Boat Show Canceled!

[downtownbrown]

http://www.news4jax.com/news/boat-show-oyster-jam-cancelled 

[Dapperdan]

City says no dates were reserved, no contract was signed. What the heck happened here ?  Can Rockville not work with them a bit ?

[downtownbrown]

Parks and Rec says they both have permits and the city was working with both organizers.  Must be more to the story...

[Noone]

WOW!

[BridgeTroll]

Pay your bills... Rock on...

[thelakelander]

While Hill and City Hall both agree that Current Productions never had reservations to hold the event this weekend, each side offered different explanations why that was the case.

According to city spokeswoman Marsha Oliver, the city notified Hill last June that he couldn't reserve dates for the 2017 event until he paid an outstanding $12,000 balance for the 2016 event. After he failed to pay the balance, city officials sent him a reminder in October that included a prospective payment plan.

Current Productions sent the city a check in December for part of the payment, Oliver said. However, the check bounced, and the city resorted to a third-party bill collector to get the money.

Current Productions paid the balance in full at the end of January, Oliver said. The payment came a few months after the organizers of Welcome to Rockville reserved the park on the same weekend Hill wanted to have the event in order to prepare for the two-day hard rock festival the following weekend.

Full article: http://jacksonville.com/metro/2017-04-17/southeast-us-boat-show-canceled-after-organizers-fail-reserve-metropolitan-park

[downtownbrown]

Hill may well have screwed up, but the City shows a huge lack of leadership here.  They should have recognized the loss of good will, revenue, and media attention for this event, and worked hard to put the parties together.  Sounds like a city vendetta against Hill, and now we all lose. Let's see if the bureaucrat in charge stands up to take credit, rather than just trot out the spokesperson.

[Tacachale]

^It's a little hard for a public office to operate in good faith after a bounced check.

[MusicMan]

It's Obama's fault.

[remc86007]

Does Current Productions or North Florida Boat Show, Inc. have legal counsel to advise them and negotiate this situation? Or can they not afford that either? I can't imagine that any lawyer would advise them that throwing their hands up and blaming the city is the correct course of action. Imagine the lawsuits that North Florida Boat Show, Inc. is about to face. I'd love to see what the contract the vendors signed looks like.

Looking at the Vendor Fees they list on their website, it is astounding they didn't have the money to pay for last year's booking. I guess someone else should put together a boat show for next year, I doubt many vendors would be willing to give this guy another chance.

[downtownbrown]

^It's a little hard for a public office to operate in good faith after a bounced check.

I guess a prudent leader would measure the bounced check against the revenue generated from the event, not to mention the good will and positive media.  The cancelation showed up on the  Boating Industry site.  It's a black eye for Jacksonville. 

[JeffreyS]

^It's a little hard for a public office to operate in good faith after a bounced check.

I guess a prudent leader would measure the bounced check against the revenue generated from the event, not to mention the good will and positive media.  The cancelation showed up on the  Boating Industry site.  It's a black eye for Jacksonville. 

The only problem I have with the city is it showed up so late in the game for the public and vendors that signed on.  When the boat show started advertising the city should have put out a press release letting people know if the issues were not resolved the event would likely be cancelled. Additional Jacksonville residents and businesses were harmed by the cancellation.  While Current Productions is to blame the city could have mitigated some of the damage.

[Jagsdrew]

When reading this, I'm trying to side with the vendor but if it was my money and I was owed $12K that was delayed several months after the event I would be upset and wouldn't agree to anything until the previous event was paid up.

For his arguments, per the article, seems like there is a little cash flow issue with the vendor after his boat wrecked so not sure if the city wants to deal with late payments again should his funding be tied up in repairs. 

Regardless, there are three sides to this story: the City, the vendor and what really happened.

It's unfortunate that this happened but there looks to be a lot of issues from both sides. Hopefully this event won't be cancelled permanently

[spuwho]

^It's a little hard for a public office to operate in good faith after a bounced check.

I guess a prudent leader would measure the bounced check against the revenue generated from the event, not to mention the good will and positive media.  The cancelation showed up on the  Boating Industry site.  It's a black eye for Jacksonville.

Good will based on a bounced check? Hardly.

Last time I checked, knowingly writing a bogus check is a crime.  Black eye on the promoter, not on the city.

After reading everything, the promoter should have cancelled or moved the event when he couldnt arrange with Rockville.

I loved all of the comments on TU.com on how the city shafted the promoter. Huh?

Who's zoomin who? We already showed "good will" for a BBQ sauce factory, see what that got us?

[downtownbrown]

Aaaaaand, we're back.  May 19-21.  Glad to see it got rescheduled so quickly.  A testament to a loud citizenry.