Spinning off PA Chautauqua Assets = tossing Chautauqua charm

Snippet from Nov 5 2008 Chautauqua Board meeting:

"John Feather raised a question, as it appears that we're living off the capital improvement funds....we'll run out of [replenishment] funds in about ten years....Allan Feldman added that the finance committee discussed that monies have been added to capital funds over the years that were never used and ended up in the general fund." and, earlier in the meeting, kathy Snavely asked:

"why we didn't transfer the Hall of Philosophy to the Foundation, so we could avoid paying real estate taxes on it."

Aaaahhhh, but don't worry, neighbors. We ARE spending plenty of PA Chautauqua money on that labor sharing bill (or cross-billing, as Mike Bell puts it) we get from Bill Care and his full time crew of 6. We're spending about $400,000 a year on labor and benefits (see previous post).

And this situtation should strike fear in every property owners' soul right now. Why?
Because the unique character of this community--and, hence our property values, are inextricably tied up with the vitality and identity of the PA Chautauqua, its buildings, and its summer programs and artistic events. Its not dependent on our perpetually growing municipal works staff. That situation would make us like every other suburban subdivision, and not the Chautauqua

A local real estate agent recently said that gretna properties hold their value because of the "location" factor. However, you have to ask yourself how long that misperception is going to hold out. After all, I have years worth of meeting notes from the various governing bodies here, and they all present and discuss quality of life issues that have never been resolved. So, its seems fairly obvious that present owners know the truth--that this location has some serious deficiencies and isn't as valuable as it once was, and that it is only getting worse.

But, back to the Board members' comments: we all know that that's what the Chautauqua does with its assets. It spins them off to other entities, creating such bodies as the boro, the foundation, the arts council, etc.. And, they do this under professed justifications usually relating to avoiding some liability or another.

Let's see how that has worked out for them so far. By my calculations:

--They don't have control over our common grounds, our infrastructure, our water, our sewer, our policing, etc.--Bill Care does. We can't even do our own set up in a Chautauqua building--Bill's staff has to, and we pay twice for that. Once when we pay the $100 rental fee, and again when we pay his crew's staffing costs.

--They don't have control over the theater any more. That belongs to the Arts Council.

--They have a parking lot where an historic building used to be.

--They have now have a highway for an scenic byway leading people to our "Wooded Retreat".

--They don't have control over their checkbook, their annual audit, their budgeting, and their number one cash generator (the Art Show receipts)- Boro employees do: Linda Bell, with, of course, Bill Care's assistance. Oh, someone may look over her shoulder by having arranging for annual audits or such--but that someone would be her husband, the treasurer.

It's a wonder we stay afloat at all, isn't it? But that's not what this post is about. It's about how our leaders are failing us by not having a vision for our assets, by not being motivated to protect our assets in order to achieve the Chautauqua brand/image.

It's totally ironic that I came across these comments from the board, as I was just commenting on what a shame it is that we don't have the ingenuity and vision in this community bring our historic buildings with us into the present, to maintain their character and their usefulness and vitality. My neighbor and I were even discussing how nice it would be to have something done with the Hall of Philosphy that was as creative and interesting--and historically repsectful of the architecture, materials, and design, as was done with the carriage house at Alden Place.

Imagine that: instead of wasting time trying to come up with ways to reduce your "maintenance" burdens on old places, spend that energy with local and concerned talent to keep bringing the PA Chautauqua into the future. 'Cause all this style of management is accomplishing now is to parse off bits of it here and there and to leave more and more of the PA Chautauqua behind--and I am talking about its identity, its uniqueness, its entire character, not just its real assets and infrastructure.

And, our brand, by the way, is not "historic." The PA Chautauqua incorporation documents don't say anything about requesting a charter to preserve some historic element of this area's history. It's asks for a charter to pursue artistic and intellectual endeavors. So, the reason for the PA Chautauqua's existence is PRESENT--not future or past, pursuit of the cultural. Therefore, there is no excuse for not having, as our number one priority, the use of our assets to protect our cultural identity. We are not a living museum. If the PA Chautauqua would rather spend more energy on infrastructrure labor costs and on decreasing control of its assets than in pursuing its mission, then we should seriously consider dissolving it, as it has deviated from its allowed mission.

Studies even show that "cultural" tourists spend more money than the average tourist--so why all the myopia?

(See my earlier post on the renovated Alden Carriage house, which has several new business's in it, including a Buzz Cafe, a jewelry/clothing store, and a day spa.)