Thisweek’s Jeff Achen sat down with the directors of both the Burnsville Performing Arts Center and Lakeville Area Arts Center to discuss many topics ranging from what acts they are bringing in up through how they are doing in these tough economic times. While the excellent interview is there for you to watch, I’d like to highlight what Mr. Wolf Larson had to say in the interview and why the majority of it is nothing but a bunch of bullshit.
- According to Mr. Larson the PAC has been hosting plenty of events that have supposedly attracted 25,000 people through May 31st, 2009 but according to their own incomplete documents, they’re at less than 50% of that as of the end of April with the largest number of people coming at the end of January through February (7,803) and the second largest month being April (3,233). With March only adding another 1,456 I really doubt that they pulled in an additional 12,500 people in May or even across all 5 months (tours and free events do not count).
- Mr. Larson attempts many times to redirect Jeff Achen’s questions about the fact that the main stage at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center is empty (well into 2010) by claiming:
1. The park that is adjacent to the PAC is beautiful.
2. That there is more to the Burnsville PAC than the main stage.
3. It takes time to get things under way and they are quite pleased with how it’s all going so far.
- Wolf Larson states that he sees the PAC to the residents in the South Metro as being how the Guthrie or Walker is to those in Minneapolis or the Ordway in St Paul
- Jeff Achen asked Mr. Larson why does he feel that the PAC was a wise investment for taxpayer dollars and he responded with:
1. When grant money came in for the park in the HOC, it came with the understanding that there would be an arts component at one end of the park (I have a feeling that there was no stipulation that it would have to cost $20 million and that it would remain nearly empty for the first half of 2009).
2. HOC redevelopment had an arts component for a draw into the area.
3. The PAC was meant to bring more people into the shops and restaurants around it as well as bring more people into Burnsville “to raise the whole profile of the town”. (being that Subway had its single best day ever that they have certainly reached that goal!)
- Jeff Achen asked Mr. Larson if the budget shortfall alarms him and Mr. Larson responded:
1. They are operating where they thought they would be (no they’re not, we’ve shown how that’s the case).
2. They are slightly less than 100% but they are close to their projected use across all the facilities (no, especially with numbers being as low as they are with no chance of them rebounding anytime soon).
3. They are tracking very close to overall expenses (this may very well be true).
4. They are attempting as best they can to generate as much revenue as they can to make the place work (no they’re not, the main stage is empty through 2010).
- Achen asks if the PAC can meet its goal if the main theater fails to perform to which Larson responds that the focus on the main theater is misplaced and that it’s one piece of the overall operation!
He’s right, it is but it’s the BIGGEST PART of the overall operation and the one that should be bringing in the most revenue by far. Unfortunately it’s empty and thus it’s LOSING more money than they could ever possibly make up in all the other areas combined.
- Larson blames the promoter for the reason why George Jones was canceled but fails to mention that it was because they didn’t sell a reasonable number of tickets.
That all said, I highly suggest you watch this excellent interview conducted by Thisweek and Jeff Achen as well as the quick recap from last night’s Burnsville worksession regarding (as Dan Kealey calls it) the “floundering” PAC. It was interesting to see the differences between Lakeville’s much more inexpensive arts center (which will be paid off soon) and how their offerings are quite similar (mostly community theater).
So what do you think about what Mr. Larson had to say to Jeff Achen’s questions about the Burnsville Performing Arts Center and how it’s doing? Do you agree that he’s doing nothing but trying to bullshit his way out of the tight spot he has worked himself into or do you think that he truly believes that they are right on track to make the projected numbers that were previously presented?
So go ahead and share what you have to say about Wolf Larson’s interview on The Show!
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June 10th, 2009 at 8:25 am
I think a Community Center idea would have been better off. Could have had a small theater and 95% of what’s going on at the PAC is a better fit for a Community Center. It also makes it easier to locally control and gets the community involved vs just driving by the money black hole. But that was rejected by the voters and they got this instead.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:38 am
I thought the tag line showing initially when Wolf Larson was speaking (“Ex. Dir. Burnville (sic) PAC”) was an interesting example of foreshadowing, with the emphasis on “EX”)
June 10th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Mike, nothing was rejected by the voters. There was never a vote by anyone but the city council.
I think Wolf needs to be fired. Today.
Its one thing to be failing in your job. It may not be his fault. He could blame the economy, or say that they were overly optimistic in their initial projections. He may be working his butt off and just not getting anyplace due to the current economic climate.
All of those things are possible. However we have to face the fact that he may be delusional. He actually stated that they are operating where they thought they would be, they are close to 100% use across all facilities, they are tracking very close to overall expenses, and they are attempting to generate as much revenue as possible.
So he is either delusional or lieing to us. Its really bad form to lie to the tax paying public who pays your bills. Personally, I would rather see someone step up, admit to mistakes, take some ownership and responsiblity for the problems, and try to move forward.
The first step to solving any problem is admitting there is a problem. I have heard that someplace before.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I am just going by what I read.
http://www.startribune.com/
January 30, 2005
“We’re about public safety and public works. His community center idea has been rejected by voters”
Mayor Kautz
June 10th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Fire or Terminate VenuWorks now! This statement by Wolf is the root of the issue “The focus on the main theatre is misplaced.” Ah no, this entire venue has a budget, you have consumed the 2009 budget already and have failed miserably to focus on the primary revenue generating aspect of the PAC, that being the main theatre. Reviewing the Event Summaries it is obvious that the revenue generated from all other activities is negligible and probably operate at a loss to the city if you were to align the expenses in labor, and all other expenses that are specific to each of the Black Box, Visual Art Studio Events, and meetings held at the PAC and passed through to the city. So my suggestion to you Ex. Director of the Burnsville PAC , would be to get off your ass and FOCUS on the main theater or you will be out on your ass and the scrutiny of the facility will just be escalated beyond your wildest VISIONS.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:34 am
I realize that Dan Gustafson probably was not given the monthly reports from the PAC to read ahead of the meeting last night but the way he furiously defended what Wolf Larson has done shows that he’s either crazy or just uneducated about the problems that exist in the PAC.
While DG obviously has no fucking idea what’s going on over there, it was fairly apparent that Dan Kealey did. He said that VW was hired to do a job and that they are obviously not doing it and if they don’t get back on track that they’re going to be out. While this was a shock to the majority of the city council members who could speak, it had to be a welcome comment to the many people who have been following the data.
Will Kealey be able to overthrow Mayor Kautz and Dan Gustafson and bounce VenuWorks out? Only time will tell but based on how things are going over there, I doubt that VenuWorks is going to make it difficult to pull Mary Sherry into line.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Mike, I still have NO clue what you’re talking about. Could you be more specific or provide a link to the actual article you are quotin from? I don’t even have a clue who the “He” is that you are refer to in your quote. I’ve lived in Burnsville for a LONG time and have never seen anything on a ballot about a community center.
Maybe the Mayor was quoting data from the same survey she used to justify the PAC in the first place. You remember the one. The one where she said the voters want a facility like the PAC but failed to mention that the same voters didn’t want to pay much for it.
Me thinks you’re confused about a community center.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:11 am
What Dan Kealey did last night specific to the PAC and Crime with the gun slinging soccer patrons of the North River Hills Park, that show no respect to the other residents of Burnsville attempting to use one of our 79 parks needs to be commended!!
If Burnsville Police are telling citizens of Burnsville to not use a park because there are issues with gun carrying individuals in this park and it is not safe for families and children, that is a HUGE issue on so many fronts. These issues need to be brought before the citizens and placed front and center. Whether anyone will admit it or not, Burnsville is or already has turned into a haven for increased crime and criminal activity and this general activity of thugs infringing on the rights of the long term residents is increasing. Step one is to realize this is an issue and secondly put a plan in place to address it before Burnsville becomes what Minneapolis was years ago, gang, murder and crime central.
Back to VenuWorks -
The VenuWorks financial reports, budgets, contract and calendar do not lie. I believe that if Dan Kealey is provided with the facts and continues to present them in these Council Worksessions and Council Meetings for the public to hear and see, that the swell of public outcries and ongoing general education of the public on the detailed facts of this VenuWorks debacle will be enough to overthrow the Queen and her jester.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:54 am
KJ,
I assume that this is a copy of the article that Mike is referencing: http://hpn.asu.edu/archives/2005-January/008788.html
In that article Mayor Elizabeth Kautz was apparently referencing Greg Staffa’s (her challenger who received 29% of the vote) desire for some sort of community center. Because she won instead of him she was saying that they rejected his idea.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:06 am
The PAC open in Jan but in June they are still trying to figure out “how were exactly going to fit into this area.” isnt that something you figure out before you build it? I love the little Jabs the Lakeville guy gives about the PAC.
KJ it was a article about the guy that ran against Kautz 2 elections ago. The article was on him with the Quote from Kautz. I think his thinking was much more in line with the Lakeville idea.
I don’t remember a vote either I am just copying the quote.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Mike,
The director of the Lakeville Arts Center is a Burnsville resident whom I can only assume is far more familiar with the PAC than the rest of the Burnsville public. I also thought the jabs were humorous and correct.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Boy, I wish we would’ve had an opportunity to vote for a community center vs. the PAC! Important decisions like that simply don’t happen with Kautz at the helm. She took every advantage of a city council voting majority sympathetic to her pet projects. Now look what we have to show for it. I’m sorry, but even in a good economy (Dan G.), the PAC will only be utilized by only a very small portion of our community. In contrast, nobody expects a community center to turn a profit, but it I bet it would have been far less of a financial burden than the PAC and used by a LOT more people.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Bill and Mike, thanks for the clarification.
It would be just like Kautz to make a statement like that. She loves to say that she knows what the voters or the citizens of Burnsville want yet she is never willing to put her ideas to a vote. It’s one thing to “say” you know what the voters want and an entirely different thing to actually ask them.
I agree with Thought Leader that Dan Kealey deserves to be commended for the comments he made last night regarding the PAC and the soccer incident. I also think that Mary Sherry should be commended for saying that “actually I think the public expects something like this” when discussing the PAC financial reports. I’m still of the opinion that the citizens of Burnsville are the stockholders of the PAC and they owe the citizens at least a quarterly report.
Notice how Dan Gustafson and Mayor Kautz both jumped right in line using nearly the exact same words again suggesting that the city needed to take a look and see if they were doing all they needed to do to help VenuWorks make the PAC successful. He rambled on to say that the city had not provided the marketing or enterprise funding needed for VenuWorks to be successful. Of course all of this was supposedly part of the business plan that I have never seen and was conspicuously absent from the copy of the VenuWorks contract that the city provided (and Bill has shared) and as Exhibit B of the contract states, “to be added”
Give me a break Dan G. How the heck can you say that the lack of a marketing budget is the problem when there are NO EVENTS TO MARKET! The George Jones concert was marketed. I personally heard spots on a local country radio station. The problem there wasn’t marketing, it’s the fact that nearly $80.00 per seat was well beyond the price point that people were willing to pay.
And one last thing, they can make all the excuses they want but the budget for the PAC for 2009 was presented and approved in December of 2008. The economy was already tanking and if they didn’t take that into account you can’t blame that on the economy. All their excuses to date are things that were known to be when they made and approved the 2009 PAC budget. Stop making up all these ridiculous excuses.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
KJ,
I would be happy with some actual excuses. Most of what was said/done was just a delay/stall for more time, which will probably actually make things worse, not better, as there are no events to bail them out.
I am not convinced that the Mayor, Venue Works, Wolf, and/or certain members of the council are even willing to admit there is a problem yet.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Good point Chad! Great observation!
The longer they delay actually admitting there is a problem, the harder it would be to find a new company to manage the PAC and let VenuWorks go. You can’t exactly fire VenuWorks if you have nobody lined up to take their place. Stalling could actually make it a moot point that a majority of the city council wanted to fire VenuWorks.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I thought the Lakeville director, Tom Barnard, was articulate, knowledgeable and seems to know how to book acts. Can we hire him?
June 10th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Sorry Whit, the BPAC has not money left in the budget and we would have to ask him to put some of his own money into the venture to prove he was serious about making it work.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Whit o’ wit,
Tom Barnard (although living in Burnsville just blocks away and within walking distance of the PAC) may be too smart to take that job.
I can’t help but wonder if the push to have a 1000 seat main theatre which was said to be a venue size that filled a gap that was under represented isn’t a big part of the problem. While the 300ish seat black box theatre seems to be doing ok, the 1000 seat main stage seems as though it may be too big for smaller touring groups yet too small for national acts that want to do one show and go. So maybe with the PAC they have filled a gap that didn’t need filling! Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t it VenuWorks (then Compass) that recommended a 1000 seat main theatre in the first place?
June 10th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
KJ, just a quick correction: the Black Box has 150 seats.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Interesting story on the Star Tribune. http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/47539707.html
Pretenders concert to be moved from Minnesota Zoo over animal rights issues raised by the lead singer.
According to the story “The concert — which at $68 a ticket would have been the priciest zoo show ever — is being relocated, possibly to the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis”
The Orpheum is about 20 miles from the Zoo. The PAC is about 6 miles from the Zoo. I don’t know what kinda of loopholes you would have to jump through or if the Orpheum has ties to the Zoo. But if I was the PAC id try to get the concert.
I think PAC needs to show more aggression going after these things.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Mike,
The Burnsville City Council has already proven that they hate cute, cuddly kittens so I’m not positive that there would be no issues over the animal rights issues at the PAC…
BTW, I edited the link to drop the tracking junk off the end of the Star Tribune URL you posted.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Bill…
Wha, a wha, a what me thinkin?
Thanks for correcting my Errrrrr
June 10th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Mike,
Like I said earlier, the answer to your question may be size.
The Zoo says they have 1450 reserved seats plus some standing room only areas. The Orpheum is bigger than that and can handle an audience that size. Size wise at 1014 seats, the Burnsville PAC cannot replace that venue.
June 10th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Sorry to go off topic but what?!?!? Burnsville police are telling citizens not to use North River Hills Park? Where/when? I heard there was a similar problem with thugs congregating in Vista View Park a few years back.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
LLR, I didn’t hear them say any specific park but I did hear them say that the police warned people not to use it because people fight there regularly and they bring weapons with them.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
LL Reader: Confirmed North River Hills Park – apparently has several soccer fields.
http://burnsville.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2
6/9/09 City Council Worksession Discussion time of the video, I encourage you to listen for yourself. 1:43:30 – 1:48:20 (1 hour, 43 minute, 30 second point of the meeting, just pull the scroll bar under the meeting to this point.
North River Hills Park
Burnsville Police – Regular Problem in N. River Hills PArk and one other, know problem. Group of 20 year olds playing soccer and fighting and know to carry firearms and not confront the individuals as they have been known to use them.
Did not name the second park that police also stated were a known issue for these thugs.
Police advising to not use the park or confront the individuals. Not sure why no one called 911.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Thanks much for writing about the thugs-in-the-park issue, Thought Leader! How is is possible the public hasn’t been informed and what steps are being done to address it? Ignoring/avoiding the problem is incomprehensible.
About the Achen interview … about the only thing funnier than zero pedestrians using the pedestrian-friendly park when school’s out for summer was the amount of traffic, even a semi, rumbling behind Jeff as he was speaking. As if on cue. BTW, Wolfe looked quite uncomfortable and the comment about the free salsa lessons was just odd. No, we’re not thriving but — hey! — come salsa with us.
Oh, Jeff Achen: The Twitter address listed on screen at the end of the interview was funnily incorrect. Instead of Twitter dot com, Twitter comma CON was listed — although that’s a pretty fitting sign off on the episode with Wolfe’s attempted CON job.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Thanks TL for the info on the gangs in North River Hills Park…… Just finished viewing the work session. So the cop tells the soccer mom don’t use the park and to find her daughter’s team a different park to play in. It was just a few weeks ago that the Burnsville Police Chief wrote a column in ThisWeek newspaper REASSURING Burnsville residents that there is no increase in crime in the city. Sounds like a cover up ……… Hell, this is more important than that dam PAC. If this is a problem park like the cop said, It should be CLOSED. Hey John Gessner, start reporting the NEWS in Burnsville instead of Kautzville.
June 11th, 2009 at 4:31 am
Will, you are correct, this topic is more important than the PAC discussion and sorry Bill for hijacking this thread on the PAC interview.
I also find this interesting.
With thefts from vehicles on the rise, Burnsville police offer tips
http://www.thisweeklive.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9722&Itemid=29
Which is it Chief Hawkins? I think if I were Jeff Achen, his next interview should be with Chief Hawkins. Why are the number of Serious crimes in Burnsville significantly higher by category compared to our surrounding communities when cities such as Eagan have a larger population? Burnsville officials compare their current counts to prvious years and months and say crime is not an issue. I think Chief Hawkins should address why Burnsville has significantly higher adult crime convictions according to the Dakota County Attorneys office’s reports on a year over year basis. Why are these activities in our parks not being made public, they are obviously a known issue with our police. What else is happening in our city that is not being brought to our attention due to it has not risen to the level of a murder or a serious crime? Does Burnsville have a gang problem? A major drug problem where the events of the Ramsey County Drug Task Force were involved in a few months back in the HOC? I understand why the city continues to report the numbers in a fashion that downplay the occurances of crime in Burnsville but who is this protecting and serving?
When are these articles going to come out, With Gun Toting Thug Activity on the Rise in our Parks, Burnsville Police Offer Tips? With Two Murders on the books thus far this year for 2009, Police Offer Tips. With year to date Rapes Double last years count, Police Offer Tips.
http://www.burnsville.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=69
Stop playing the numbers game and saying crime is down in Burnsville!! Yes, Larceny / Theft is down (526->467), which constitutes the largest volume of crimes by type, but are you doing justice when your murders and rapes are double, year to date, Robbery and Aggrevated Assult are well above numbers where they were last year! The idea of comparing a homicide or rape to a Larceny / Theft and then saying that Part I crimes are down 4.7% is a disservice to the citizens of Burnsville. Tell the whole story and articualte the seriousness of the specific crime categories that back your statements about drime is not an issue. Pull out Larceny / Theft in your calcluation and then tell me that serious crime is not on the rise in Burnsville!! Cannot do it, can you!!
June 11th, 2009 at 5:07 am
Back on topic, I got a good chuckle when the Ex Director made a comment on all of the shops and restaruants in the area. Um, Ex. Director what are you talking about?? How can you expect to have any credibility when you say crap like that? And Jeff let the Ex Director off the hook to easy on his response to the George Jones promoter simply calling and cancelling. Hmm, dig a little deeper, how much did VenueWorks spend on advertising and marketing this performance? Is all of that money unrecoverable? Can we go after the promoter for this money since they cancelled? Should maybe VenuWorks have more detailed and ownerous contracts in place with these promoters to protect the tax payers of Burnsville better so VenuWorks is not spending money with the possibility of being out this money with no end product being delivered? Jeff, maybe a question like, why do you Ex Director beleive that the promoter for George Jones cancelled?
Hey Jeff, maybe you should post your list of future interviews on Bills site to solicit some really tough questions!!
June 11th, 2009 at 5:34 am
1. Hijack away, that’s what an Internet forum is for.
2. Gessner could very well be researching the topic (I don’t know if he is or not) and personally I ignored the entire topic from the meeting because I thought the entire thing was vague as hell. I don’t like the anonymous anecdotes that show up as part of “I support this because someone approached me at Cub and said they liked it,” bullshit that goes on with all city councils and apparently school boards. If someone has a real problem then they should call the fucking police themselves or show up at the city council/school board meetings in person and say, “there are bunch of hoodlums being dickheads in the parks, fix it dumbasses.”
So because the entire discussion was as vague as it was, Gessner probably has to do some digging in order to get the full story. He can’t just jump on the web and say, “one person, through a city council member, said that NRHP is full of gang-bangers fighting on the soccer fields,” and be done with it like we can. I’m sure it’ll show up on Wednesday of next week or so–their usual release cycle.
3. Sorry for missing the exact park. The sound on the streaming council meetings isn’t that great, I was listening on a laptop with shitty little speakers, and my hearing sucks. I should have paid closer attention I suppose (see #2 above for why I probably didn’t).
4. I thought Jeff’s interview was a good one this time around. Interesting topic (for all of us) and he did spend some time asking the tough questions to Larson. That said, I think it would be HYSTERICAL for him to ask us for questions–I’d love to see that poll!
June 11th, 2009 at 6:15 am
I agree Bill, but if you look at the general population, residents are intimidated by the existing Burnsville Mayor and the forum in which they would be put in, on live TV, on streaming video, in front of 40+ people, this forum is not very inviting. When you look at past history how the Mayor reacts to those that come before the council I cannot blame them. Besides I bet that 98% of the citizens are not even aware of the frequency of these meetings and aware that there is a public comments portion of the meetings. Not everyone has the time, can make it to the meetings, or is just plain not willing to take their observations to the next level. Why these individuals are not at least calling 911 to report such activities and are chasing down police in their cars is beyond me. At least call 911 to estabish a trail of the activities that can be tracked and addressed.
June 11th, 2009 at 6:24 am
If these individuals know who their councilmembers are and were able to get in touch with them then:
1. They know how to dial 911.
2. They know of the City Council and who is on it. I’m sure they can take it one step further.
3. Kealey obviously suggested to this woman to show but she didn’t feel safe doing so. As if the gangbangers in NRHP are sitting at home at 6:30 on a weeknight riveted by city council proceedings.
June 11th, 2009 at 7:16 am
http://www.twincities.com/dakota/ci_12566220
Well, this response from the Chief sure should encourage citizens to contact a police officer when there is a problem, or go to the press if the problem is not addressed. Here are my concerns about the story: If the officer told her to stay away from the park – why would she lie about that? Why on earth would she make something like that up, make the effort to track down and officer, call a council member AND give an interview to the press? If the officer told her there have been issues previously at the park, why would the officer lie about that? So what. The Chief should own up to the problem and DO something about it. But hey, if you can push back on the citizen who made you look bad, I guess that’s just an extra bonus. Should she have called 911? Of course. But just because she didn’t, and talked to an officer about it the next time she saw one, doesn’t change the veracity of her story.
Here’s another point: on the need for a roundabout at Burnhaven, ONE citizen spoke out and said it was needed, and the city was ready to spend $500K on it. Here, ONE citizen spoke out and said there is a park/crime problem and she’s the bad guy? BAH!
June 11th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Well there are a few things that are a bit whacked with this entire story.
1. Call 911, immediately, do not wait days.
2. Yeah the Chief should have been engaged by Kealey or Ms. Meehan should have engaged the police sooner than days after the incident, and should have immediately escalated this to the Chief when she received such a wild ass response to avoid a park due to this is a known activity in this park.
3. I personally do not beleive that police are being as forthcoming with issues specific to crime, gangs, nacotics, rape, and other crimes that are occuring in the city of Burnsville and are attempting to address these issues under the radar and visibility of the businesses and residents of Burnsville.
4. I can speak specifically to ineractions with Burnsville Police that they are over worked and continously responding to calls within the city and I question the ability for the police to address the chronic underlying gang, narcotic, and problem areas of the city due to staffing. I would personally like to do a ride along with an officer for a shift so that I could get a first hand experience of the heart beat of the city and the crime / calls made to police.
5. I think that when citizens interact with specific police officers on specific incidents that the citizens are getting the “real story”, lack of officer time to really address the root of these calls, lack of resources, crime / calls are on the rise, and the citizens interacting with specific individual officers are receiving the pure unspun facts.
6. I understand that Chief Hawkins is disappointed that he was not engaged immediately, but what I do not want to see is him being a filter by which everything is filitered and downplayed so that the citizens are kept in the dark when there are some very serious issues that need to be owned up to and addressed in a public forum. Yeah you can put out articles that crime is down in the monthly newsletter but I think more citizens are being impacted by crime and when they see these communications from the chief feel that there is no acknowledgement of there being any issues with crime and hence are pursuing other methods to tell their story, eg the city council, press, blogs, etc.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Following a visit to a Savage City Council meeting, their chief invited me to do a ride along so I’m guessing doing one in Burnsville wouldn’t be that difficult to arrange. That said, I’m not sure you’d be able to get a viable view of what’s going on in Burnsville on one visit. I’d guess you’d have to go on several different occasions across many seasons and different days of the week to get a true picture. That I’m not sure they’d be willing to provide.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:20 am
I just had a nice chuckle thinking about when the last time I saw Chief Hawkins before the city council? Anyone, anyone recall? Yep, presenting their position on legalizing medical marijuana and distribution and growth. So you tell me, maybe the Chief should be before the council reporting on the two homicides in the city this year, the several rapes, the narcotics bust in the HOC, these “gang” issues in our parks, the kidnapping of the juvenile and the elderly at the Burnsville Center, instead of focusing on State level issues when there are serious crimes happening in the city which he is charged with protecting and serving. Prioritizing activities, issues and spending, seems to be a concept that escapes all of our city officials including the police department.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:24 am
TL,
Oh give me a break! The Heart of the City’s hanging flower baskets and proclamations about supporting Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics (PDF) are SO much more important than discussion about crime in Burnsville.
Seriously TL, get your priorities straight, sheesh!
June 11th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I suspect the whole story about the woman and her discussion with police about NRHP is being stretched a bit by both sides. When I first heard the discussion at the council worksession, I thought I heard Dan Kealey say she chased down a police officer that she just happened to see while leaving the park (that day). Maybe I heard it wrong or maybe Dan Kealey stated what he was told incorrectly but suffice it to say, stories we hear and how we remember them seem to morph over time, even moreso as they are told 3rd hand and 4th hand and 5th hand. I couldn’t agree more that if they felt that the incident was serious enough to pack up and leave the park, they should have called 911 right away and got the police out there.
I think there is little doubt that serious crime is on the rise in Burnsville and the fact that the city is putting out letters about the rise in thefts from cars should tell you it’s gotten serious enough. Or at least serious enough for the city to take the time to put out letters/press releases. The thing that really bothered me was the lack (or withholding) of information AGAIN. Did anybody else notice that neither the Sun or ThisWeek published the police statistics last week? I faithfully read the police and fire statistics and couldn’t find the police stats in either community paper last week. Yep, serious crime is not on the rise but we’re going to stop sharing the stats. Typical Burnsville once again, when the numbers don’t match the rhetoric, just don’t share the numbers.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:43 am
“Hawkins said there have been 16 calls to North River Hills Park this year. None involved fights or violence.”
Is this a high call volume for police calls to a park in the span of 5 months? How does it compare to other parks of similar size/usage in Burnsville? I doubt we’ve had 16 calls to our neighborhood park in 10 years, let alone 5 months.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:00 am
3-4 calls a month wouldn’t surprise me. Do these calls include things like medical assistance and such?
June 11th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Whit and Tim, all good questions for Jeff Achen to ask Chief Hawkins in his upcoming interview.
June 12th, 2009 at 8:25 am
Nobody is more pleased that the discussion of crime has replaced and taken over for the discussion of the PAC problems, than The Mayor, Dan Gustafson and Wolf Larson. Crime is an issue that clearly falls on the shoulders of the police department. “Make some arrests, smack ‘em upside the head.”
Meanwhile, I encourage those concerned about the PAC issue to look up the VenuWorks website and compare the bookings at the 6 theatres that they manage. You’ll reach some interesting conclusions. And I also encourage you to read the discussions on the TOPIX forums linked to the recent St. Paul paper PAC articles written by Jessica Fleming.
June 26th, 2009 at 8:24 am
[...] like the floundering Burnsville Performing Arts Center just took another hit as a new game has rolled into town and stolen some more of its planned acts. [...]