Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Commission Meeting and Wicked Weekend 2010

I attended the last Commission Meeting of the current Commission before the elections are finalized and we have some changes in the seats.  This was my view from the front row.   As such, this is my opinion.  This is not paid for by any political campaign.   This is not to be construed as a political announcement. 

Last night's commission meeting was an interesting piece of political theater. It underlined why Gary Resnick is Unsuitable for Public Office.

It started as soon as last night's commission meeting had begun. A parade of people who having insufficient knowledge of the backgrounds of the Wicked Weekend event have decided to take the Tea Party route and merely condemn without offering an appropriate solution. This proceeded through the Mayor's comments where Wilton Manors Main Street was thrown under the bus so to speak by his decidedly warped view of history. I was particularly amused by the one commenter that said that since we have people in “The Recovery Community” that we should consider having liquor companies supporting the event wrong. I suspect that this person's high moral ground extends to Professional Sports and as such he refuses to watch anything with liquor or beer advertising.

I didn't think so either.

The Mayor seems to feel that the City of Wilton Manors is going to be able to merely put together a Request for Proposal (RFP) and we will have people wearing a groove in Wilton Drive to present their plans to make Wilton Drive home to another festival.

The reality of this shows just how Clueless Gary Resnick is.

Firstly, the event appears to have its own critical mass. People will show whether or not the Mayor wants them. It is drawing people from out of town. People have commented online in chatrooms that they are coming to Wilton Manors for this event as well as Stonewall and other events. Wicked Weekend and Stonewall both are taking on the characteristics of a “Flash Mob”. The City Manager recognized it in the statement he used as well as those of Commissioner Scott Newton and Ted Galatis when they all said to the effect of People Are Coming.


Secondly, there is the Bar Factor. The bars are one of the largest industry in this city. South Florida loves a party, and the bars on Wilton Drive have figured out how to capitalize on this. The City could unilaterally decide that they will do their own thing pending an RFP but the bars will still be there. Should the bars be cut out of the planning of the event, the bars will merely open their doors and fuel the party making their own profit. Should the City decide to go into business itself and try to staff the Drive with stand alone liquor sales booths, I would expect that the bar owners would not lend any help to this event. Whether or not you like having bars on the Drive, they are there for now, and we don't see them moving off for any time to come. The City putting itself in direct competition with an established business or businesses leaves the City open to all sorts of liabilities and may find itself slapped with a lawsuit for any number of things.

Conflict of Interest, anyone?

Thirdly, consider that there have been festivals in the past that have not been able to make this work. Wilton Drive is a thoroughfare in the middle of an urban area. There are intersecting streets, back alleys, back doors, and other entry points. I personally would be entertained simply by watching the City try to close off the Drive with all those leaky entry points especially with them having to maintain traffic through the core of a party that is currently expected to have 30,000 people! Since there is no practical way to close off the Drive with gates in order to charge festival goers for entry, how would the City expect any other entity to do so. After all, it is a public, state road and if someone wants to cross the road in a chicken costume, how can you justifiably charge them for the privilege?

I would welcome this effort. I am sure that the chaos that would ensue would put another nail in the incompetent Mayor's political coffin. The list of people that came out to speak against Wilton Manors Main Street with little idea of what actually went on to produce the festivals that are held here was not very long, and for the most part political contributors to the Mayor's own personal campaign. Hopefully the money that they contributed will be a waste. Gary Resnick is bad for the City of Wilton Manors and the political theater and the mind games that have been displayed in the run up to the election have been many. I for one am looking forward to Mr Resnick having a retirement party on November 3, 2010 as he is voted out of office once and for all. At that point maybe we will have a city government that is committed to work together on the future of Wilton Manors instead of blatantly pulling it apart for their own purposes.

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