Sunday, March 15, 2015

$18,333.33...PER DAY

Just nine days to go, folks, which means that Scott Nagel now has to raise an average of $18,333.33 per day.

Hmmm...Now, he says there are "about" 50 pledges so far, for a total of "about" $70,000. Nagel's been at this fundraising thing for several months, but to make the math easy, let's say he's been at it for 3 months, or "about" 90 days.

That works out to a donation "about" every other day, which, if that pattern holds, hmmm...That's over $36,000 every other day he'll need to raise, or "about" that much, anyway.

Meanwhile, the Lincoln Theater is STILL FOR SALE, along with Scott Nagel's blarney and BS. When you think about the millions and millions of dollars that have been wasted and pilfered in Port Angeles over, say, the last decade, $235,000 is really just a drop in the bucket. But the fact remains that all that money has been wasted and pilfered, leaving none for causes like this.

Nathan West's Boardwalk and Beach combo? Yes! Glenn Cutler's titanic Turd Tank on the shoreline? Of course! Half a million bucks for Jim McEntire to play with at the EDC? You can bet he'll get it eventually. Fifty thousand bucks a year for year after year to keep Barb Frederick employed? Sure! Dizzying amounts of debt to pay for projects that are - at best - highly questionable? Why not?

But a drop in the bucket to do something concrete to help revitalize downtown? Oops! It really is a drought, because the well is dry...

29 comments:

  1. So, we have two things happening in Port Angeles at the same time. They seem to show why Port Angeles never moves ahead with anything, because, nobody seems to be listening to anybody else.

    We have the Revitalize Port Angeles group, with Scott Nagel and his wife pushing for the purchase and reconstruction of the old Lincoln theatre. As has been discussed here previously, there are no real numbers for the costs involved, beyond the purchase price of $235,000. But, everyone knows it will be a lot more money to fix the place up, insure it, pay the utilities and staff each year, etc.

    At the same time, we have the City saying residents can't afford the current services and programs because, to quote Byron Olson, the City's Chief Financial Officer :"What it really showed, though, is the income level in Port Angeles is substantially below the average.”

    The City is looking to eliminating the domestic violence victim assistance program, cut in health and human services funding; cuts in the broadband program; eliminating the city's Olympic Peninsula Humane Society services agreement; eliminating the city's $15,000 contribution to the Clallam County Economic Development Council; and eliminating a part-time parking enforcement officer and a patrol officer position.

    BUT, Nagel and crew think there is money all over in Port Angeles.

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    1. Four words:

      Seismic Retrofit
      Asbestos Abatement

      Delete
    2. add two more: Fire Egress

      Delete
  2. You could also say that if Nagel has been at this for three months, and has raised roughly $70,000, then he's raised about $23,000 a month. Now he's got to raise an amount that's not too far off from that figure EVERY DAY.

    That seems like a real long shot, especially given the local economy, and the dim view so many locals seem to have of anything related to the arts.

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  3. Scott Nagel hasn't been able to get his own festival (Crab Fest) to a point at which it's self-sustaining even though he's been doing it for years. He still has to go to hat in hand to the city and others for funding just to make it happen. He was also part of the disastrous infighting and split in Sequim during the "Lavender Wars." And THIS is the guy who is going to somehow save and restore the Lincoln Theater? I don't think so. He's just another somewhat marginal Clallam County cretin, trying to grab a few bucks. He's not only in over his head with this one, he's in full-on reality denial mode.

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  4. Just in case anyone is thinking that somehow the city is going to swoop in at the last minute and be a part of closing this deal, let's all remember how difficult it's been to get the city to pony up any money for their own Fine Arts Center. The PAFAC has had to struggle to get a pittance out of the city every year, for years. The city does not care about the arts, and is so deeply mired in debt it may never recover.

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    1. city is broke, it's not going to get involved with this fiasco. No expensive consultants. No matching grant money to be siphoned off. It isn't their M.O.

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  5. Priorities, right?

    The City Council wants us to chose which services and programs WE want cut, because we, according to THEM, have been taxed to the limits. Ain't no more money to squeeze from us.

    I can see it now. The "Elite" of Port Angeles parading into the refurbished Lincoln, camera flashes popping away, for the opening of the latest play or opera. Along the streets, the homeless and poor are swept up hours before by the "under staffed" police and taken far away, so as not to offend and upset the tone of the evening. Cheers rise as each Roll Royce pulls up, and diamond studded belles step out onto the red carpet in front of the Lincoln.

    A wonderful asset for a beautiful town.

    Pass that bowl, Scott.

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  6. I came to this blog straight from the PDN article about this, and there are no comments on the story at all, not even from head cheerleader Scott Nagel. Maybe other people here are having a different experience, but...No one I know is talking about the Lincoln, or contributing money to it. No one. I have to wonder who these supposed donors are, and if they really exist. Ten grand is a lot of money.

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  7. I'd like to know how many households in Port Angeles make it on $18,000 a year. I'll bet there's a lot of them.

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  8. If the Juan de Fuca folks are in on this we need to look harder at them. Birds of a feather flock together...

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  9. Think about it. A public fundraiser is ongoing, supposed to be a chunk of money already pledged but they won't name any of the people allegedly pledging. I don't believe one word of it. These scoundrels are attempting another fleecing of the flock and the PDN is an accomplice. At least they should have been shown the names of supporters--of course they don't ask many questions. Shame on you John.

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  10. Interesting that the City is asking people to agree to *eliminate* the victims of domestic violence assistance program, and a bunch of others because it doesn't have any money, but, at the same time, it says it has $100,000 to match the grant for the floats at the city pier.

    Priorities. Lies. Manipulations.

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    1. that is because they "match" the grant, then get one of their crony contractors to "bid" high, like super high (but take way less as payment).

      So, lets just say I "put up" $100 bucks and I get a grant for $100 bucks. Then I get the project done for $40 bucks. I don't use any of MY $100, and I have $60 bucks to split between me and my buddies.

      In this case, the $60 bucks is split between the contractor and the "general fund" to keep the sinking boat floating. That is grant chasing.

      Why do you THINK the Gateway has so many cracks, and other problems. You really believe that it was all high quality work, as outlined on the initial proposals to get the thing built, and get the grant money?

      It's a con game.

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    2. Thanks for the explanation. I don't doubt that it is a con game that benefits the "special" and select few that are in on it.

      Just to add to your comment about the cracks at the multi-million dollar Gateway fiasco. It isn't surprising we get low quality work, when the work is being done by the lowest bid for the job.

      When you go to a low priced food joint, you don't expect to get 5 star meals.

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    3. From what I remember Primo was NOT the low bidder. And, most of these grant scams don't require that the low bid be taken. Some grants are written so that one must hire a "local" company, or in some areas "minority owned" companies.
      The low quality is because of skimming off the top, not getting the quality materials (going cheap), and substandard workmanship. It's fleecing, pure and simple. Why build something to last... the city thinks that they can just belly up to the trough and insist we need another tax levy, another special funding district, and raise the utility rates, again.

      Look at the b.s. with the high school in their recent costly "special election". (Special like Special Olympics)

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    4. Hmmm. I thought, by law, they HAD to take the lowest bid. That is what Chapman was ranting on about at the BoCC meeting a couple weeks ago. County Attorney Nichols seemed to think so, along with McEntire and the Brown-Nosed Peach.

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    5. it depends on how the grant is written, and it depends upon how the city contracts with a bidder. The trick is "awarding bids to a contractor who may not be the lowest apparent bidder—but instead is the "lowest responsive bidder" (Meaning: "we worked with them before" "they have intimate knowledge of how we work here" "they are capable, and have done other jobs".) And, if you get some "competing" firms to put in bids that are higher, then no problem, right? It's all blatantly illegal, but this town is teflon....we seem to destroy evidence with impunity. Our fair government in town has been investigated for wrong-doing more than once. Guess what....the coyotes are too slick (and probably have someone higher up the food chain helping).

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    6. This is the weasel wording in most government grants/contracts that oversee the bidding process..it's a loophole so big you can drive a truck through it "The contract will be awarded to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder whose bid meets....."

      Delete
  11. You want to see what happens to a city in America, when people get fed up, and half the population leaves?

    " Engine Company 50 is the impoverished fire department battling the fires raging across Detroit. No fire crew in America is so busy, or so under-resourced. Detroit's population has halved, leaving behind 80,000 empty houses. And now arsonists are having a ball, starting over 30 fires a day. With incredible cinematography following the firemen deep into the infernos, a powerful motown soundtrack and a riveting narrative, it's a thrill ride not to be missed.

    "It kind of hurts me to see the city getting destroyed like this", says Senior Firefighter, Dennis Hunter. "I feel like I'm in the burning of Rome sometimes." With more fires than any other city in the U.S., and an arson rate among the highest in the world, Detroit is rapidly turning into a charred wasteland. Since 1950, racial tensions and the disappearance of the city's manufacturing sector have emptied the suburbs, leaving behind social problems that manifest themselves in flames. "The bottom line is: everyone that can, seems to be fleeing. I mean, this has been Katrina without the hurricane."

    There appears to be little hope for Detroit: a picture of the future for American industrial cities in a post-industrial age. But what little hope there is is held by the close-knit community of E50, who long to see their ravaged neighbourhoods rise from the ashes. "I'm an optimist", says Hunter. "The way I see it, it's got to come back. This city's too great." Optimism, however, won't change their day-to-day reality of leaking engines, worn-out clothing, and equipment repaired using duct-tape and bubblegum. Their ambition must come out of the budget. "When it comes to public safety in Detroit, we're robbing Peter to pay Paul."

    Following the crew of one of the busiest firehouses in America under controversial new leadership, Burn brings you the men beneath the oxygen masks, offering a unique insight into the human consequences of working in extremes. "Unless you put your life up as collateral for another life, you don't know what life-saving is about."

    http://rt.com/shows/documentary/206859-us-fire-crew-detroit/

    People in Port Angeles seem to think this mess can continue without serious consequences. Bad things DO happen to nice people. Communities can be destroyed by bad management.

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  12. Two thoughts...

    As others have pointed out, it's kind of unusual that donors to this would be such a state secret at this point. IF they exist, Scott, what's the big hush hush for?

    Also, this is the first time I've seen a "media press" like this when so little has been raised. Usually it seems like you hear something along the lines of "we're almost there and just need one more push to put us over the top!" Scott, you're out there saying that you haven't even raised a third of what you need - and you need the rest NOW. Oh, and the existing donors are a secret.

    It all sounds, gee, kind of suspect, Scott. Like, oh, say, a scam of some sort.

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    1. One would think people who have made the decision to put money up to fund a *public* performing arts center would be PROUD to have their generosity made PUBLIC.

      If it were true.

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    2. The building is not suitable for a public performing arts center. No back door, no way to load in sets to the stage (without walking all the way through the building. The back "exit" leads to a covered walkway.
      This is such a waste of money. Tear the thing down, and start over, or build something where it would make sense....we have enough empty lots downtown to make a real performing arts center.
      This is so Port Angeles to try and make a pile of poop into a life-size sculpture of Rodin's "The Thinker".

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    3. Now that there isn't any Arts in Action with sandcastles, maybe poop sculpture would put us on the map! Just think of the tourists flocking here to see that.

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    4. Cutler regional masters poop carving, and an homage to the Cutler Turd Tank.

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  13. There are closed theaters all over the country, most of them have been trying to raise money for two (or more) years, and still haven't gotten enough to renovate and open the doors. Some of the theaters were sold for pennies on the dollar, or donated to a group who was willing to try and renovate. (I don't think ANY of these theaters, even with a highly motivated backing group and ample donations have opened, yet.).

    More than a thousand theaters closed last December, because they couldn't change over. Only a very, very few, have been 'saved' by groups, and the bigger question is --when (or if) they open -- how they will stay afloat?

    The costs to renovate are high, and even classic, beautiful historic live performance venues are struggling in big urban centers are closing. In NYC (a place with a lot of people, and theaters) some historic venues have closed because of lack of audience —the Palladium, Fillmore East and Hippodrome all perished before the turn of the millennium, since then, there has been the demise of the Roseland, Sullivan Hall, Lenox Lounge all closed. .

    The Rand Corporation did a study recently, they found that while some categories of live performances continues to grow (Broadway plays and live opera performances, the bigger concerts and festivals) are bringing in record audiences, smaller theater groups, symphony orchestras, and dance companies are cutting costs or closing their doors because they are unable to attract the audiences and contributions needed to meet expenses.

    So, how is it that the Lincoln Theater, in a poor town, with no grants, no local government backing, is going to buck the trend? Especially when you consider that the Juan d'Fuca Festival of the Arts AND Nagel's event aren't profitable, the Rotary stopped their Arts in Action.

    Would the people involved in both the JFFA, and the Crabfest be willing to forgo their begging and taking money from the city to allow the Lincoln project to happen?

    No, I thought not.

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    1. JFFA and the Crabfest should not be taking any money from the city. Not if we want a real performing arts center. This is such a scam.

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    2. Maybe the Port Angeles Light Opera Association can use the facilities.

      Oh... Wait...

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  14. Still for sale: The Lincoln Theater.

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