Fear and loathing at the “in hock” committee
1 comment July 22nd, 2009
I attended a two-hour meeting Tuesday of the mayor’s “ad hoc” committee to study entertainment venue funding. Actually it should be called the “in hock” committee, because I learned the Redevelopment Fund is maxed out.
The answer is not to raise taxes first, the answer is to streamline operations among the various organizations involved, RAEDC, RACVB, On The Waterfront and others.
Chairman Mike Dunn had some good points. If the convention and visitors bureau is spending 50 percent of its efforts promoting the Rockford Park District, shouldn’t the district contribute some money? Instead, the city of Rockford gives the hotel-motel-restaurant-adult beverage tax receipts to the visitors bureau, which uses it to promote many out-of-Rockford activities.
Regionalism , Dunn says, seems to mean that Rockford provides the money, and everyone else enjoys the benefits.
That clearly is going to change.
