It’s almost appears as a backstabbing but it makes good sense that the SCCA director loses $150,000 of support for dispensing culture. True unless city bail-outers don’t find another way to slip that amount under the director’s door. Why should the city pay rent to house the Rec Dep at the SCCA when it owns suitable empty space elsewhere to locate city departments? But it makes just as much sense to house our struggling Tourist Bureau in a first floor room in the SCCA instead of blowing a million, city estimate, to tidy up the old Courthouse on Main and Constance. At this stage of Suffolk tourism the ladies trying to create a silk purse can only hand out pamphlets describing a swamp. The other draws, if any, are limited and require much imagination. Downtown Suffolk is not exactly “pulsing with excitement” as described in handouts. A tourist nowadays first scouts by Internet and easily learns about places like Riddicks Folly. Farmers Market customers are not tourists.
The only reason for the SCCA is that elites had a realistic dream that their beloved downtown was boring, solicited alumni who did what they could, then pled at city hall long enough to get millions and a guarantee of annual funding. The plan was to invigorate by offering pottery making, water, oil and acrylic paintings, sewing, photography, cooking classes. And presenting offbeat shows. But Downtown is still unexciting and even the Hilton has not risen to the level of benefits they sold to collect millions from us. The new SCCA Director will be sorely tested.
13 comments:
Longtime Suffolk residents might find it hard to believe that tourists visiting the city contributed $54 million to the local economy in 2008 and supported 560 Suffolk jobs.
The figures above come from the Virginia Tourism Corporation, whose job it is to promote tourism throughout the commonwealth. The VTC is the agency that owns the famous “Virginia is for Lovers” slogan, and it works hard to sell the state as a vacation destination to people from all over the country and around the globe. I FIND IT IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE OR PROVE but our council buys it.
Are these numbers being presented by Barry up in DC? Heck our representives bought health control why cant our locals sell us this packaged deal?
No, not Barry. But Virginia Tourism wants to stay in business. Inflated egos produce inflated numbers. Our local tourism dept would do the same but they haven't a clue as to where to start the calculation. incidentally, reading Kermit Hobb's books is the only way to "see" Suffolk's history.
If you want to believe the state Office of Tourism that gas sales and meals are a measure of tourism or lost visitors be my guest. I'll consult my sources the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.
Today's SNH is a classic example of being force fed by the city with recycled news. Again there is no one at that newspaper that understand nor knows what to believe other than being handed another puff piece from a self-serving government employee.
I'm so excited reading tomorrow's SNH about all the wonderful stories about the Farmer's Market produce from Central America. If I recall didn't the F-Market move to another location under private management then promptly close down for lack of business. That won't happen when our taxes are keeping it open with brand new tents installed by Public Works employees. Lynette I will be going to Smithfield where I can enjoy low cost unsubsidized produce from real farmers. See ya.
Give us a break ladies, the only thing that's pulsing with excitement in downtown are the drug dealers ducking each other and the police, and the unfortunate nervous visitor looking for the King's Highway Bridge.
More propagand for sure from Debbie Gurbiles of Suffolk. It makes you wonder who else is in the cast too from WWII.
The SCCA should be cast off to make it on its own or fail. It is a tough world out there and the SCCA shold learn what the rest of us already know. It is a shame that the Mayor and people like Councilperson PARR use these issues for political theater, rather than make decisons on merit. PARR has told some that he will always be ther to help the SCCA if they are there to help him. Sounds close to a plitical pay back to me. Then there are the idiots like Brown who think they owe our money to the SCCA, because he gets free tickets to events. More pay back at our expense.
It is not a good time to be in Suffolk!
Who is paying for mooring their expensive yachts at the downtown marina? It's become another welfare opportunity for the wealthy. If it were in the Cypress Bourough there would be h-ll to pay.
If staff of the Tourism Office really believe their own hype then they should demonstrate what they mean that Downtown is pulsing with excitement by walking down Mahan, Church, Division, Wellons and Factory Street late at night. That'll get the old ticker pumping.
The only realistic solution, is to cut ties to the bankrupting SCCA, money pit. The City has never gotten what the SCCA crowd told us all we would get and it will never get any better. The only way down this slippery slope is fast and out of control, so lets cut our losses now. Many have spoke of how bad an idea this was from the start and now is the time to pull the plug before more good money follows bad. Just look at the many other bad ideas we have to also payoff like the Hilton Folly, the Folly-Folly and the many downtown boondoggles to numerous to name here.
The SCCA will never be anything but an expensive private club for a few older "Suffolk" ladies and should not get anymore public money to make it go. Why pay anyway, you read on here often how the rest of us are really not "Suffolkians" anyway, so they should not need our money, right? If private donors wish to support such waste as the SCCA, so be it, but no more of our tax or public money. The truth hurts, but wasting our money in this economy, hurts more!
Where is the leadership of our city in this very public debate? Can they really state with a straight face, that the the SCCA has been worth the millions already spent from the public pocket? Anything Madame Mayor, or the boys on council?
I did not think so.
The biggest industry the SCCA has attracted to Suffolk has been the disaster recovery companies. Floods, fires, structural issues, have plagued the center since it was completed. Whomever was overseeing the subcontactors should have been on them from the gitgo.
You've got to love the staff at the SNH. Today they extoll the virtues of this year's performances at the SCCA and encourage them to continue. The strange part is NO ONE put their name to this little puff piece, which gives a jaundice slant to their so called "Staff Report". Oh well, there's always the Farmer's Market SNH Staff Report for tomorrow that we've all been anxiously waiting for.
It's not surprising that almost no one comtributes to the opinion section of the SNH any longer. Our best freelance writers have been pushed aside. Now all we read in their opinion section is from the Editor or staff. Why is that? Probably because citizens have given up having their opinion edited by the Editor or that "The Newspaper that cares about Suffolk" doesn't really care about anything beyond their corporate headquarter's bottomline goals. This year's public school graduates are facing trying times in a tight job market demanding individuals that are motivated, bright, honest and willing to roll up their sleeves to achieve their goals. We need to know how many graduates are going on to college, what was the dropout rate from freshman year to 12th grade and how are we turning our school system around. If the SNH really cares about Suffolk have a h-ll of a way of showing it.
Post a Comment