Springfield's Main Street Cruise

[IrvAdams]

It sounds more like a stipulation to cover their butts in case something happens on the stage. I would probably do the same if I was footing the bill for the stage.

I think the best option may be to get with other parties about collectively renting the stage privately instead of including the city. Like I stated in the other thread best coarse of action is to get with businesses to blanket the insurance if that's required. I don't mind gathering partners and funding to pitch in, but people throwing their hands up and quitting is not the right answer. Just my honest opinion.

Yes, he's right. This is a popular event that many people look forward to seeing. I'm sure it's just a matter of money and labor. If you need financial assistance or support staff or volunteers then you can reach out, I'm sure people would be pleased to help. This is how events grow and become a regional attraction.

As AuditoreEnterprise said, don't quit.

[AuditoreEnterprise]

It sounds more like a stipulation to cover their butts in case something happens on the stage. I would probably do the same if I was footing the bill for the stage.

I think the best option may be to get with other parties about collectively renting the stage privately instead of including the city. Like I stated in the other thread best coarse of action is to get with businesses to blanket the insurance if that's required. I don't mind gathering partners and funding to pitch in, but people throwing their hands up and quitting is not the right answer. Just my honest opinion.

+1000 Irv.

The problem per say is people tend to not want to take on partners as it makes them lose complete limelight. May be a pride thing, but for something that I have heard nearly every resident of springfield brag about.... I think it may be time to form a few partners and keep this one going... To just say screw it... screw jacksonville we will go somewhere else is a slap in the face to the residents that support and want this event to work... Like I said before I do work with investors and I do have the means to help with events... However a lot of people aren;t gonna walk up and say here you go take this... You have to form those connections yourself by reaching out to people! SAVE THE CRUISE!!!!

Yes, he's right. This is a popular event that many people look forward to seeing. I'm sure it's just a matter of money and labor. If you need financial assistance or support staff or volunteers then you can reach out, I'm sure people would be pleased to help. This is how events grow and become a regional attraction.

As AuditoreEnterprise said, don't quit.

[DDC]

Here is a little bit of perspective from Johns POV, He posted this in the last hour.

"I've been asked to explain what has happened:
The city has several stages that they rent out. The only problem is that it's a nightmare trying to get one for the average person. The biggest problem is that when you place the application and post the insurance they won't give you an answer if you are lacking anything. Last year when we rented the stage for the BIG ENGINE show, we were right up to the last day trying to find out if they were going to let us have the stage. Others who have rented these stages have told the same story. One told me they laid some new crap on her 3 hours before the stage was supposed to be delivered and she was jumping through her butt trying to satisfy them. There continue to be new requirements ALL the time.
You can't put on a show like this. How can you plan anything if you don't know if you have a stage?
This year I was not going to let this happen again. I started out well in advance and reserved one of the stages and filed the application and was told that it was reserved for us. The Krystal Company sent them an insurance certificate for a 25 million dollar liability policy. In the weeks since then I have repeatedly called Ron Bruton (255-8765) to find out if there was anything else they needed and if we were approved for the stage. The answer I got EVERY time was, don't know, don't know, don't know!!!! On this past Monday I got the same answer. I was very frustrated and told him that I would not wait until the LAST DAY to find out if I had the stage or not. He interpreted that as me cancelling the reservation on the stage and gave it to someone else. My intent was to start calling "up the line" to see if I could find anyone who knew anything since Ron Bruton obviously did not. I talked to the assistant to the new head of Parks and Recreation and was told that I because I had cancelled my reservation our stage had already been given to someone else and it was irreversible. Mind you this was only one day. When I couldn't get anywhere with her I went to the Mayor's office and got nothing but a bunch of "deer in the headlights" BS.
Later that afternoon I got a call and began getting emails from Laurie Mills in the SPECIAL EVENTS office telling me that we needed a SPECIAL EVENTS permit for not just the band but for the entire Cruise from now on. If you have more than 500 people they want this permit. I tried to explain to her that this is a spread out thing and there are never 500 people in one location. She didn't want to hear this. She said that the city will shut it down and we could be fined.
The SPECIAL EVENT permit they are asking for is impossible for us to get. We don't charge anybody anything for the Cruise. The City wants us to provide General Liability Insurance, Workman's comp insurance, payment for police, and other things like portolets. We have no money for all of this!!! I don't know where they think all this money would come from. Several of the businesses have pitched in for this big cruise so that we could rent the stage and hire the band and so on, but this is one big show for the summer. I can't spend these peoples money and have the city shut it down.
I also tried to explain that the reason the cruise was expected to be big this month is that the GREAT RACE is coming through. They knew NOTHING about that. I told them to check with VISIT JACKSONVILLE since they were the ones who were promoting it.
When you talk to these people it's like talking to the wall.
The city spends millions of dollars of YOUR tax money to bring people downtown for ONE event. We have brought people into the downtown area Every month for 2 years and not asked the the city for one dime.
As I said the other day, my friend Ken Hamilton has been right all along. If it ain't football or golf the city could care less. There is a huge motorsport community in this town, but they don't matter. FOOTBALL OR GOLF!! That's the ticket!!!
How much did the new mega TV screen at the stadium cost US!!!!
Let me also add that when you talk about "THE CITY OF JACKSONVILLE", you are really talking about our elected officials. So, if you are not happy about the way all of this has come down, then go and vote and get rid of the dead wood!!!!!"

[strider]

I'm not sure where the "it makes them lose complete limelight. May be a pride thing"  came from, but as far as I know John has done this pretty unselfishly and has not promoted anything of his with it.  Many out here have indeed helped both physically and financially without grabbing any limelight. Of course, many others have been asked to help in some way and have not bothered to help even when it would also help themselves.  Regardless of that, I do know people are stepping up to help John save the Cruise.

The best thing about the Cruise is it actually costs the City nothing. And yet it brings people to Main Street and those people spend their money here. This months Cruise in conjunction with the Great Race puts that money spending all the way to the River. One would think the City would come on board with it and help rather than hinder as much as possible.

DDC posted Johns comments above as I was writing this.  This situation is far worse than I thought.  A city employee seems to be able to interpret the frustration of not getting an answer as canceling an event and giving the stage to someone else? If they could give the stage to someone else that same day, why could John not get an answer? Sorry, sounds like they were looking for a reason to give it to someone else all along.

The Mayor's office has been taking hits lately.  Perhaps they need to do something positive for a change and work this out.

[Bridges]

DDC posted Johns comments above as I was writing this.  This situation is far worse than I thought.  A city employee seems to be able to interpret the frustration of not getting an answer as canceling an event and giving the stage to someone else? If they could give the stage to someone else that same day, why could John not get an answer? Sorry, sounds like they were looking for a reason to give it to someone else all along.

Sounds more like typical power tripping in COJ.  I bet that stage is still there, we just need to raise hell for it. 

I think a couple commenters above are way off here.  John has put the main street cruise on for free, with his own time, and what I would say, is zero "limelight" seeking.  Most people don't even know who puts the event together. 

But the big picture is that this isn't how it should be.  We have COJ stopping and impeding small businesses, stopping and impeding home grown events, stifling innovators and creators, destroying parks to save them, crushing competition for special businesses, and then looking for that one trick pony that will save downtown. 

[MusicMan]

The Main Street Cruise is one of the best things to happen in Springfield in the last few years. Most other places

the city leadership would embrace it and support it. Not here.

[fieldafm]

But the big picture is that this isn't how it should be.  We have COJ stopping and impeding small businesses, stopping and impeding home grown events, stifling innovators and creators, destroying parks to save them, crushing competition for special businesses, and then looking for that one trick pony that will save downtown. 

What's even better, is that when you do apply for a special events permit they do things like:
a) forget to issue you a permit
b) change their requirements COMPLETELY on the fly and without explanation (example: Your insurance has been accepted as-is for an event the week prior.. but this week-often the day before the event, you need 8 additional items that you didn't need 8 days prior. How does that make sense?)
c) try to shut you down in the middle of an event, even though you've given them your paperwork and they've given you the greenlight and issued you a permit.
d) they generally bully you around while giving you an attitude of complete and utter contempt
e) deny certain vendors, even though COJ themselves have used those very same vendors at COJ-sponsored events... all while raising money for a park that they themselves can't afford to maintain.

The current operations of COJ Special Events hurts our community, bottom line.
I've been saying this for a couple of years, and get scorned by some for 'complianing too much'. Well, this is just yet another of the countless examples where the people in our town are being bullied by incompetent fools.

[Tacachale]

^Yeah, this has gotten ridiculous. It sucks that the news isn't covering any of this.

[IrvAdams]

^ I have a feeling they will soon. Sooner the better.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Just going to throw this out there, and no, I have no insight or inside info to back the claim, but since when have we let a lack of factual information stop us from posting....

Could the federal audit on Kim Scott and her department, started because of a group of Springfielders trying to better their neighborhood, have anything to do with the 'all-of-a-sudden' permitting requirements for The Cruise, which also happens to better Springfield?

I wonder if they're bright enough to NOT use their city council email addresses to relay the info?

[IrvAdams]

Just going to throw this out there, and no, I have no insight or inside info to back the claim, but since when have we let a lack of factual information stop us from posting....

Could the federal audit on Kim Scott and her department, started because of a group of Springfielders trying to better their neighborhood, have anything to do with the 'all-of-a-sudden' permitting requirements for The Cruise, which also happens to better Springfield?

I wonder if they're bright enough to NOT use their city council email addresses to relay the info?

OMG. Battling our own City? Don't they live here too? It's just so crazy they would want to harm an existing project for any reason.

I'm sending emails to anyone I can. Someone should listen.

[AuditoreEnterprise]

DDC posted Johns comments above as I was writing this.  This situation is far worse than I thought.  A city employee seems to be able to interpret the frustration of not getting an answer as canceling an event and giving the stage to someone else? If they could give the stage to someone else that same day, why could John not get an answer? Sorry, sounds like they were looking for a reason to give it to someone else all along.

Sounds more like typical power tripping in COJ.  I bet that stage is still there, we just need to raise hell for it. 

I think a couple commenters above are way off here.  John has put the main street cruise on for free, with his own time, and what I would say, is zero "limelight" seeking.  Most people don't even know who puts the event together. 

But the big picture is that this isn't how it should be.  We have COJ stopping and impeding small businesses, stopping and impeding home grown events, stifling innovators and creators, destroying parks to save them, crushing competition for special businesses, and then looking for that one trick pony that will save downtown.

Doesn't change the fact that people are offering to help keep it for the community... my inbox has zero messages and my phone rang zero times today. That being said and moving forward... frankly screw the city and their stage... don't elude the fact he is completely pulling the plug on the cruise altogether as well as stated he is gonna do it in another city... come on why take one of the bragging points of Springfield away. I'll be blunt... if he walks away someone else will step up and do another one. Like i said before I'll help all I can but I'm not gonna hunt anyone down over it. Seek out those willing to help or drown in your own pride.

There are ways around the city, and there's less love for quiters in my books than I can convey.... preservation sos never quit... they fought the city on a number of things.... Annie lytle preservation group never gave up and look where they are. Diane and other people never gave up and look how many buildings got landmarks and saved. Act don't make excuses. Bottom line and that comment isn't open to argument. We are all adults the days of blame games are over. Let's work together and make it happen or let it die...

[fieldafm]

There are ways around the city, and there's less love for quiters in my books than I can convey

Respectfully, you have clearly never done this sort of thing with COJ.
It turns even the most ardent community supporters into jaded people.

Calling out John Wells (who I'm sure you've never met) as a quitter is quite frankly, uncalled for.

[AuditoreEnterprise]

There are ways around the city, and there's less love for quiters in my books than I can convey

Respectfully, you have clearly never done this sort of thing with COJ.
It turns even the most ardent community supporters into jaded people.

Calling out John Wells (who I'm sure you've never met) as a quitter is quite frankly, uncalled for.

Okay ill address this then. I have dealt with several city governments and some from another country. It is all usually the same process. And without your absolute knowledge of me as an individual you cannot openly say that I have not or have done something. My scope of knowledge regarding people is more vast than you may think. Just because I have not met someone does not mean I do not know who they are. I know most of your life story and I never met you.

A good example. Many people do not know who Shad Khan is, but through the things he does and says you can get a grasp of how that person is. Now as for John, I am sure he is a great person, but his own comments is what I am basing that off of. He himself said "I am done" and said screw the city of Jacksonville he will look for somewhere else to have the cruise. I don't know what else that is called. If there is another word for that then please feel free to tell me.

Bottom line is don't take something away from the community just because the city wont work with you on something. I think the food truck battle is a pretty good example of where persistence gets an individual.

Like I said whether or not he does it matters little. The community support for the event is huge every resident in Springfield I met brags about the homer tours and the cruise. Oh did I mention the people I know are business owners and investors in the community. I will say it again, there are ways around policies you just have to seek them out and if you think its some super hard task then you don't know me very well so I guess your statement also refers to you about myself. I am not going to argue this point anymore all I know is that the cruise is good for the community and it needs to continue one way or the other.

[fieldafm]

Your statements just reinforced mine. Thank you.