There was lots of chatter yesterday about the appearance of Velda Jones Potter and her son on Charles Potter’s leased access show on Channel 28. Unfortunately, yesterday was also a big football day and plenty of people prepping for the Emmys and/or Breaking Bad. Matthew Albright of the NJ missed all of the fun and found himself watching this show.
Jason330 started this conversation on Friday. Today’s NJ article adds some interesting information:
Jones-Potter acknowledged she attended city meetings about the festival, but said she prefaced each one by saying she was there as a “private citizen,” not in her official capacity. She said she took vacation and personal time to attend meetings.
“Be very clear that Foxtail fest and I, as their representative, had every interest in this being a well-secured public event,” she said Sunday.
How are you the representative of a for-profit venture seeking city services AND representing the taxpayers of the city? And if these negotiations were going on for a couple of months, how come no one in the City/County Building pointed out the ethical problem here? The first article noted that the permit application was received by the City in late July for a mid-September event. Was she attending these meetings to expedite the permit process (the permit app says they want this paperwork 120 days before the event, minimum)?
Then there’s the security issue:
Jones-Potter said Foxtail organizers were “fully prepared” to pay for 20 private security guards to meet city rules, but said police were “uncomfortable” with that prospect. Instead, she said organizers believed they had worked out a deal with police to provide 15 private security guards while the city provided five officers.
“To our surprise, we learned from the paper that supposedly 20 officers were there,” she said. “We had no idea why the officers were there.”
Again, if you look at the application, security is clearly the responsibility of the event organizers. But the permit process is a determination by the city of the level of security you need to provide. That includes a determination if you need WFD resources or ambulance services. So what was Foxtail told they needed? With a less than 60 day turnaround (with other events in process going on the same weekend at the Riverfront), what was Foxtail told they needed to do?
Frankly, I think that pushing this thing forward without the required time to assess the permit is probably the source of the problem. But I don’t think that the city should help paper over the mistakes of organizers. A few months ago, the City Parks and Recs Department denied the use of their bandstand and personnel to put on an event in WCC — and event that happens yearly and is normally supported by them. Even though the organizers worked to get the commitment for the materials — it wasn’t until the last minute that the Department insisted on a litany of new rules and denied the support. After a bunch of negotiations, the event got some of the support it needed and the event went off as usual. Yet here, we have a late submitted permit — and I hope that someone is looking hard to see if this permit was complete — that needed a high-ranking city official to help push through on behalf of her son.
It would be good if Mrs. Potter come out from behind the friendly media her family controls and speak directly to taxpayers who are owed a whole lot of answers here. I do hope that The Gregory’s special council meeting on the 30th will be in the business of taking sworn testimony on this business — from the Foxtail organizers (including Velda Potter) as well as the Police Chief, the FD Chief and Public Works Chief.
And if you are one of the organizers of one of the multiple amazing events that happen in the city, you owe it to yourself and to your organization to be present at this meeting. Before that — call your City Councilperson and tell them that you are expecting honest and detailed factfinding here.