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Genesee 'underperforming badly' - gmg77 - 09-08-2010
I think the mayor has the right idea if we can find a proper buyer. Nickle and dimes from employee salary and travel budgets isn't going to pay off the initial $25mil debt. The numbers just don't add up...
Genesee 'underperforming badly'
Waukegan may pull out of theater business
September 8, 2010
By DAN MORAN <!-- e --><a href="mailto:dmoran@stmedianetwork.com">dmoran@stmedianetwork.com</a><!-- e -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/2684380,5_1_WA08_GENESEE_S1-100908.article">http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... 08.article</a><!-- m -->
Aldermen balked at approving a budget for the Genesee Theatre's current fiscal year Tuesday, raising concerns about such things as proposed raises for theater employees and travel expenses.
"I think we've got to do some trimming here," said 7th Ward Ald. Patrick Needham, pointing to "the sacrifices made by our employees" during the last two years as the city balanced its budget.
Mayor Robert Sabonjian went farther than that, raising the possibility that Waukegan might get out of the entertainment game.
"The Genesee Theatre is underperforming badly," Sabonjian said. "I believe the time has come to look at privatizing the operation or selling it outright ... I firmly believe the city should never have gotten into the theater business in the first place."
For now, the proposal by Genesee management for the 2010-11 fiscal year would see the facility operating in the red, with $1.029 million in expenditures offsetting $559,749 in revenues.
The spending plan calls for the city to subsidize operations, as in past years, to close the deficit. According to finance director Tina Smigielski, the city spends $930,000 annually on the Genesee, including $700,000 toward the principal and interest on the facility's $25 million redevelopment bond. The remainder goes toward operations.
During Tuesday's budget discussion before the Genesee Theatre Committee, Needham and 6th Ward Ald. Larry TenPas called for more review before the spending plan moves forward.
At one point, TenPas asked Genesee general manager Gary Zabinski if the budget called for any raises for theatre's nine full-time employees.
Told that the plan factored in raises of 2.5 percent, TenPas said, "Is there any way to reduce your staff and perform the same amount of service?"
Zabinski said his staffers are "very skilled at what they do," but he added that anything in the budget proposal is open for discussion.
"You can rest assured that I won't rest on the revenues or expenditures for one minute," Zabinski said. "Do I expect to do better? Absolutely, on both sides of the column, but we won't know until the end of the year."
When Needham asked if any revenue increases could be forecast, Zabinski said, "My gut tells me (revenue) will be about what we project, but that does not mean we'll be settling for that."
For the time being, aldermen agreed to release funds to help cover expenses from the first quarter of the current fiscal year, and Zabinski was asked to look at additional cuts to things like a proposed $8,000 travel budget.
Committee chair and 5th Ward Ald. Edith Newsome said she would meet with financial staffers from both the city and the Genesee this week "to see about bringing the budget down some more before we approve it."
Re: Genesee 'underperforming badly' - ClassicalLib17 - 09-08-2010
Anyone for a lakefront condo? "We have a jewel of a lakefront situated between Chicago and Milwaukee." I forget who, or how many, said that? The eight long term members of our city council( Koncan is fairly new,) who continue to fancy themselves as real estate developers/social engineers, need to be held accountable for their votes committing 10's of MILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to ill-advised development projects before they do anymore damage to our bankrupt city and school district. Maybe someone should look into our Park District's finances, the same people that have been in charge of our city run that too.
Re: Genesee 'underperforming badly' - WT Reader - 09-08-2010
ClassicalLib17 Wrote:Anyone for a lakefront condo? "We have a jewel of a lakefront situated between Chicago and Milwaukee." I forget who, or how many, said that? The eight long term members of our city council( Koncan is fairly new,) who continue to fancy themselves as real estate developers/social engineers, need to be held accountable for their votes committing 10's of MILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to ill-advised development projects before they do anymore damage to our bankrupt city and school district. Maybe someone should look into our Park District's finances, the same people that have been in charge of our city run that too.
Class...
Appears at long last that even The Powers that Be and Have Been for sooo long finally are recognizing that
The Genesee Theatre Rehab/Project/Revival is one colossal mega-FLOP.
You have to wonder what took them soooooo, soooooo long?? Of course, now that all their buddies and cronies have been paid to upgrade this facility, they are gone long ago while we continue to pay the tab for one BIG nothing of an abysmal failure.
-- WT Reader
Re: Genesee 'underperforming badly' - WT Reader - 09-08-2010
Oh....and then there is the $10 mil parking garage. Add that onto the tab of the Genesee Theater's change job from a movie theater (nothing ever was any more than that, never envisioned it to be anything more than that) to a big production, high tech performing arts center at a cost of $25 mil.
Not only is is outrageous that the Genesee Theater Performing Arts Center sits empty at least 90 percent of the yr, but that five tiered parking garage never is full, seldom has been full to the brim since it was hurriedly and sloppily erected. For "all the Genesee patrons" to park. So where are these scores of patrons"? No where to found, never existed in the first place.
That parking garage is now used for city parking during the week and public library parking. It seldom is filled beyond the second level, most of the time, the second level is 3/4 empty. Have you seen the elevevator areas in there lately, where the staircases are?
These elevator/stairwell areas are filthy, not ventilated, bleak and when I parked there last week to go the public library, the elevator was broke when I returned. So up the stairscase, and whoa, was it filthy in there, hot, poorly lit and stunk. What a place for some gang-bangers to hide and rob parking patrons, no police anywhere, like a tomb in those stairwells.
Then there is the "retail space" on the first floor in front (across from the theater entrance) and the rear that remains empty and dormant. Not one taker for yrs to rent these spaces. Who in their right mind would?? There is one down there for business other than court/county business, and when persons go to court/leave court or finish with county business, they are most likely not in a frame of mind or mood to go shopping/dining/etc. They just want OUTTA DOWN THERE ASAP.
Ten million for this. A useless parking garage. A needless parking garage. The prior flat parking lot served fine, always had empty spaces and maintained open space. And did not cost $10 million bucks.
What a total fiasco. Unbelievable. And the most creative deal now for the Genesee? Showing "has been" movies for $6 each every Friday night. We needed to spend $35 million plus to show $6 movies once a week in a huge, costly production of a major performing center?? For $6 old rerun movies once a week??
hock: :o hock: :o hock: -- WT Reader
Re: Genesee 'underperforming badly' - perhaps - 09-16-2010
In the Chicago area, Live Nation owns the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park; the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisc.; and the House of Blues downtown. It also has a contract to promote shows at the city-owned Charter One Pavilion on Northerly Island, and it often books the Congress Theatre in Logan Square.
Jam owns the Park West in Lincoln Park, the Riviera Theatre and the as-yet inoperable Uptown Theatre in the Uptown neighborhood and the Vic Theatre at Belmont and Sheffield. It also has an exclusive agreement to book shows at the Aragon Ballroom.
Live Nation and Jam compete to book major arena shows at Chicagoâs United Center and the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, though Live Nation has been winning an ever-increasing number of these shows as the company buys major tours from coast to coast, shutting out local promoters who might otherwise compete.
So.....why the hell don't we contract with these proven groups & get out of the Theatre Management business. Lease to them, they are true revenue earners.
No charge for this advice.
Your Welcome.
Re: Genesee 'underperforming badly' - ClassicalLib17 - 09-16-2010
Nice idea, perhaps, but unfortunately for us we have to book talent in a 24 million dollar theater with a 9 million dollar parking garage to serve the theater and even if the theater is full on the inadequate amount of shows that we currently book we can't scratch up the juice. The venues you mention are an outdoor theater and a couple of converted movie theaters, not much money invested their. Just look at our haphazard downtown! Everything about it says 'who allowed this mess to happen? Yes, Jam Productions is a highly successful management/booking agent, but I believe our city has inquired as to their services in the past and they probably wanted too much money and in the end it would have all worked out the same. Think about it, then take a good look at this community and its downtown and lakefront, if we really had something special here developers would have been tripping all over themselves to get in on the action. Upscale development goes where the money is. We are 100 feet above our lakefront and that is a topograhical fact, our local 'experts' believed that they could somehow connect the two. Also, being a poor community, with many profound social challenges, we are not an acceptable investment risk. If you have any credit, or the personal financial wherewithal, why don't you invest your heart and soul and MONEY in Waukegan? As you have read, I am not a very good writer and just came back from an evening at the Greentown Tavern when I read your post. God bless Bob, the owner, whatever his last name is. We don't have many choices in Waukegan, but the Greentown would be a success anywhere.
Re: Genesee 'underperforming badly' - SuxlinkSux - 09-20-2010
Hey ClassicalLib17, did you just return from Green Town after crying in your beer? I think that this forum would be better off if posters weren't intoxicated. That point aside, if you've ever left our little hamlet you would discover that many North Shore towns have bluffs over the lake and this has not harmed the value of the land overlooking the lake. You seem to not understand that Lake views are 'a good thing'. If you read the city's master plan then you would see how that geographic situation is remedied (it's not rocket science). In regards to investors tripping over one another to invest here, you've drunkenly stumbled once again. Beitler Construction did plenty of research before it committed to develop the old News-Sun site and they found that the Chicago population was moving Northward and that the Milwaukee population was moving Southward and that Waukegan would be the nexus. Few companies in the WORLD due diligent planning like Beitler Construction. However, since then, THE ECONOMY has trumped the best wishes of mice and men. Does any of this change the fortuitous position that Waukegan will be in one day due to its geographic advantages? No. We have to wait--once again--for our fortunes to up-tick just like 'rich' towns across the country. Two years ago there was a lot of progress going on here in town and in the entire country. Our current situation is not a situation endemic to Waukegan. Instead of whining about all sorts of nonsense all the time, why don't you do a little 'due diligence' yourself before you go back to Green Town.
Re: Genesee 'underperforming badly' - perhaps - 09-20-2010
What a caustic person you are.
Take it easy...
Re: Genesee 'underperforming badly' - ClassicalLib17 - 09-20-2010
Dear suxlinksux, I apologize for relating my visual observation of our ongoing downtown and lakefront development. How could I be so wrong? I want to thank you for setting me straight. I haven't been involved with the local democrats for so long that I just forgot the talking points. Shame on me. I thank my creator for the blessings bestowed upon us by the true visionaries, such as yourself.
Gratefully,
Classicallib17
Re: Genesee 'underperforming badly' - ClassicalLib17 - 09-20-2010
Dear perhaps, I agree. To defend the waste of taxpayer dollars is very caustic and even immoral. As gov't becomes bigger, the higher unemployment rises in the private sector. What happens after we lose our innovative instinct? You would think that the gov't would be smart enough to realize that they are running out of taxpayers and tax revenue.