But clearly there won't be any more "Ax Men" TV shows, since it wasn't renewed for another season. Which means that the pudgy young local featured in it is casting around for what to do next to earn more money than he's worth - and what better place to aim for than the County Courthouse? Where else can an uneducated, know-nothing with no real world experience (like Mike Chapman before him) hope to earn nearly a hundred grand a year and have no real boss?
Is this how you picture a 21st Century County Commissioner?
I mean, let's be real here. This guy hasn't given a good goddamn about local politics before. But now that he needs a job...Hey, he's suddenly civic minded doncha know! Sure, he's fuzzy on the details, but...So are the voters a lot of the time. And he was on TV! He's sort of like Clallam County's own Donald Trump, only he looks like Jim McIntire, Jr. Don't fool yourselves, people. This guy would be a disaster as a County Commissioner. But if he runs, I'd give him a very good chance of winning. He'd certainly demolish Maggie Roth in a primary, and I don't see old man Ron Richards being too hard to best in a general election. In any case, it's a risk I'm sure most of you would rather not take, but there it is nonetheless.
So before you get too excited about new shows at the Lincoln Theater, you'd best do some hard thinking about the outfall from a certain cancelled TV show. Do you really want another fat, logging local boy in charge of things?
I've no doubt this news makes Maggie Roth very sad. It makes me very sad. What a joke. These are our choices for leaders? What a joke.
ReplyDeleteHe couldn't really make it more obvious that he just needs a job, could he? I've never seen Gabe Rygaard at a county meeting of any sort. Now he suddenly has a burning desire to be a county commissioner?
ReplyDeleteHe's ready to serve...for a price.
DeleteAnd we're the ones who will pay, in so many ways...
He's been at the monthly timber meetings. Guess that makes him qualified to be a Commish.
DeleteOh, I kinda doubt Scott Nagel is crying over an offer 4.25% lower than the one he made over a year ago. He would have offered less than that, if he ever came back to the table again. It's how that game is played.
ReplyDeleteBut Scott doesn't get to have a non -profit to get paid to "administer". You missed to point of the effort.
DeleteIt is amazing how so many lose sight of what is at play. The creation of yet another venue for "shows" in a town that already has a lot of venues that sit empty most of the time.
But, we'll see. I'm sure the other venues in town will appreciate the siphoning off of what little business they still have. Is this really growth, or just redistribution ?
Excellent point, Anon 9:21 AM. How many ways can you "slice" such a small audience "pie"?
DeleteIt sounds like a gigantic tax write-off.
DeleteHmmm...Let's ponder than one for a minute. A gigantic tax write-off...Hmmm...You may be on to something there.
DeleteLet's see....The building is a run down piece of crap...the town already has probably too many entertainment venues (minus a movie theater)...the buyer admits there's no business plan...there's a "secret partner" supposedly...all to buy a decrepit theater in a shrinking town...
DeleteYep, sounds pretty scamish or write-offish to me. It's an answer that makes more sense than what's been offered for public consumption.
Magic beans will be available at the concession stand.
DeleteYou know how those silly republicans fall all over themselves when they have a shiny celebrity in front of them. Look no further than Reagan, Trump etc. They will probably nominate him and maybe even elect him. How many of you can shave with an axe?
ReplyDeleteFollow the Repub money to find their candidate.
DeleteCan we please, PLEASE have someone who is not a leftover, a lunatic or a logger run for county commissioner? Is that too much to ask?
ReplyDeleteWell the Gastropub is on of the few businesses downtown doing well so good on him and his silent partner if they can make something of the Lincoln. Note though that none of the few businesses downtown that are succeeding thus far can say it was the City, County, or EDC that helped them make it. It was good ol' hard work on their part, not looking for handouts from local agencies, or collecting pledges. I don't really count the bars, because in a depressed economy, the bars always do well. I'm not including Gastropub in the "bar" category as they serve a full menu and their food is tasty.
ReplyDeleteYes, but, I also don't know of any local business people who have the $500,000 it will take to buy and restore the Lincoln enough to make it at least code/ADA compliant. Digital will add even more. I just don't know anyone here who's that successful, and would be willing to throw that kind of money into an arts venue. So this all still smells funny to me. Why the secrecy?
DeleteIndeed! Why is this partner shrouded in mystery, wrapped in an enigma and in the deep, dark shadowy background? You'd think this partner would be proud of the "community spirit", wouldn't you?
DeleteYes, why the secrecy?
Anything secret around here is immediately suspect. Tax fraud? Loan fraud? Theater to be used as collateral for a bigger deal?
DeleteThere obviously IS a business plan somewhere.
Silent partners are often for many reasons. Usually it's because they want to be silent, and are only in it for the investment, or more likely the TAX WRITE OFF.
DeleteAnd, guys, there are a LOT OF well-off newly minted millionaires (and more) from the recent bubble of dot-com-ers. Just because this area is depressed, doesn't mean the whole country is, you know.
Yes, but usually, if you have enough of what it takes to make money (as opposed to losing it on whiz-bang ideas that are really dumb), you can see what has real possibilities, from things that do not.
DeleteThe area can only support so many bars, eateries, etc. As we saw with the other great Gastropub related project, their sports bar half way out of town, it didn't bring more people into town, it only took the ones who already were spending money downtown, and moved them half way out of town.
This project assumes all the other performing arts, theater and movie venues in town are not offering what the "New Lincoln" will be. Strip shows? That would make money in Port Angeles.
Was watching the poor people in Westport pleading with the Pacific Fisheries Commission to not impose a complete ban on fishing, on WTV last night. They were reacting to the Commissions report on how few fish there are left in the waters, and asking that the Commission support legislation to get State and Federal assistance funding to keep their towns alive. Towns that once thrived on fishing, charter boats and fish processing.
ReplyDeleteBut that is there. Far away. Why should the leadership in Port Angeles not keep focusing on the old ways?
CK,
ReplyDeleteWe know now who you don't think would do a good job as the next commish.
Who then do you feel might do a good job, or what attributes are you looking for in a candidate that would enable them to do a good job?
Well, intelligence, paired with honesty, with a solid layer of integrity over it. Someone who is sure enough of themselves to run for office, without being so full of themselves if they manage to win that they become bloated Ego Barons (Norm Dicks).
DeleteI'd want someone on the spectrum between the poles of idealistic but too naïve to be effective (Sissi Bruch) and totally corrupt and cynical (Dim King Jim McIntire).
Someone who knows the past, but is focused on the future, and who is genuinely interested in the process of governing, of putting all the pieces together in a functional way. Mike Doherty had his faults and weak spots, but he was someone who had that genuine interest in the process, of learning the ins and outs of the various systems and personalities involved.
Does that get you at least part of the way there?
I feel it.
DeleteWhy is it a local requirement for candidacy that no one may possess any intellectual curiosity? WTF?
ReplyDeleteYou need someone with the hide of a rhinoceros and the heart of a servant. Good luck finding either one of those but especially both qualities within one skin.
ReplyDeleteYou can imagine what the campaign rhetoric is going to be, already.
ReplyDelete"Jobs, jobs, jobs".
Never mind that is what every candidate for years has promised, and not delivered.
(Pssst, anybody looking beyond the immediate area to see where the economy is headed?)
Hooray for the shiny-shiny-shiny newness! Our problems are solved!
DeleteHey shot for brains! Why is the mystery needless. If I told you who I was you'd try to sell me adds or worse.
ReplyDelete"So the Lincoln Theater has - supposedly, needlessly mysteriously - been sold to a young local and his Secret Businessman Partner."