Home / April 12 community meeting notes / Follow up letter to special event producers / About the Special Events Task Force / Background on the original proposal
Community Meeting Notes
From April 12, 2007
About the Session
The City of Tacoma convened a community meeting on April 12 to help create clarity and gather feedback on a proposal to transfer coordination of event permitting from the City of Tacoma to Metro Parks Tacoma, while working with the community to create an Office of Special Events that would be housed within Metro Parks Tacoma.
Attendees
Community participants (taken from sign-in sheet): Cary Nilson, Jane Dudley, Rus Batten, Claudia Riedener, Peggy Anderson, Diane Walkup, Ronald Simchen, Houston Wimberly, John Trueman, Bill Connolly, Dave Parker, Laura and Matt Eklund, Marty Campbell, Katie Rose, John Larson, Nancy Davis, David Fischer, Margaret McCormick, Tom and Mary Johnson and Julie Bennett.
City of Tacoma Community and Economic Development Staff: Martha Anderson, assistant director, Amy McBride, arts administrator, Roxanne Murphy, community relations, Scott Nagel, consultant.
Elected officials: City of Tacoma Councilmember Julie Anderson, Metro Parks Tacoma Commissioner Victoria Woodards, Port of Tacoma Commissioner Clare Petrich.
Community Feedback
Generally speaking, community members were concerned about:
• Fees for events and festivals
• How their input would be included during the process
• What the potential Special Events Office would do
• The need to create an advisory council to ensure the community’s input in the creation of a potential Special Events Office
• Previous interaction with Metro Parks Tacoma
The City’s Response
City of Tacoma Councilmember Julie Anderson and Metro Parks Tacoma Commissioner Victoria Woodards agreed to work together to address concerns about the proposal. Commissioner Woodards asked that citizens contact her if there are concerns about Park’s fees and practices.
The current proposal includes a recommendation to form an advisory council, and there’s also a proposed permit fee schedule based on research from cities of like size. There is currently no legislative action scheduled to implement these proposals.
The following is a list of comments/suggestions/questions from those in attendance. City staff responded to questions and participants walked away with additional information on what the proposal would do, and how their input would be important in the process of creating an Office of Special Events.
• Clarify the location of the potential Special Events Office. Make sure it’s accessible, paperless and virtual.
• One proposed benefit is that this office would help with marketing, sponsorship, etc. Volunteers are already skilled and doing this work. How would you ensure that there’s not a duplication of efforts?
• I’d like clarity on what exactly “marketing” means related to what a potential Special Events Office would do.
• What would be our role in creating a Special Events Office?
• Is this about bringing in outside events or nurturing local and existing events?
• Would the potential Special Events Office purposely procure new events?
• An advisory group should be created that’s made up of producers and supporters of festivals. The specified focus of the advisory group would be the Special Events Office.
• Would the advisory board be another layer of bureaucracy?
• Would the Special Events Office have a final say on permits?
• Define the role of an advisory council. Metro Parks Tacoma has many advisory councils that aren’t empowered.
• People who love festivals would need to be on board, along with a variety of local festival producers.
• Advisory boards can be either very good or very bad. Ensure that there’s one vote per person, and the board must have authority and power.
• An advisory board should include representatives from business districts, the downtown merchants group, artists/performers, small festivals, large festivals, neighborhood councils, Tacoma Athletic Commission, walk/run events (MS, AIDS, etc), expressive events.
• Relating to expressive events, increase or maintain protection of public and the right to engage in public activity.
• I’m uneasy regarding the appeal process and would like that to be solidified, clear and acceptable before the proposal moves forward.
• Could an advisory board act as an appeal board?
• I would like technical assistance relating to marketing and public relations, but not standardization that says my brochures need to look a certain way.
• Promotion means expense. Who would pay for that? Would that cost go to the business district?
• I’m envisioning that a marketing person on staff would provide technical assistance. That service would be provided for free.
• I’m concerned about how the marketing/sponsorship would work.
• Someone would need to pay for these services. The Events Commission and others could provide free technical assistance.
• I’d like to see an elect-in, elect-out for the services offered. That way you could pay for the use.
• Regarding sponsorship dollars, i.e. with the packaging of sponsorship, would the event have to carry the brand name of the sponsor?
• If this office sought sponsorship dollars, would they keep a cut of the money?
• How does the City prioritize permit requests?
• Prioritization is in the City’s special events code.
• How does the City determine fees, costs, etc.?
• We need to get clear ideas on the process for producing events. It’s odd that a government entity would take on a promotion role.
• I’m excited about streamlining the process and receiving permits earlier. But the prioritization is not clear. This is the first time I’ve heard of an advisory committee. Who is the ultimate decision maker?
• The creation of an advisory committee is a recommendation that’s currently the City’s proposal. It has yet to be fully defined.
• I’m concerned about fees. In business districts, we want to encourage festivals. I have no issue with a streamlined, clear Special Events Office, and perhaps an advisory committee could help determine what the office would do, and what the fees would be.
• Many people have expressed concerns to me about this authority going to Metro Parks. Some have said in the past that Metro Parks hasn’t been neighborhood friendly. We’re concerned about this going to Metro Parks and not staying within the City.
• The Old Town Classical Music festival took place in a park with 40 people. Next year Parks wants a fee even though we have a limited impact. There’s no budget for small events like these.
• It makes sense for a fee to be charged for bigger events that close streets.
• There’s a difference between Metro Parks rental fees and permits to use City streets and municipal property.
• The business districts have had difficulty dealing with Metro Parks in the past, and we’re concerned with Metro Parks in general.
• We approached Metro Parks about a space we could use to raise money for our performance hall and they wanted $100,000 for a drainage system.
• We’re stuck with past perceptions about Metro Parks.
• If this office is streamlined, why wouldn’t Metro Parks be part of how the fees are determined?
• Without transparency and input, wouldn’t all city parks be under fees, i.e. fees for ice?
• The breast cancer fundraiser was charged fees.
• Only the City can charge fees on City property.
• It’s easy and free currently to have an event on City property.
• Regarding Metro Parks, we have already networked with City staff and that works well now. Council members come to our meetings. We don’t even know the Metro Parks board.
• Your involvement with Metro Parks could really make a difference.
• I’m most happy that this dialogue is happening. It’s been long overdue with many disparities. We should celebrate this and work as a community to expand these ideas.
• It’s important that organizers realize ALL entities involved in special events.
• For the Dickens festival we had to buy the banner, hang the banner for $400 and get insurance for $400.
• There should be a comprehensive insurance policy for all events.
• A marketing committee doesn’t make sense because the events are all individual brands.
• We need a strategic plan for festivals and events.
• Make sure your proposal includes what we as event organizers care about.
• Decide where the funding would go.
• How can we decide and prioritize together as a community?
• How would you define an event?
• Would long-term events be brought into the fold or left alone?
• Perhaps the potential Special Events Office could be a clearinghouse for everything from the Dome, the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center, Pierce Transit, Metro Parks, the Broadway Center for Performing Arts.
• They could work to convene spaces inside and outside.
• They could create a checklist of services that an event planner could use if needed.
• The office would not become the end all, be all of enablers, but a clearinghouse that would be able to provide information for event providers.
• Doesn’t the Convention and Visitors Bureau already do this? This should be left to the free market.
• Where is the line drawn on permits and would this office decide that?
• How are fees determined and who approves them when they change?
• We want to maintain our grassroots event planning process.
• What’s in the proposal now is a sample fee schedule. The City Council has not articulated a strategy about this. We need to strike a balance between cost recovery and strategy.
• If you get too many permits and hoops to jump through, it stifles the initiative.
• I’m hearing that this is a portal, a clearinghouse. I haven’t heard from this proposal that there will be any extra steps. We just don’t want you to have to guess about what you need to do to get your permits.
• Will there be any control over what we can do?
• There are no new laws being proposed about holding your events.
• We don’t want to take out the funk and creativity in your events.
• We have to work together to maintain creative freedom.
• Most importantly, these policies have to be created with dialogue. All we want to know is that we’re going to be listened to. The community has to be a part of these decisions.
• Have we looked at what Tacoma is currently doing with events and festivals to get to this place?
• Would the Special Events Office help fill out event staff?
• How would the office be funded?
• Are we going to fund this Special Events Office and then it will die again?
• The money for this is a set aside from the City Council.
• Metro Parks has a strategic five-year plan. The creation of an events office is a priority in that plan and there are funds committed to that.
• We need this to be efficient and streamlined.
• We need a vast number of volunteers.
• Why do we have to pay for extra services?
• Because taxes cover won’t cover the cost of departments like police and fire which provide services during events and festivals.
• Looking at this overall, it seems like positives. The one negative is Metro Parks. Something is broken there. How can we fix the broken parts before we hand over more power to them?
• Has anyone had issues with Metro Parks and tried to get a response?
• Relating to concerns about the management of Showcase Tacoma, Metro Parks have heard complaints and are willing to listen.
• We keep on having to switch the dates of the Daffodil Parade because of a lack of attendance. We get funding from the Puyallup Tribe to keep the parade open. We have to battle with Pierce Transit, the Link Light Rail and the State for our route. We’ve seen massive change over the last 10 years in this parade. How does an event connect with volunteers? Does the City or Metro Parks have a volunteer coordinator? We used to have 300,000 people on the streets in Tacoma, now there are very few. The D Street Overpass might not have enough room for our floats.
• Volunteer coordination could come out of the potential Office of Special Events.
• The main motive is to get people out of their houses to interact.
• We need more volunteers. Has this group studied that?
• I enjoy the people that I work with on events.
• When vibrancy dies, we have nothing.
• Affordability is important in the fine balance between commerce and creativity.
• If Tacoma becomes too expensive, the creative class will move out.