Screen shots: accessfayetteville.orgCrowd turns out for Bikes, Babes and Bling discussion
Even half an hour before the City Council meeting started Tuesday night, citizens were crowding into the council chambers. And indeed, it was a big night, starting with Mayor Lioneld Jordan’s state of the city address.
The Bikes, Babes and Bling discussion was next on the docket, and began with members of city staff describing the permitting process.
The only grounds for denying a permit is if it conflicts with another event or if the proposal is not open to the public, said Sharon Crosson, parking and telecommunications director.
Five departments must approve the application, including parking, police, fire, transportation and administration, Crosson said. In addition, four other departments see the request.
As an internal policy, the Walton Arts Center has first dibs on the parking lots around Dickson Street, Crosson said. When any event is planned for the entertainment district, city staff checks with the WAC before anyone else.
Such was the case with Bikes, Babes and Bling. Originally the applicants asked for July 15-17, but WAC had a conflict, so the dates of the motorcycle rally moved to July 1-3.
The city’s finance director said there was not a major spike in sales tax revenue for the month when Bikes, Blues and BBQ takes place. However, many factors make it tough to gauge the financial impact. For one, sales tax is delivered directly to the state and then the city’s portion is distributed on a monthly basis. It would be impossible to single out the revenue generated on a single weekend, Paul Becker said.
Despite the lack of a jump in revenue, Becker pointed out that the rally could be supplementing the intake for what would otherwise be a lean month.
If you’ve been following the Bikes, Babes and Bling issue, you probably already have a good idea of what the public comments were like.
Those opposed to the second rally said it had a negative impact on the city’s population.
Many residents said any financial gain the city gets from Bikes, Blues and BBQ was not worth the negative impact it has on the citizenry.
“When we measure the impact of something to our community, it needs to be more than just the economic impact,” Lisa Sharp said.
One resident suggested the council take over the permitting process and approve applications.
“We need governance,” Steve Frankenberger said. “We need this City Council and this mayor to look at these things and approve them one by one.”
Those in favor of the rally said it generated much needed income to the city’s restaurants and hotels.
“Let’s keep the welcome mat out,” said Jerry Patton. “The economic times the way they are, this is a tremendous buffer to bring in additional revenue outside the city.”
Brian Crowne, who owns and operates George’s Majestic Lounge, said the permitting process works.
“Don’t convolute an already proven system that works,” Crowne said.
Public comment ran for about two and a half hours. The discussion was a non-action item, so Bikes, Babes and Bling will continue to move through the permitting process.
Mary Robbins is a regular contributor for the Fayetteville Flyer. She declared Fayetteville as her hometown upon moving here for college. She is a Journalism graduate who enjoys live music, the outdoors and attending city council meetings. For more of Mary’s contributions, visit her author page.
Comments
The Fayetteville Flyer doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy.
By Innarested Observer on January 21st, 2010
Here’s *my* economic impact: I won’t be spending money in Fayetteville while this is going on.
By 2Bez on January 21st, 2010
Anyone who cant put up with a little noise and congestion for one week end a year for what is obviously and economic boost for the city/community of Fayetteville is narrow minded, short sighted, and to be honest… downright selfish!
By David Franks on January 21st, 2010
2Bez–
You said:
A little noise.
A little congestion.
One week end.
Obviously an economic boost.
Congratulations. You’re wrong on all counts.
By jesse on January 21st, 2010
The traffic BBB generates is not terrible (unless you’re trying to gas up). Really, it’s much worse on game days.
By TakeItToHotSprings on January 22nd, 2010
The noise and fumes put out by 300,000 bikes are terrible and can’t be controlled. The losses suffered by the Farmers Market and many other small businesses has been made clear. Anyone who doesn’t care about that is greedy, selfish and deserves to have the logo tatooed on their weewees.
By Economist in Training on January 22nd, 2010
Mr. Becker is right: it would be impossible to single out the effect of BBBQ on sales tax revenue. It should be noted, however, that there is an entire methodology (see: inferential statistics) dedicated to making such assumptions based on sample data. Obtaining sample data is usually not cheap, but if the city really wanted to get an idea as to the correlation between BBBQ and sales tax revenue, it could certainly do so. So, from Mr. Becker’s comments, I am led to believe that he either is a)ignorant of the aforementioned methodology (I hope this is not the case because that would likely make him terribly under-qualified for his position as the city’s finance director), or, b)doesn’t want the issue to be looked into. This could be a good project for the Center for Business and Economic Research (http://cber.uark.edu/)…
By Lisa Sharp on January 22nd, 2010
One weekend a year has been begrudgingly accepted by Fayetteville despite the noise and lost sales at many locally owned businesses because the financial benefits to some a very large and the tax revenues do help the city. A second weekend is what I object to. I perceive to many negatives to ask Fayetteville to welcome a second rally.
By Innarested Observer on January 22nd, 2010
I’m already booking tickets to bail on June 30 and come back July 5. Can’t wait. Hope it’s 110 degrees in the shade and this thing is a miserable failure. Selfish. How dare you. You obviously don’t live near this crap. What’s selfish is having someone think their point of view is more important than mine. You wanted another bikefest — you got it. I’ll spend $3,000 elsewhere.
By musing on January 23rd, 2010
The town is not going to like it when they discover the A&P Commission and the City Council has pimped out Fayetteville’s July 4th weekend to an obnoxious, loud, traffic-jamming biker rally.
By FekketCantenel on January 23rd, 2010
@musing: … You know, I’ve been trying for a long time to word just how I feel about both the Bikes celebrations*. You just did it for me. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Also, I’m with Innarested Observer and Lisa Sharp. I might be heading up to Missouri to visit relatives this July 4th.
*If you can define ‘celebration’ as an obnoxious, loud, traffic-jamming biker rally.
By Mark_Landry on January 23rd, 2010
A&P just gave the Walton Art Center $30,000 for an art festival in may. Let’s see how many motorcycles come to that one.
By Tony Wappel on January 24th, 2010
I’m not generally against festivals, but why cant Fayettville concentrate on making 2 or 3 that we already have the best they can be;eg Springfest, Autumnfest, and yes, BBBBQ? Someone needs to do a serious cost/benefit analysis on the economic benefit/detriment festivals have on Fayetteville before we go crazy and turn into Festivalville.
By oldtime on January 24th, 2010
There is no more Autumnfest….courtesy of the bikers festival.
By laughing on January 24th, 2010
At least half the posts on the Babes & Bling’s OWN facebook fan page are saying it’s terrible that they switched the date to July 4th weekend, and they won’t be able to come because of family plans, etc. Looks like the planners have stepped on their own ya-ya’s with this terrible choice of dates. They’re making all these plans, booking music, etc…and the turnout is going to be zilch. So, everybody loses, all for the greed of a few. Call this fiasco off while you still can.
By Offcamber on January 25th, 2010
The Walton Art Center has Fayetteville by its plus-sized biker chaps, and forced the date change to the most unifying American holiday of the year.
The question we need to ask is why a non-elected power elite at the WAC – the least democratic institution in Fayetteville – holds so much sway over not just Dickson Street activities and public business (see West St. parking lot takeover proposal), but when the town is quiet or loud.
If the WAC has the power to dictate the content of the downtown activities calendar, why did no one on their council raise any questions about the possible drawbacks of a second biker festival? Oh, right. We now find out A&P greased the WAC’s palms to the tune of $30,000 in public treasure.
The take-home for this second biker festival is that we need to question WAC’s domain over the Dickson Street “Entertainment District,” and how little the WAC uses its sway to defend the interests of Fayetteville residents.
By iheartnerds on January 25th, 2010
Ooooh, are we moving on to the bashing Walton Arts Center phase?! I’ve been waiting for that for a while! What the what is the arts center doing on Dickson Street anyway? The crowd that it generally draws is primarily responsible for killing any funkiness Dickson Street could be retaining (a couple of venues excepted). I have never, ever had a pleasant experience at the WAC. I have found that it to be completely non-family friendly, non-accepting of persons with disabilities, and generally life-sucking toward the artistry. I mean, if you can kill the joy in a Lucinda Williams concert, you can pretty much destroy anything. Move the thing to Rogers, Bentonville, 540… who the heck cares? People worry about the revenue loss to Dickson Street. But I don’t think that crowd is spending as much as an alternate crowd that would come if we actually hosted cool events in the venue.
By Innarested Observer on January 25th, 2010
The city is terrified of losing the WAC to BenCo.
By Sorry on January 25th, 2010
Anyone who thinks moving the Walton Arts Center to another city should consider moving with it and taking their “funkiness” with them.
By legal on January 25th, 2010
A lawsuit to stop this is being finalized as you read this.
Remember that hotel that was going in on Dickson across from the Post Office? (Until a little ole lawsuit was filed.)
ROFLMAO!
By Daniel Maner on January 26th, 2010
I would be very interested in hearing more about this lawsuit- who is filing it and on what grounds?
The idea that the WAC is some sort of detriment to Dickson Street or Fayetteville is ludicrous. The WAC is why Dickson Street and central Fayettville area is not the decaying center of town that it was becoming in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
The cultural value of the WAC to Fayetteville is without question. From shows like Rent and Miss Saigon to concerts like the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Blind Boys of Alabama the WAC provides an experience that is unequalled in NWA or the entire state. If you like political discourse the WAC has provided speakers as varied as James Carville and Anne Coulter. The WAC has community programs that serve every segment of the population of the city.
The WAC is a greatly valued asset to the city and it is imperative that the city do everything that it can to ensure that the main facilty of this instittuiton remains in Fayetteville.
By iheartnerds on January 26th, 2010
I’m not saying that the WAC doesn’t bring a variety of good events to Northwest Arkansas. I’m saying that the actual experience of attending these events is sub-par. The facility is uncomfortable, the atmosphere is unwelcoming, and the location is not a good fit. WAC would be better suited as a stand-alone institution with its own parking lot out by the mall or the new Malco. I don’t understand why keeping WAC on Dickson has become ingrained as a religious ideology around here. If the WAC moved, the current facility could be used by local improv groups, theater companies, music groups, etc., that are ready to move to a larger venue.
By duh on January 26th, 2010
The WAC is “unwelcoming?” Get out of here. What a crazy statement.
(Unless maybe you’re the one they talk about who doesn’t bathe very often?)
By Robert Moses on January 26th, 2010
Hi everyone. You may know me, or at least a little about me. I am the model for how the A&P gets things done. There is someone else you should know about, Ms. Jane Jacobs. She led a grass roots movement that saved the better part of lower Manhattan (Soho, Cast Iron Dist., Lower East Side, etc) from becoming one of my elevated superhighways. She proved that people of total disparate backgrounds can rally behind a worthy cause and defeat the abuse of power that I practiced, and that I understand is being practiced today in Fayetteville AR. Keep your message simple, clear, and unwavering: “We the people of Fayetteville, do NOT want or need another bike rally”. Stay on that message, keep repeating it to everyone you see. Let every elected official who will not publicly speak out against this rally know that not only will you not vote for their re-election, but you will actively work for their defeat. Let the owners of Cafe Rue Orleans, Jammin Java, and Jose’s, to name a few, that you will not only boycott their businesses, but will actively work to spread that boycott.
I thought I was invincible. I was wrong…the People are!
Read “The Power Broker” by Robert Caro.
By hmmm? on February 3rd, 2010
City Council has set a May 18 special election to decide if A&P funds can be used for park maintenance. Just wondering, if all the residents not liking another obnoxious biker rally decide to vote “NO” that day as the only way to make their voices heard, would the council finally get their message?
By Zapp Brannigan on February 3rd, 2010
Why should the parks be punished? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to divert A&P funds toward something that really does makes the city look better?
By mpetty on February 3rd, 2010
The vote on May 18 has nothing to do with A&P funds, but I can understand why it’s confusing, since it does have something to do with HMR revenue, which the A&P receives a portion of.
The other half of the HMR revenue goes into a Parks Fund at City Hall. That’s the part that will be affected by the vote on May 18.
By hmmm? on February 4th, 2010
Maybe the vote on May 18 will have to do with Sending A Message over not wanting another biker rally polluting our city.
By Donna on February 18th, 2010
I am solidly opposed to this event for several reasons. First, the very name is repulsive and casts women and the City of Fayetteville in a terrible light. Since when do we women allow anyone (apart from an intimate if desired)to call us babes?! And bling- well that’s not even a biker term its a hip hop term. Secondly, we already have one successful bike rally (which I support)– trying to duplicate the success of one is simply a lack of creativity. We need to diversify our events and draw crowds for arts and culture, family programs and environmentally conscious events – our reputation should be for funky, creative and green, not cheap and sleezy! Women are included in BBBQ we don’t need a segregated event. If you really want an event for women there are lots of programs that would have broader appeal. Last but not least, the dates chosen are at the same time as Rodeo of the Ozarks! Can you imagine the trauma all the noise from the bikes will cause the horses? This would be totally irrresponsible.
By yrfuneralmytrial on February 18th, 2010
I have not heard anyone (not even the promoters of Bikes/Bling) say one positive thing about the proposed event other than it will make money. I’m not against their event…let’s have it. But, it IS lazily conceived, poorly named and essentially a watered down spinoff. So, if we’re going to “do it for the money”, why aren’t we doing any number of things that would make money? Why isn’t Dickson blocked off into a street party every weekend ala Beale Street? Why have, after at least 5 years of trying, the police been allowed to effectively kill Mardi Gras on Dickson? I’ve said it before but if we’re willing to turn a blind eye to mass DWI once (or twice) a year because it’s good for business, let’s go all in. The rest of the year, you get arrested for walking around intoxicated…walking! I’ve got nothing against the BBBQ guys but there does seem to be a lot of “good ol’ boy” backroom politics going on and they ARE serving their interests. 400,000 people at BBBQ and they donate $45 grand to charity? Hell, Pagnozzi raises that much at one his house parties.
By Daniel Maner on February 18th, 2010
The attendance figures for BBBQ have always been suspect. I’ve never seen anything but vauge explanations for how they arrive at those numbers but one likely scheme is to come up with a figure for each day and then add the days together. One person could be counted four times which would reduce the total attendance for the festival greatly. There is no way 400,000 individuals are here for it.
In the begining I had my doubts about BBBQ but it seems to be a success in bringing cash and positive national recognition to Fayetteville. If we paid for the exposure that it gives for the city it would cost a lot of taxpayer money. This new festival seems like overkill though- it seems likely to be a failure and will disappear on it’s own if it ever does get off the ground.