Looks like someone is going to get raked over the coals on October 5th. Commissioner Souto put the Hardy salary boost on the Agenda of the County Recreation and Cultural Affairs Committee. For those of you that don't remember, I think it was last week that the Carnival Center Board gave a big 42% salary increase to Michael Hardy, President and CEO of the Center. I thought it rather odd when I read it. I guess Commissioner Souto thought it odd too.
I am sure there will be a lot of belly-aching by commissioners because later, on the same agenda, is a report on how the Center intends to dig themselves out of the financial hole they are in. One action they say they are taking to save money: They have reduced the number of performances by half. That's great. Two big empty performing arts buildings doing nothing a lot of the time.
Giving a raise to the top dog while you are losing money is not a good plan. And Souto will never stop talking about it.
7 comments:
Speaking of "giving a raise to the top dog", today the Herald wrote that the dog whisperer is coming to the Carniverous Center for the Performing Arts.
Isn't it ironic.
Since the PAC never sells out, they should remove the center row A to make a walkway and reletter B to A, etc to the rear.
First row cost a lot and sitting with my knees against the wall makes me yearn for TOPA.
In the words of a great sage: "lighten up Francis".
Who in their right mind could expect a new PAC to turn a profit (or break even) in its first year? Give these guys a chance to figure out the local market and book gigs accordingly. Whether the raise was called for or not also is weighed against how bad next year would be if the current director walks...its a big place and it is a lot of responsibility. Give them a chance to succeed or fail. People are harsher on the PAC than they are on the Marlins which has shown stupidity in their marketing year after year. It is no surprise no one goes to those games.
A raise? And a retroactive raise? It must be a joke?
What time will the item come up Oct 5th?
I don't think anyone should cut the Carniverous a break...they knew from the begining it wouldn't cut it. That's why, when the cost over runs came in, they blamed the miscalculation on air conditioning the place on the consultants.(they said they'd figured the cooling costs on square footage instead of cubic ft.)If you think it really went down that way, I've got a bridge to sell ya.Then, later on, we see where the County is buying acoustic curtains with a grant. Huh? Aren't acoustic curtains part of a hall? Then they bemoan the fact that they can't get all the "volunteers" they need as ushers and are aghast at having to pay stage hands(ya mean we need stage hands?)union wage.
Also, there are numerous companies that already have info on what this area's residents will go to see, they just wanted a state of the art center so they could be complete as a big city. So...now they're building another down south. And it's going to host the same sort of stuff.(already checked with trust)It also has the same sized halls, so you can't host Eric Clapton concerts on any big drawing ticket sellers. Another white elephant.
No one asked the people of Dade if or what kind of center they wanted anymore than they're asking tax payers if they want to pay for a stadium for the Marlins.
You think the PAC Center is a huge loser? Watch the Miami Art Museum. No collection and no visitors and surprise NO DONATIONS. Yet they covet a massive new building on a waterfront park, Bicentennial. Guess who will pick up the $300 Mil expense?
Yeah, and build it all in downtown Miami, away from most of the population. At least the South Performing Arts Center will be more centrally located, but it will also be a loser as long as the same trust members? or director? are choosing the venues.
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