One Citizen Attends D3 GPAC Meeting
From John Hammer at The Rhino Times:
Judging from the Greensboro City Council District 3 public meeting held at the Cathedral of His Glory on Lake Jeannette Road on the proposed downtown performing arts center, the concern about the performing arts center in District 3 is nearly nonexistent.
One member of the public from District 3 showed up at the meeting, Dottie Cooke, and she mainly wanted to talk about how the downtown needed to be extended up Battleground because she had a shop along the Battleground corridor near the Carousel Cinemas and the businesses along there could use help.
I think most of us will simply vote no on the bond referendum.
The former mayor has been at some of the meetings:
Knight noted that the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) was built with hotel-motel tax dollars, a contribution from Duke University of $7.5 million and a share of the profit from operating the facility. DPAC does make a profit and no city tax funds were used to build it.
Also DPAC is run by a private corporation with the city receiving 40 percent of net income.
Sorry, but the project with current financing is DOA. And the process rigged for a successful outcome is shameful.
The DPAC is a very impressive venue. I’d love something like that in Greensboro, but I’d definitely vote ‘No’ on a bond referendum. Why? Because we already have a downtown performing arts center. It’s called the Carolina Theatre and it’s been there since 1927. It seats 2,200, a bit shy of the 2,712 for the DPAC and 2,460 for War Memorial Auditorium. A renovation and quick, intelligent promotion team could turn the Carolina Theatre around. Sorry folks, I own Good Fellas and don’t mind watching it at home.
Does anyone know what Keith Holliday thinks about a downtown PAC? He’s been kinda silent on the issue, which is surprising seeing as how he runs the CT.
Hartzman says there’s a plan out there to increase seating at the Carolina Theater by 1200. That seems like a workable compromise. After all, we simply don’t enjoy the wealth demographics of Durham, making their kind of deal unfeasible for us.
Holiday is hoping for the same deal Durham’s Carolina Theater got when DPAC was built– increased funding and management help from DPAC’s team to assure it’s survival. CT Durham gets a percentage off the top of everything DPAC takes in. That is, unless the Mayor of Durham, DPAC’s Manager and the CEO of CT Durham were all standing on the stage lying to us when we rode the bus to Durham.