Post a commentExtorting municipalities has become a common practice for business over the last 20 or so years. This looks to me like a shake down.
Didn't Harley-Davidson just do the same thing? They threatened to leave the state if they didn't get a bunch of subsidies. Rendell and a number of politicians obliged, paying the company to stay here.
Cabelas' did a masterful job of squeezing the town of Hamburg. Sports teams do it routinely. Even certain newspapers come, hat in hand, to government when times are tough.
Corporate welfare has become the norm. The rest of us are supposed to tighten our belts and do with less.
"Rather than do this on a case-by-case basis, the city should establish some clear criteria for what we do and don't invest in." Our priorities are crystal clear. We value an army of Latr!ce Bryants at $90K per year over events like this one.
why can't these college kids pay for it themselves? they can afford to go to college which alot of taxpayers can't afford to do, yet the taxpayers are being asked to pay for these kids to go row in a boat.
its not a shake down its a simple situation. yes its an elitist sport frequented by folks who could afford to pay but they wont because they dont have to. when Nutty says the city wants a lot of money for the 'privilege' to have the event in philly, with all its fine restaurants, murders and high taxes the regatta folks can just go to a smaller municipality that would die to have a large event held there....if you want the dad vail then you better find some money in the budget for it or they will go elsewhere. the only people who cant seem to adjust to this are people who wont accept that the dad vail is not as married to this cesspool of a city as they are. can this be philly without the dad vail? it can be and it will be
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Let them pay just like every other organization. They go to these institutions for higher education. Let the Colleges pay for the event. They are tax exempt, let them ante up. Or PACK UP !!
The elitest, prep-school perception you all seem to have of the Dad Vail rowers, in addition to the opinion that the Dad Vail Committtee is shaking down the city, is simply unfounded. The majority of rowing teams at Dad Vails are club (this isn't ivy league rowing fellas) and the athletes pay thousands of $ to row, and additionally, most of them were public HS kids that picked up rowing in college. As for the Dad Vail Committee and the possible move, they are having to deal with both a 60% drop in corporate sponsorship from a year ago, and a doubling of their payment for the regatta to Philly over the past 5 years. So you tell me - if you would like to lose the almost $300,000 a year paid to the city from the regatta (ask the polie if they enjoy the overtime pay for such low risk work), in addition to all the revenue over 3,500 athletes bring to the area in hotels, meals, etc... then by all means, don't make any concessions. But I think it would be a loss for both the city itself, and for the Dad Vail Regatta.
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