is NO such planned or unplanned event only “comic relief”…………….. but it would be interesting……….. maybe even more “fun?” than a walk with the Mayor.
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I have not read the whole thing yet, but I thought it was interesting that Venue Works was formerly “Compass of Burnsville LLC.” Or am I reading that wrong? Were they really a Burnsville company previously? Let me guess, the owners is a relative of someone on our city council?
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Perhaps the Burnsville City Consul needs a less on in the Theory of Constraints. Or at a minimum, VenuWorks could use a lesson. They could actually pay people to use the facility and be money a head in the end. They have a fixed cost item sitting there. It’s not variable. So it costs you almost exactly the same for it to sit empty as it does for it to be used. Yet if it’s used, you have the opportunity to generate some revenue.
I’d say you start finding people to use it. Be aggressive, and book some acts! It’s not like you can loose even more than you currently are.
Who said it’s a good idea for Government to get involved in the free market?
June 2nd, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Who said it’s a good idea for Government to get involved in the free market?
Mayor Kautz, Dan Gustafson and Liz Workman, even after receiving thousands of petition signatures and several dozens of residents speaking before the council. Mortensen backed out of the development due to it did not make financial sense and was called “Stupid” by Liz Workman during a council meeting. These three should resign from their existing positions in government for not being good stewards of the tax payers money and not putting the PAC and parking structure to a referendum to spend $23 Million on this complete failure of a Vision of these three.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:13 pm
“Manager shall be responsible for ensuring that appropriate programs are booked into the facility”…
There’s the out. There are apparently NO acts booked, “appropriate” or not, therefore, they have broken their end of the bargain.
BTW, we know someone who is in lorie line’s band….he says that she enjoyed playing there and that she has been booked for a show near Christmas ?!?!?!
I wonder if we should all show up at the mayor’s listening hour one day and ask her about the PAC.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:18 pm
I have to wonder if VenuWorks realizes they are going to get kicked out and pulled all their resources and put them elsewhere to save money. There going to get paid either way, why bother to deal with it when they know it’s failing?
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:19 pm
I wish I knew how to do the giant quote marks, too.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:56 pm
According to what I found on Google, VenuWorks used to be called Compass Facility Management, and has always been headquartered in Ames, so I don’t think there was a preexisting Burnsville connection.
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Thanks Tim. It may just be the wording that was making me think that.
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:32 pm
TL, thanks for the 5:39 comment. I agree 100%
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:35 pm
The business plan was “to be added” on January 22, 2008 and is still MIA in June 2009? For shame! Step up Burnsville City Council! I heart accountability!
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:20 am
I think that worked… it’s called the blockquote tag and gets put into your reply. This site is a wordpress site, thus you can use many things that wordpress supports.
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:23 am
You can use many HTML tags here to spruce up your comments. Here are a few popular ones:
Bold: [b]Bold[/b]
Italics: [i]Italics[/i]
Underline: [u]Underline[/u]
Quoted text: [blockquote]Quoted text:[/blockquote]
Just go ahead and change the [] around the code to <> and it should work for you.
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:58 am
I sure hope more residents of Burnsville start tuning in to the financial woes of the PAC. What a boondoggle.
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
How can they? I know that the Pioneer Press will be covering the fact that George Jones’ concert is canceled soon but will they delve into the fact that the fucking thing is this far down in the hole already?
With the majority of people not reading newspapers, WCCO would need to cover this crap for anyone to care. The best thing to do would be for a Burnsville resident to stand up at the next City Council meeting and ask the question. Not only will the local media pick it up but the City Council will be forced to at least acknowledge the public’s concerns.
June 3rd, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I’m trying out the bubba quotes and hoping Burnsville ThisWeek or the Sun Current will take time to report about the pathetic situation at the PAC.
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Yup, it’s the same Gessner. Although journalists have a duty to disclose conflicts of interest, he doesn’t. Gessner’s boss should recuse him from HOC/PAC/Queen Elizabeth stories and follow ethics guideines for revealing conflicts as a matter of course. Maybe Burnsville ThisWeek should import Jeff Achen to cover the story — and advocate the relevance of the local community newspaper.Edit by Bill on 6/19/2009 per request of John Gessner
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:02 pm
LLR,
Gessner already covered the PAC and wrote about how Burnsville’s Staff thought that everything was just fucking peachy back in late March. I wonder what good ‘ol Tom Hansen has to say now that the slate is blank and that pile of shit is $400+k in the hole.
Now Gessner knows that the PAC is failing and both myself and soon the Pioneer Press will be all over the fact that the god damn thing is tanking but what is Thisweek doing? Probably prepping yet another fucking press release for Burnsville about how they will find a way to make it a community center for all those that love Burnsville.
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Regarding John Gessner. There is a John Gessner that lives in the same condo, two doors down from Mayor Kautz on the same floor. IF that is the same Gessner, he has an economic interest in the “project” and won’t say a Damn thing!
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Thanks LL for the reinforcement.Then you must know that the condo next to Mayor Lizzy is owned by Dee Dee Currier who was appointed to the Burnsville Planning Commission by Kautz, three week prior to the Commission’s crucial vote regarding the Performing Arts Center.Edit by Bill on 6/19/2009 per request of John Gessner
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Here’s the Pioneer Press article: http://www.twincities.com/dakota/ci_12514453
Umm.
Why did several other acts that were already scheduled cancel then? Is that part of the relationship building? Bring in mediocre and unknown names and then have them cancel because your venue fucking sucks? I bet that was part of the non-existent business plan eh?
OH GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK.
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Wow. Just wow.
For all the bull flung around here begging for accuracy in reporting, LL Reader sure isn’t willing to ascribe to his/her own standards.
… so willing to throw a person under the bus without bothering to have their name behind what they have to say. Typical.
The John Gessner you lambaste on these pages isn’t the same who lives in Burnsville.
A quick check with WhitePages.com would tell you the man living next to the mayor is at least 65-years-old. Crazy technology manages to identify a person’s age as well as their address and phone number. Bill, you’re 30-34 according to the website. Hell, it even gets my information correct. Anyway …
Do a little recon work at thisweeklive.com and you’ll see Gessner’s photo. He’s not 65-years-old.
Add the fact that I know he doesn’t live in Burnsville … but that’s neither here nor there.
I’d expect more of you guys.
You can try to roast Gessner for a lot of things — hell, we’ve all seen you try — but at least get it right. Especially if you expect everyone else to.
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Pioneer Press Article on the PAC, red ink, and huge expected losses for 2009.
http://www.twincities.com/dakota/ci_12514453
But executive director Wolf Larson said shows are booked that don’t show up on the public calendar, like local dance recitals, competitions and a few community theater shows, which still bring in dollars.
Well Wolf, why do they not show up on the calendar? These are not regional or national acts, these are local events where only parents and grand parents are coming to watch their children.
City Manager Craig Ebeling did not return calls seeking comment.
Come on Craig, we pay you how much, $134,550 and you can not return phone calls to the press?
“We are brand new,” Larson said. “We are still nurturing the growing pains of opening a new space and developing relationships with people who have the product.”
Um, I would think that we would not need to nurture and develop relationships when your company VenuWorks has several other facilities with the contacts and relationships to bring in regional and national acts, that is why we hired you Wolf and VenuWorks.
City leaders say they are aware the center is new and are willing to give Larson time to start bringing in bigger acts.
How much time and money city leaders? If we blow through 4 times the losses expected in year one, you better act sooner, rather than later.
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Derrick, you appear to be very vocal about facts. I have a question for you…… Do you know who else lives in that condo????????
June 3rd, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Well if it really isn’t the same Gessner then how is it possible he can still positively spin the Heart of the Shitty? The only reason one would want to keep making it sound so “great” is if you were personally invested. I know that I heard about Kautz and the Thisweek Gessner living in the same building from Jerry Willenburg, her recent election opponent. (Maybe it’s his father… still a bias IMO.)
I did go to the Thisweek website and woosh. Now I have proof that he has very little going for him. Terrible spin and what can only be called modest looks… he’d do well to assume the identity of the 65 year old version.
One more thing… Lazy Lightning is “news” source. Not news. So yes, we expect the people getting paid to get it right. Notice we’re just community members mocking South of the River. However, wherever the journalist Gessner lives, does not change the fact he has given his unbelievable support to such an unbelievable waste of space and money.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:01 am
The Promises Made: national performing acts, white tablecloth restaurants clamoring to open in HOC, property values increasing, condos selling, and see, a pretty study we paid for to prove it.
The Reality: dance recitals and, hey, Subway had a great night!
Nice. Let’s not even think about how much those Subway $5 foot longs REALLY cost us.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Ouch. Nice ownage, Derrick. :)
June 4th, 2009 at 6:16 am
Derrick works for ThisWeek, with John Gessner. Derrick writes on his website thusly:
Maybe John is 65. Maybe Kautz’s neighbor John is the journalist’s Dad or uncle. In any case, Gessner’s writing creates the perception of bias and many, many in the community believe him to live in the HOC. Why doesn’t Gessner simply log on and clarify? Surely he knows how them thar blog thingies on the “Interweb†work. Plus, Jeff Achen totally would! ;-)
June 4th, 2009 at 6:34 am
Just like the police following the law discussion from earlier this week, we have to hold journalists to a much higher standard than the general public. While Derrick likes to believe this site should be held to some higher standard (I suppose I should be moreso than any anonymous commenter), he again fails to understand that his own convoluted world poisoned by his journalism background doesn’t apply here in the least.
That said, I suggest that those who said Gessner lives next to Kautz should do the right thing and either verify that it is the same Gessner (or a relative–if he’s 65 I doubt it’s the journalist’s father) or say you were wrong. I fuck up a lot but at least I know people out there can expect me to admit when I do.
Carry on.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:11 am
front page gnus from the st. paul p.p. (shock) a 20m arts center, short on artists(gasp). with no big acts in sight, the ‘crown jewel’(my quotes) of burnsville’s downtown redevelopment languishes in a sea of red ink. BUT according to wolf larson, there’s shows booked that don’t show up to the public, like local dance recitals! i’ll bet those bring in lotsa penga!
i couldn’t find the article online yet. maybe lizzie put a block on it.
bb
June 4th, 2009 at 7:12 am
I’ve heard the rumor about John Gessner’s address around town as well. A good friend of mine asked John point blank about it once, and he indicated he did not live there. That was enough for me. John Gessner has his faults (as does everyone), but I believe him on this point.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:13 am
bb, I already posted the link in #37 above.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:26 am
ummm, a day late and a dollar short, again! sign of my age!!
just saw the hard copy this am.
bb
June 4th, 2009 at 8:44 am
With that simple quote, Jim Skelly has brilliantly captured everything that is wrong about the way our City leadership thinks, acts and speaks.
Thank you Mr. Skelly for producing one of the single most ignorant things ever spoken by a Burnsville City official. And that’s an extremely tall task.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Ok, I am going to try to put this a different way to express my actual dissatisfaction.
There is a 23 million dollar facility that was built to bring various forms of entertainment to the south metro. Ostensibly this entertainment was supposed to be of a level and variety not previously available to members of the south metro, unless they drove in the big bad scary city.
That was then. This is now.
We have a 23 million dollar facility that most agree is beautiful, and in terms of space, seating, acoustics, etc, a great place to see a show/concert/whatever. I guess, I have not seen a show, because they DONT HAVE ANY FUCKING SHOWS.
Now, the key source of frustration. The PROFESSIONAL that was hired to run the place thinks its fine that it is loosing money 4 times faster than projected, and its alright that the 23 million dollar facility is being used as a venue for community theatre and local dance recitals???????????????????????????? Upon reading that statement, our city council should have called him into the office, expressed that they had a much different vision for thier precious PAC and FIRED HIM ON THE SPOT.
Everything is NOT “tracking pretty closely with what we thought we’d be doing.” There should be growing pains, but they should have been minimized by hiring professionals, and bringing them on board a full year ahead of time.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Chad: BINGO!
June 4th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Oh come on now Chad, it allowed Subway to have its single best day ever and they didn’t need a drive through to do it!
June 4th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Why can’t we just hold everyone to a high standard?
June 4th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Tim,
I fixed your comment. You need to use <> instead of [ ] around the blockquote HTML code.
We probably should but I really do put a bigger weight on the words of a journalist or police officer when it comes to dealing in their area of expertise.
June 4th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Ah, thanks. I missed that part about needing to change it in your earlier post.
June 4th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Will — Why should I care about who lives in that condo? Beyond
the mayor, it’s really none of my business, and doesn’t really matter.
McD — Wow, man. First, why on earth would
Gessner’s father living in HOC lead to a bias in his reporting? That’s
insane, and not just because that limb you’re on is wafer thin. Not to
mention — is there any reason why you’d think he, or his family live
in HOC, for any other reason than pure, unadulterated speculation?
Good lord. Maybe, because your handle is McD, you have a bias toward
McDonalds. They’re not humane in the way they slaughter animals. Thus,
based on that tangent, we should all think you’re an animal hater. That would be a stretch, and totally unfair.
As for your attack on Gessner … I’d love to see your picture, buddy. I bet you have a lot going for you too. Based on looks of course. That was pretty juvenile. Grow up.
Tim — Thanks, bro. Long time no see, by the way! And I agree.
Why can’t we all be held to a high standard?
LL Reader — It isn’t Gessner’s job, or in his best interests to
rebut the inconsiderate and low-blow attacks of people calling out
everything from his reporting skills, character and looks. Why would
he? Many a comment author here sit behind their keyboards, in the
solitude and safety of their comfy executive chairs, engaging in
attacks against a person they don’t even know, all while under an
assumed name or handle. They’re willing to savage a person in a
juvenile way for no reason other than to get some jollies, and you
want him to come and answer to them? I don’t think that’ll happen.
Bill — Thanks for the quasi-backup. But I still disagree with
one thing: Gessner and I and anyone at Thisweek, the Sun, Strib or
PiPress need to live up to a higher standard than the public, you say.
At what point though, do you consider yourself a journalist? Because
the moment people come to you to get the news, you suddenly — like it
or not — must meet the same standards.
I can tell you there have been citizen surveys done with South Metro
cities. I can also tell you that Lazy Lighting has been cited, among
publications such as Thsweek and the Sun, as a place people get their
local news from.
It’s fine that reporters must be held to a higher standard than the
public. I get that. But you’re going to have to learn that your site,
whether you’re OK with it or not, is becoming a legitimate news source
for people. It’s more than a blog, and just because you have
restaurant reviews and add spice to the site with nuggets of your
life, you’re slowly morphing into what you claim you’re not: a
journalist.
Finally, I just think it’s too bad that people devolve when behind a
computer screen. I’d love to see LL reader come down the Thisweek’s
office in Burnsville, or better yet, McD, and tell Gessner everything
you’ve asked and said here. Face to face.
No dice though, right?
June 4th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Derrick,
I’m going to tell you right now that while you defend John Gessner the fact that you work for ThisWeek puts your bias right out there on your sleeve.
I have personally thrown darts at John Gessner right here myself and while I don’t know what his “bias” is, I suspect that he is too afraid to write any kind of a flame-thrower story for fear that he will lose access to those he wishes to get quotes from tomorrow for his stories.
I have never accused John Gessner of making false statements or telling mis-truths in his articles but I have accused him of only telling half the story and usually the side that Burnsville and Mayor Kautz want told. He will not ask the tough follow-up question and he himself does NOT check facts very well.
On March 19th of this year, John Gessner wrote an article about the Burnsville PAC entitled, “Arts center generates a buzz, but it remains a work in progress”. In that article he states that deputy city manager Tom Hansen said that from its opening through February “The operation made about $45,000 during that time.” While it is true that the PAC brought in about $45k in revenues, balanced against almost $200k in expenses means the operations had actually lost almost $150k. What should will call that kind of reporting? Biased? Tainted? Half the story? Or just half-assed?
I first wrote John Gessner way back in 2006 when he showed this same kind of bias when writing articles about affordable housing and simply towing the line and writing whatever the Dakota county CDA said without ever doing the leg-work or fact checking to make it a “complete” story rather than a biased half-assed CDA fluff piece. Since then I have written John Gessner more than once correcting him on his facts and suggesting that he do more research to provided all the facts for his stories rather than one-sided stories that are biased towards county and city positions. He has NEVER replied to a single letter I’ve written him.
So, set up the meeting and tell me where and when John Gessner wants to meet and I’ll be there with articles he wrote in hand for him to explain why he wrote them the way he did.
No dice though, right?
June 4th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Oh Derrick,
One last thing…
On this site, Bill requested the profit/loss data for the PAC from the City of Burnsville and Bill reported the “whole” truth about the revenues versus expenses. That tells me I get better information here than I do from ThisWeek.
Kudo’s to Bill for doing more fact checking and research than John Gessner did on that story.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Derr-ICK:
Down, boy.
The pervasive Gessner reporting bias I perceive is my view and I’m invited to share it here. Do you want me to write, “My name is John Q. Public and I endorse this message†each time I post?†Push posh! Who cares who I am?!?!? I’m a reader throwing in two cents here and there. You want me to visit ThisWeek and ask John why he hasn’t clarified that it’s not him living in the HOC? I already asked him after your post, here, in a public forum I know he and his co-workers read.
As an FYI, I first heard it was reporter John living in the HOC from city staff, an idea later echoed by the people in my neighborhood, in the StarTribune comment section, and, yes, on this blog. Gessner knows the misconception is out there and has been for a long while. Why not squelch an untruth if it is indeed an untruth?
Whether it’s John or Papa John living in the HOC, no matter. My point is that I’d LOVE to see a local reporter do a deep dive and write an unbiased feature story about PAC promises verses deliverables. George Jones was cancelled. How much money did they lose on promotions – from the billboard on Highway 13, to 1/4 page ads in the Strib and Pioneer Press, to the many local ads? The privately funded venue morphed into a publicly funded black hole and is essentially empty until 2010.
I think the reason this site has blossomed into a legitimate news source is because Bill digs for unbiased facts – reports, reviews, meeting minutes – then posts them here. Plus, he’s a funny muffin and he can certainly take a joke or two. Lighten up. Laughing at the PAC is easy.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Derrick Derrick Derrick. I told you where I heard the information of Gessner living in HOC. Willenburg. I am sorry I was informed wrong. I had no reason to not believe the man any more than I have reason to not believe Kautz when she says everything is great!
Gessner writes with a bias towards the PAC. Clearly, it is a waste of space and money, as they cannot even bring one decent act. Therefore, his bias is suspicious. How can anyone continue to write fluff pieces expressing this venue as positive? I am simply trying to find a reason for his currently unexplained bias. I thought there must be a reason, besides his paycheck, that he would continue to write the way he does.
Yes, people should all be held to a higher standard. But that is wishful thinking at best. Since, you and Gessner are being paid to report, I would have expected more truths. Possibly you both disagree with HOC but your paychecks are forcing your hand. I don’t know because I will never be given all the facts, which, unfortunately leads to speculation.
And finally, “attack on Gessner†is a little harsh. I said modest. I would also like to remind you that it was at your request I went to see his photo. However, I apologize to you for my comment because clearly I have upset you. (Though I maintain my original argument was based on his spin and unbelievable support of the PAC and HOC.)
June 4th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Derrick wrote:
Mmmmmm, tasty, tasty inhumanely slaughtered animals.
Oh, you’re confused. We (well most of us) don’t come here to get the news, we come here to be snarky about the news. You’re welcome to join in any time! ;)
June 4th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
I dont know or care who Mr Gessner is. I do know that people read this site, and if you are a professional journalist (i.e. you get paid for it), you should be asking yourself, what is Bill doing that we are not. Why his his readership growing despite the crass language and unpopular opinions.
Oh, wait……..it could be because he tries to bring legit issues to light. Sometimes the people who read this agree with him. Sometimes we disagree. But regardless, I dont see anyone from the Sun, ThisWeek, Pioneer Press, Strib etc calling the city of Burnsville and publishing the REAL info about the PAC.
People want unfiltered info to be able to make up thier own minds about what is going on. It is very clear that we cant trust our elected officials to give up the truth. We can count on the paid city workers to tell us the truth, so we need someone who will get the real story out. I dont expect Bill to behave as a Journalist. I expect him to have an axe to grind and to not pull punches when he delivers info. If I want the fluffy side of the story I can go read Thisweek or the Strib.
Years ago we could count on our Journalists to go out and dig for the truth hiding in the spin. Now we have to hope that people who care step up and do it for free, so you paid “journalists” can continue to write your fluffy drivel.
There are clear questions in my posts above that you seem to ignore. More to the point, there are clear questions and responses to you from KJ above.
Instead of attacking Bill and fighting on this web site, perhaps you should start digging into the real story behind the Pac. How it was built even after paid consultants and concerned citizens spoke out against it. How the HOC has continued to waste money on things like surface lots and flower pots, and finally how even today, after literally years, most of the store fronts are empty, the PAC is empty with no real acts booked, and our paid public servants AND our elected officials AND “journalists” like Mr Gessner continue to lie to us about what is really happening.
If you will lie to me about something small, you will lie to me about something big. Telling me something “made” 45,000 dollars when it clearly lost 3 times that amount is a blatant lie.
Please take your journalism back to your cubicle and write some feel good stories for the mayor. Leave the rest of us to trying to clean up our city and council. Because at this rate, by the next election, enough people will know the true story to make some real changes.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Derrick,
I haven’t seen the report nor the raw data but I have a feeling that the N for “Lazy Lightning” is going to be very, very small and probably was only added as a joke by some lunatic that reads the site ;-) But at least I now know why I was told during The Show interview that some feel that I am “stealing their business”.
While I don’t try to steal anything, I think it’s high time for you to start listening to what people here are telling you:
1. Do a better job reporting
I just read Gessner’s bullshit about the Cruise Cafe in the HOC, another fucking fluff piece for that hellhole, where’s the article about how George Jones is canceled and the PAC mainstage is empty through July 2010? I posted it and the Pioneer Press posted it, where you at? Oh talking about Kautz declaring June 13 Vietnam Veteran Brotherhood Day in Burnsville. I’m sorry, that’s some hard hitting stuff that required some real research time and effort on the part of Gessner, my bad…
2. STOP ARTIFICIALLY INFLATING YOUR ADVERTISING STATS
It pisses off readers (I fucking click “Next >” instead of “Read more…” every time) and it’s unfair to your advertisers. Remove the fucking 900 second page refresh. As I stated before, it’s lying to your advertisers and just down right stupid. Just because the Star Tribune does it does NOT make it right. Please remember how well they’re doing these days before you follow in their ridiculous footsteps.
You better hope no one makes it known to your remaining advertisers what you’re doing or you’ll find yourselves without any revenue to cover all those excellent fluff pieces on the HOC.
June 5th, 2009 at 6:34 am
Here is a good article on Journalism:
http://tinyurl.com/ok9hwm
As far as higher standards go, yes, in some fluffy bullshit nicer universe to live in / karma sort of way, we should all be held to some intagible “higher standard”. When it comes to doing a job, however, if you hold yourself out as a professional and accept money for doing something, you should be held to a higher standard for that job. If I have an autoshop fix my car, i certainly, and justifiably have a greater expectation than if I get my buddy, whose hobby is cars, to fix it on his spare time.
June 5th, 2009 at 7:24 am
My problem isn’t higher standards. My problem is that John Gessner doesn’t tell the whole story.
Even professional journalists make mistakes in the articles they write and they should be more than willing to correct those mistakes when they are made aware of them. (Bill does)
Now don’t shoot me for this but John Gessner is a talented writer, and before you tar and feather me let me explain. It takes a talented writer to write the way John Gessner does and I simple find his writing to be a total waste of God given talent. It takes a talented writer to take a story like the PAC and put a twist on it so that it can be misinterpreted to mean that the PAC actually made money when in fact it had lost money. Did Gessner lie? No, he simply choose to use words to describe “revenues” without using the word revenues. Did the operation “make” approximately $45k? In revenues yes but it could have easily been read by many to mean “profit” which would have been an incorrect assumption.
If you read the article closely (as I did) you will also notice that John Gessner did not quote (” “) Tom Hansen, he wrote that this is what Tom Hansen said. If this is what he said, why didn’t John Gessner “quote” his remarks. The words John Gessner used in that article seemed to have been carefully chosen so that it could be misinterpreted without making a false statement yet protecting Tom Hansen by not “quoting” him. That takes talent.
John Gessner appears to be nothing more than a pawn in Mayor Kautz’s chess game of carefully worded half-truths. And that my friends is a complete waste of a journalist that actually does have some talent.
June 5th, 2009 at 7:29 am
sui g, I edited your comment and changed the URL to a TinyURL so that it would work properly.
June 5th, 2009 at 7:42 am
KJ is more polite than me. To me, if you leave out part of the story on purpose, or write things in a way that deliberatly misleads the reader, that is no different than telling a lie.
It might be perfectly done to protect the author and his sources, as KJ says, but its still a lie. If he did not know the truth about the actual net income/profit/loss of the PAC, then he should be just as mad as the rest of us that he was DUPED. But if he knew, and I think he did, that he was leaving out half the story, well that is lieing.
And yes, any paid professional should be held to a higher standard in thier field of work. Thats just common sense.
June 5th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Hey, I’m not above piliing on.
A distinction Derrick misses, maybe because he’s blind to the news industry beyond his little ma-and-pa paper, is the issue of access.
When I was in the media, I had credentials that would get me into all sorts of fun places that are off-limits to the everyday blogger. I could walk up to someone and they would stop and answer my questions simply because of a press credential hanging around my neck.
Back in the day, I chatted with Norm Coleman on the street and, separated by a few days, with a press pass hanging around my neck. Any guesses as to how those two experiences differed?
Credentials get you into government buildings, locker rooms, accident sites, press conferences, “private” parties, Air Force One and embedded with our Armed Forces.
The consumers of my work relied on that access. Even more importantly, the SUBJECTS OF MY WORK USED THAT ACCESS TO SHAPE PUBLIC VIEWS, SUPPORT AND OPINION. This is a very important thing to keep in mind.
There isn’t some kind of innate “higher standard” just because your resume says “reporter” or “journalist” on it. BUT…when you combine the assumed educational credentials, skills and experience it takes to get a job as a reporter and the access and relationships granted to journalists, the line is hardly blurred between professional journalist and blogger.
June 5th, 2009 at 9:16 am
KJ: My bias in support of Gessner is no different than your bias against the city of Burnsville’s elected leadership. I also wouldn’t necessarily say that bias is misplaced. In my defense, It’s natural to have a bias toward people you know and work with.
I can’t speak with any authority to the situation with HOC and the PAC. I live in Farmington and deal with Lakeville.
I’ll play devil’s advocate on two fronts:
1) When the official was paraphrased as saying the PAC “made” $45,000, I don’t think he was literally saying the PAC actually profited that much over the period. At least it isn’t how I read it. I pictured it like this: It’s like selling a bunch of moves on eBay. It cost $500 for me to purchase said movies, but later, I “made” $80 selling them on the auction site. The quote doesn’t necessarily mean the PAC actually turned a profit, but rather had revenue.
2) The HOC, by many accounts isn’t working right now. The story is similar to Apple Valley’s neo-downtown project, as well as Eagan’s Cedar Grove plan. I understand a lot of people are irritated with the costs Burnsville plunked down for the development, but who’s to say it isn’t going to be a success once the economy recovers? I’m not poking the bear for an argument here, it’s just a thought.
As for you having a meeting with John … I’m not his keeper, and I’m not going to schedule his meetings. I hope you can respect that.
LL Reader: Yes. I would. Put your name out there like Bill and I do. By way of my handle — which is also my name — people found my blog, email and ways to talk to me. On the other hand, your attacking, then hiding behind the idea you’re too unimportant to do such a thing. This is just a personal thing. I’ve always had problems with the idea that people can play guerilla war with their opinions. Opinions are a lot like children throwing rocks. They all chuck them out there, but once they hits something, nobody is willing to admit it was them.
McD: Thanks for apologizing.
Bill: I can’t speak to the ad stats, man. Like most of us when it comes to work, I do what I’m told. The Internet isn’t my domain.
As for reporting; I’m biased, but I think we do a pretty good job. Even if we leave HOC and PAC out of it.
Chad: Reporters aren’t in the business of lying. They can be given incorrect information, and people who speak in a position of authority can give reporters bad information. But only in very rare occasions do reporters lie — Stephen Glass, et al.
See my comments about the nature of the $45,000 number above.
June 5th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Derrick,
I guess mainstream media needs to start doing what bloggers do, link to source information (in my case, sometimes other accounts and sometimes primary documents provided by the city) so that people can begin to do their own research if they feel that the work done for them is inadequate.
June 5th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Derrick,
I love it when people who disagree with me make my point for me!
You said…
You yourself basically admit that the “paraphrase” could be read differently by different people and that was exactly my point. Surely John Gessner knows the difference between revenues, profits and loses, but for some reason chose to use the word “made” instead of revenues. I can tell you this, if I bought $100 worth of hotdogs and buns and went to sell them at Nicolett Commons park and sold 50 hotdogs for $1.00 apiece, I wouldn’t be running around bragging that I “made” $50. I’d have a “loss” of $50.
In the article we are discussing, if John Gessner paraphased Tom Hansen and those were the best words he could find to describe what Hansen had said, then I have obviously given Mr. Gessner more credit than he deserves for his talent. I read the article to say that the PAC had a $45,000 dollar profit. And if he didn’t know whether Tom Hansen was speaking of revenues or profits, he should have asked. And that was my point about asking the “tough” follow-up question.
As for my bias versus yours, as a taxpaying citizen of Burnsville, it’s my money being wasted. That’s not a bias, it’s my right to say “I told you so” to the city officials who ignored our opposition to the PAC. Everything we warned them we were concerned about is becoming reality. In fact, the poor performance of the PAC so far is actually exceeding our worst-case fears.
Point made simple, John Gessner should not write stories in such a manner that the information “can” be taken incorrectly, especially if he is paraphrasing. That’s why we don’t trust what John Gessner writes and that’s why we believe he is biased and simply reports what the city asks him to write. So either he cares about his credibility as a journalist or he doesn’t. Keep writing stories that can be taken wrong by people and his stock as a journalist will be ranked somewhere below the poor financial performance of the PAC.
LazyLightning doesn’t “steal” business from anybody, we simply chose to go where we get better facts and information and get the whole story rather than the cheerleader of government, fluff piece, poorly worded, half-assed crap that John Gessner writes!
P.S. If you’re not John’s scheduler then you shouldn’t have made the offer for him to meet up and discuss what serious intelligent citizens think of his work. Most companies today strive to listen to the feedback of their customers and improve themselves from that feedback. I guess that’s not a philosophy that ThisWeek subscribes too.
June 5th, 2009 at 10:54 am
I’m just a plain old Burnsville citizen who’s still wondering why Thisweek hasn’t done an in-depth investigative report about the PAC’s financial woes. Or, how about the additional money ($500K) Burnsville had to spend to ‘upgrade’ the water feature due to a lawsuit, or the threat of one? I hear they’ve recently taken out some of the rocks and other obstacles so diaper-clad toddlers wading around (and doing other things) in the water won’t get hurt.
I don’t know… maybe I’m not smart enough to know what issues are considered newsworthy.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:15 am
KJ: BINGO!
June 6th, 2009 at 7:21 am
I just read in the local paper (ThisWeek) that the George Jones concert in the PAC has been canceled. No explanation was given by the promoter. I wonder if it was due to low ticket sales.
June 6th, 2009 at 8:25 am
shock!
bb
June 6th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Greg, it was due to low ticket sales: http://www.lazylightning.org/open-thread-for-june-1st-2009#comment-27014
June 6th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Wow, only 250 sold! That’s pretty bad!
June 8th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Here’s a “heads up” for anyone who is interested.
On the main page of the Burnsville city website it lists both a City Council Worksession and a City Council “Special” Worksession for June 9th. The agenda for the worksession shows an item for the “Round Table” portion of the meeting as “Monthly Financial Statements for the Performing Arts Center”.
The part I find most ironic is that although it is typical to find Worksession agenda packets under the City Clerk section of the websites “Document Center”, there is no such packet available for this worksession.
Is this just an oversight or is this yet another example of Burnsville not wanting to make the financial numbers for the PAC readily available to the citizens of Burnsville?
I swear to god there had better be some City Council members expressing outrage at the poor performance of the PAC so far!
June 8th, 2009 at 10:43 am
KJ, I could not agree more with your last statement.
I think some people read this and probably assume that we are all against the PAC. I personally am of the mindset that they built the friggen waste of money, now we need to make the best of it. However, how the heck do we do that if there are NO EVENTS.
This month alone I am going to see Eric Clapton at the Xcel, and Los Lonely Boys at the Zoo. I would love to have spent that $300 plus dollars at the BPAC but its IMPOSSIBLE if they dont schedule any events.
People are going to concerts/plays/etc. But its impossible for us to get on board and try to make the BPAC a success if the people running it dont even schedule any decent events.
Fire the promotion company. Fire the Director. Start over asap.
June 8th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Hey Bill and crew,
While Jeff Achen runs heads up the editorial/multimedia content side of ThisweekLive.com, I run the technical side of the site. Just a quick response to Bill’s comments in regards to us “artificially inflating our advertising stats.”
I totally agree that following in the footsteps of the Strib is a bad idea but, our general manager came from the Strib so to avoid being condemned as insubordinate, we have to do things with the site to which we are sometimes opposed.
First off, the meta-refresh deal is bogus and told management from the get-go that it was a bad idea. You’ll be glad to know that it was removed only a couple of days after it was implemented because we discovered that if someone was watching a video it would refresh and start the video over. Not cool.
Second, the “Read more…” *usually* shows up only on stories linked from the front page or the city landing pages where people are usually wanting to get a snapshot of an article before reading it. However, if an editor deems the story too lengthy they may put in the “read more” in the story to break it up. I went through a bunch of stories to see how prevalent it is and I didn’t come across any so I don’t see it being much of an issue. If you can provide specific examples where it is overused please let me know and we will address the issue.
Otherwise, I personally try to make sure that our advertising stats are accurate and try not to resort to trickery on the site just to bump up numbers. FYI…I actually had sales people mad at me when I took over the stats piece. The stats package that the company as a whole used – and *many* other businesses still use – was inaccurate and we were able to prove it to management.
O.K., so it wasn’t a quick response – sorry. However, if anyone has issues with our site or has comments about things they don’t like please let us know (thisweeklive@ecm-inc.com). Some we can change, some we can’t, but we will at least consider them. If it bugs one person who speaks up, it surely is bugging others. I just respectfully request that profanity isn’t used – it might not make it through the spam filter :)
Thanks for your time…back to the PAC topic at hand…
June 9th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Dawn,
First I want to apologize because I was apparently wrong. I took the time to go through a couple of your articles linked from the main page of the site and I found only one (the one about the MCC) that was paginated. The stories written by Derrick don’t seem to be paginated (even the long ones) yet the MCC story (written by Gessner) is. I guess I’ve only been clicking through the read ones done by Gessner recently.
Also the refresh code is commented out. I don’t know how long it’s been that way but I swore within the last month that the page refreshed itself while I was sitting on it.
–
I still don’t agree with pagination under any circumstances and think that it should be removed but I do appreciate your response and I’m sorry that I didn’t get back to respond to you until now but I needed some time to poke around a bit (four hours at a fucking Farmington School Board meeting eats into that time).
I also don’t agree with Thisweek’s use of truncated feeds. You’re already using FeedBurner, serve your ads through that and stop screwing those of us who don’t really want to click through anyway. Your percentage reading via RSS is probably much lower than even my low number so what’s the harm?
Whatever. Thanks and I’m sorry for the incorrect comments.
June 9th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Instead of coming up with a post about this topic as it’s just a summary I have posted the highlights here instead:
* Chrichton feels there should be more effort provided in the financial reporting on the PAC
* Burnsville City Staff says that more resources would be needed to accomplish more reporting on the PAC.
* Burnsville City Staff has a meeting scheduled on 6/23 with the vendor.
* Staff is willing to provide a quarterly statement
* Mary Sherry: This is the only enterprise that’s managed by an outside firm. The council needs to get a sense of how that management is doing. She is comfortable with quarterly reporting.
* Mayor Kautz asks if they have the resources available to them to be successful?
* Dan Kealey wants revenue, expenses and the bottom line to gauge how they are doing. He wants it based against VenuWorks’ budget forecast.
* Dan Gustafson feels that VenuWorks is working very hard and they are trying to do the best that they can do with what they have. Feels that Burnsville has cut back on promises like marketing.
* Dan Kealey says that they have a marketing budget provided by the city which hasn’t been given to VenuWorks. Where is the marketing budget and why wasn’t it part of the original business plan? VenuWorks was hired to meet the numbers they were supposed to hit and Kealey says it’s “FLOUNDERING” after they complain that they have no money to run ads. If they don’t hit their goals then they will get bounced.
* Dan Gustafson says that he doesn’t feel that they should take their own money to handle this themselves. “These people have stepped up and put their own personal money into this thing.”
June 9th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
I seem to be the only one who gets hung up on this, but while the Mayor has a huge vested interest in the BPAC, so does Dan Gustafson. I dont think its possible for him to be impartial when he is an at large member of the Executive Board for the Chameleon Theatre Circle.
I have no idea if “These people have stepped up and put their own personal money into this thing” as Dan claims. I do know that while he doesnt want them to spend thier money, he is quick to spend ours.
All the advertising in the world will not fill a venue with NO FRIGGEN EVENTS. Again, I cant say this enough, many of us would try to support the place if they had any sort of decent events scheduled. This is not a chicken and the egg thing. No events, no need to advertise. Its simple. And there should not be need for additional resources to do the financial reporting, or any reason it cant be done monthly. At this point they should be asking for daily/weekly updates, not relaxing the existing (monthly) reporting standards.
Also, per the terms of the contract, Venuworks was supposed to have monthly meetings with the city. It sounds from the post above like this has not been happening?
June 10th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Chad, I would be concerned about it if Chameleon was a business and Gustafson was getting money from it, but (unless I’m mistaken) being on their board has no financial benefit to him.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Tim, while him being on thier board may not have a financial benefit to him, having a citycouncilman on their board has certainly worked out well for Chameleon Theatre Circle.
These are quotes from Chameleon Theatre Circles web site:
“The Chameleon Theatre Circle is the resident theatre company of the Burnsville Performing Arts Center’s Black Box Theatre.”
“The Chameleon Theatre Circle will open our Eleventh Season in the new Burnsville Performing Arts Center in February 2009. Together with the City of Burnsville, we are excited to announce that The Chameleon Theatre Circle intends to be the main tenant of the new Burnsville Performing Arts Center’s Black Box Theatre.”
“The Chameleon Theatre Circle is pleased to announce our 12th Season! All performances will take place at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center.”
“A preliminary agreement has been worked out with VenuWorks Facility Management (who will be managing the Performing Arts Center) which would grant The Chameleon Theatre Circle scheduling priority for the 150-seat black box theatre.”
Again, those are all current quotes from the Chameleon Theatre Circle web site. There is also a beautiful picture of our Mayor and the president of the Chameleon Theatre Circle outside of the BPAC during construction, and a whole series of construction pictures of the BPAC.
Honestly, the only group I see that has benefited from the BPAC is the Chameleon Theatre Circle. They have a 23 million dollar facility to call home, and they get preference in their booking and scheduling of the facility. This is the how you define a special interest group benefiting at the expense of the public. And a city councilman sits on the executive board of this special interest group.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:59 am
BTW, according to the 2009 PAC Budget documentation the argument from Gustafson that the city has not been providing marketing funds is bunk. The budgeted marketing amount was $25,000 for 2009–which VenuWorks has blown through already (it’s not much more over the next 5 years either).
June 10th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Also, correct me if I’m wrong but, don’t you need some acts on the calendar before you can say you need money to promote them? George Jones did not fail for lack of promotion (I saw lots of advertising for it), it failed because it was not an act that appealed to the larger community and was not priced well. I think the promotion budget issue is a red herring, and another lame excuse. You can’t complain about a low promotion budget when THERE IS NOTHING ON THE CALENDAR TO PROMOTE! Also, the International Festival did not involve a lot of scheduling effort on his part, since this has been an ongoing community event for a number of years, except for moving a concert inside and expecting people to pay for it (we’ll see how that goes….). So, Wolf: What are you actually DOING with OUR money????
June 10th, 2009 at 9:59 am
That’s it? They just sat around and pointed out the obvious? They had the same conversation they could have had standing on the sidewalk with their neighbors? THESE are our “leaders”?
Where were these questions:
- What EXACTLY do you mean, “VenuWorks is working very hard and they are trying to do the best that they can do with what they have”? Provide SPECIFICS.
- Can we get some insight into Wolf Larson’s meeting schedule? Who is he meeting with to get this to happen?
- What EXACTLY is preventing acts from booking here? The answers, “well, gee, it’s a tough economy” and “gosh, we’re new” are not acceptable.
- Along those lines, provide specific documentation from promoters or acts that said “no thanks” when asked to perform there. THESE ARE THE CHALLENGES WE NEED TO ADDRESS. We need to know exactly what their hesitations are and work to find a solution to overcome those obstacles. Show us the e-mails. If there aren’t specifics, get the promoters, groups, etc on the horn and get specifics.
- Are there fees, retainers, contractual stipulations, facility limitations, or other barriers to booking acts?
- Can we get a projection on the benefit to offering the stage and tickets for free to a group that we can reasonably expect to fill 1,000 seats?
- Why are we talking about lack of marketing support when, in April, the financial report shows the marketing for April was 400% over budget?
- Clarify what is meant by “doing the best with what they have”. They have a large staff, a significant budget and are clearly not busy with managing events.
- Has anyone seen a less-young PAC like this ANYWHERE that has seen reasonable success? If so, have we reached out to their city councils to pick their brains?
It sounds like this “work session” was lacking in any real work.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:08 am
MSPD,
They claim that the city staff will be having a meeting with VenuWorks soon. I wonder if that particular meeting will be open to the public (it should be) but nothing specific was mentioned as to what would be discussed.
Now, according to the VW contract, they are supposed to be meeting monthly with the city in order to discuss the prior month’s performance. Have these meetings not been occurring up until this point and if not why? I think that the city staff and the city council–in addition to VW’s staff–have some serious questions to answer before they move any further along.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:08 am
MSPD, as always, great post.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Hey Bill,
No apology necessary. You were correct in that the meta-refresh for thisweeklive.com *was* there for just about a week but was removed around May 13th. I had commented it out rather than remove it because there was talk of making the refresh something along the lines of half an hour so rather than recode it would be easier to remove the comment. It always seems to be a battle between ease-of- use and money…
Regarding the full vs. partial feeds, thank you. That too was a topic of conversation back when we initiated the feeds. When we set them up via Feedburner I meant to bring up to management the serving of ads via Feedburner and change back to full feeds. Unfortunately that is one item that fell off of my to do list. Mea culpa. I’ll get it back on the list though I have a feeling that may be one item that may still be a sticking point but ya never know.
Anyway, I/we do appreciate the comments – both positive and negative.
Best regards,
Dawn
June 19th, 2009 at 9:14 am
FYI: I have made some edits above (they are marked as such) per the request of John Gessner regarding the unsubstantiated and incorrect rumor that he lives next to Kautz.
June 24th, 2009 at 10:32 am
[...] why they decided to leave out the part about prostitutes doing better in the HOC and only mentioned how great Subway did on one particular day. Now about the lies that are coming out of the PAC management and the fact that you’re doing [...]
June 26th, 2009 at 8:24 am
[...] plus fees and feature comedian Marc Yaffee. This event was part of the Burnsville PAC’s lame times are tough…laughing is easy marketing campaign. Looks like the only ones that will be laughing are the opponents of the [...]
June 30th, 2009 at 7:34 am
[...] of Nicollet Avenue and 126th Street currently has a crosswalk so that people who are utilizing one of the only businesses known to have benefited financially from the Burnsville Performing Arts C… being built can take less of a part in the “walkable” parking lots created in that area [...]
December 20th, 2010 at 11:03 am
i did hear on the radio just now that louie anderson will be at the p.a.c. new years eve.
bb
December 20th, 2010 at 11:42 am
@ bb stacker
I believe they even added a 2nd show for Louie. I guess if the right talent is there, people will come.
December 20th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
dsw,
i think louie would be a better attraction than george jones:)
bb
December 21st, 2010 at 9:17 am
2011 will be an interesting year for the PAC, they seem to be making booking progress under new management… one can only hope for the best in this case .
June 3rd, 2011 at 7:01 am
[...] while this looks an awful lot like it did back in 2010 when the calendar was similarly devoid of events scheduled, however that just can’t be true as Councilmember Dan Kealey noted last summer that the [...]