RTP-area local music and culture

[<info AT durhamloop.org>]

For those of you who did not make it, history was made at Durham City
Council Monday night, concerning Clear Channel and the proposed "Event
Center". 

After over 60 people waited four hours (from 7pm to 11pm) to speak on the
issue, Mayor Bill Bell pushed a vote through to extend the study of this
proposal with NO PUBLIC COMMENT, filibustered for 45 minutes, and DENIED the
public a chance to speak.

In response to public outcry, the mayor then allowed four of us to address
the council (but not everyone who wished to speak). 

Among other things, we have criticized this proposal for the lack of
transparency and no open public process. This was the first opportunity in
the five year history of this project for citizens to actually address
Durham City Council. Mayor Bell, by denying the public an opportunity to
speak, proved the point that this is a closed process, a done deal
attempting to sidestep the democratic process and the voice and concerns of
the public. They are trying to ram this thing through, Clear Channel et al,
against the will of the people.

I URGE each and every one of you (especially those of you who attended the
meeting and were denied the opportunity to speak) to email your comments to
Durham City Council.

council AT ci.durham.nc.us;mconner AT ci.durham.nc.us;info AT durhamloop.org

Below are my comments I addressed to council (as one of the few people they
reluctantly granted an opportunity to speak).

Thanks!
Caleb Southern

****

June 7, 2004 comments to City Council
Event Center extension (Consent Agenda Item # 40)


Mr. Mayor and Members of City Council,

I appreciate the intentions behind the proposed 4000-seat Event Center
downtown. And I appreciate all of the work that city staff, DDI, and the
development team have put into this proposal so far. Some of you have raised
concerns about the financial viability of this project. I would like to add
several other areas of concern for you to consider.

First of all, I do not want to see the City of Durham do business with Clear
Channel Entertainment. Clear Channel dominates the radio and concert
promotion industries across the country. In Denver, an independent concert
promoter recently sued Clear Channel for anti-competitive practices. The
allegations were that Clear Channel radio stations refused to advertise
non-Clear Channel concerts, and pulled bands booking shows with the
competition off their radio playlists. Clear Channel asked the judge to
throw the suit out, and the judge ruled that the case had merit and let it
proceed.

In the Triangle, Clear Channel owns five radio stations and controls Walnut
Creek Amphitheater. Adding a 4000-seat theater in Durham to their roster
would allow them to squash competing local concert promoters, just like in
Denver. This is just one of many complaints about the business practices of
this company.

I would also like to point out an interesting comparison. The Dodge Theater
in Phoenix (a model for the Durham proposal) drew 144,000 people last year
to a 4000-seat venue that cost over $40M to build and requires public
subsidies. By contrast the Cat's Cradle is a privately owned venue in this
area run by an independent local concert promoter. With a capacity of only
615, it draws 85,000 people per year. You don't need a giant national
company and huge public subsidies to draw large concert audiences.

Clear Channel got where they are today due to FCC deregulation of media
ownership rules, despite widespread public outcry against media
consolidation. Clear Channel's growth has greatly limited the number of
voices of the airwaves in most communities across the country, including our
own. In my opinion, Clear Channel is attempting a hostile corporate takeover
of the First Amendment.

This is not about Walmart bashing or Microsoft bashing. This is about free
speech. The FCC may not have listened to the public, but the City of Durham
does not have to do business with this company.

Secondly we need to take care of the resources we already have. The Carolina
Theater, Arts Council, and Armory buildings are in need of maintenance and
upgrades. This is part of a much greater city-wide problem of deferred
maintenance. Let's show that we can fix what we have before using public
dollars to build something new.

Finally, I am very concerned about the process that got us to this point. My
understanding is that originally there was talk about the Terry Sanford
Institute building a performing arts center in Durham. When that project was
moved out of Durham, Clear Channel (then SFX) pitted Durham and Greensboro
against each other to build a new 4000-seat theater. Since then, two
competing bids (both involving Clear Channel) came forward, and the current
development team was selected. It appears that it was decided back in 1999
to build a 4000-seat theater on the proposed location for Clear Channel. And
then the process was reverse-engineered to justify this outcome. 

Meanwhile the public at large was not consulted on this. The North Carolina
Department of Transportation conducts more open and inclusive public
hearings than what I have seen on this theater so far.

A proper process would have asked the public the following questions:
- Does Durham want a new theater?
- Does Durham need a new theater?
- If so where should it be?
- How big should it be?
- Who should manage it?
- Who should own it?
. . . And so on.

Had these questions been asked several years ago, you would have already
known (among other things) the public concerns about Clear Channel. It is
also unclear why ADF is being discussed in this context when Duke has
proposed building a new performing arts center on Central Campus to replace
Page Auditorium. 

I urge you to vote against the extension, stop the current process, and look
toward starting a new open process in the future that involves the public
and asks the right questions up front. Then maybe we can end up with a
proposal that actually enjoys public support.