Backers want city to pay $1.4 million up front for airport biker
rally
Backers of a new, bigger, better biker rally pitched their
proposal to the Hollister City Council this week, but were met with
a concerned and tepid response
– even from rally fan Mayor Robbie Scattini.
The biggest problem for the council is that organizers want the
city not only to foot the bill if the event tanks, they want the
city to put the money up front this time.
Backers want city to pay $1.4 million up front for airport biker rally
Backers of a new, bigger, better biker rally pitched their proposal to the Hollister City Council this week, but were met with a concerned and tepid response – even from rally fan Mayor Robbie Scattini.
The biggest problem for the council is that organizers want the city not only to foot the bill if the event tanks, they want the city to put the money up front this time.
Ghostrider Promotions, comprised of three former Hollister Independence Day Rally organizers, told council members Scattini, Monica Johnson and Brad Pike that their plan was a sure-fire moneymaker, even if no one were to show up for the event they want to stage at the Hollister Airport next Fourth of July weekend. Former Mayor Pauline Valdivia and Council Member Doug Emerson were absent, though Emerson sent comments to be read into the record expressing why he is already against it.
“I am not agreeable to putting our general fund at risk,” Emerson wrote in a letter to his constituents and to the council. “The proposal is basically asking the city to invest in a business – a high-risk business.”
Emerson also raised his concern that Ghostrider Promotions is not incorporated, has no assets and no experience in putting on huge events other than the financially troubled Hollister Independence Day rally.
Former HIRC President Dave Ventura, now president of Ghostrider Promotions, and fellow organizer Helen Brown gave an abbreviated PowerPoint presentation in which they projected entertaining 5,000 campers on the west side of the airport tarmac and charging $10 a head at the gate. They gave profit projections for different numbers of attendees, but expect 100,000 if given the go-ahead. The council’s decision won’t be made until all city leaders are present at their next meeting in January.
Event organizers spoke of a big-city affair, replete with big-name rock ‘n’ roll bands and bike racing events. Added to the mix would be air shows, skydiving and glider rides, along with the requisite “Leather and Lace” and tattoo contests. With 100,000 attendees, backers contend, the city – and its company – would stand to make $504,025 with another $145,000 going to non-profits that participate.
But to make this event work the city must float $1.4 million for the event in advance.
“The city is in a unique situation,” Ventura said. “We already know 100,000 come into town for the event. All we have to do is entertain them. There’s very little risk here. We’re showing you how to make money. We have the customers already.”
While backers veered clear of saying exactly how much money they wanted the city to put into their event, some council members mentioned one figure – $1.4 million – out loud during public discussion of the matter.
The council, not unexpectedly, expressed profound concerns over investing in such a business venture that already has cost the town’s General Fund about $680,000 over the last two years – although the new plan is decidedly for-profit rather than non-profit.
“We don’t have another $500,000 to front you,” council member Pike told organizers. “That’s my big dilemma. We have to have $350,000 up front just for law enforcement.”
“You don’t pay for it until after the event,” said Ventura, president of Ghostrider Promotions.
“But we need to have it in the bank beforehand,” Pike shot back.
Council member Johnson chimed in at that point, saying she had hoped the new proposal would have asked the city to be a basic services provider for the event – loaning toilets, water and other amenities such a large assembly of people would necessitate. She did not expect them to ask the city to be the financial backer.
“My biggest concern with the city is the financial risk,” Johnson added. “There are too many unknowns.”
The city is still $3 million overdrawn and some city officials view the proposal as a pie-in-the-sky scheme fraught with overly optimistic numbers.
In his report to the council, City Manager Clint Quilter said, “The item in these figures that really concerns me is the assumptions about camping. This is not an event that has had a history of camping even in the early years when camping was available. Additionally, attendance figures could vary dramatically in changing from a free event to an event to an event with an entry fee.”
Ghostrider Promotions partner Brown told the council that without the city’s help, the event would be dashed. If the city doesn’t guarantee that the citizens of Hollister would take on the risk and pay the rally debts should it lose money, again, corporate sponsors did not want to sign contracts. The organizers are, essentially, bound in a Catch-22 situation.
“Without a contract from the city, we are not going to get contracts,” Brown said.
Scattini said he and the other council members, he believed, would feel much better about the proposal if the backers posted a bond. That would leave the city off the hook if the event flopped and went into the red, but would make the backers – Ghostrider Promotions – responsible for the debt. The idea was met with a non-response and Scattini went on to voice his feelings about keeping the rally alive.
The Mayor reiterated his support for the rally and, again, made the suggestion that those people of Hollister who don’t like it should leave town.
“A lot of people, if they don’t like motorcycles, that’s too bad,” Scattini said. “They can head to Tahoe for the Fourth of July.”
The remark, always a winner with rally supporters, was met with applause from the audience, which consisted mostly of people and business owners who are in favor of the event.
However, Scattini concurred with Pike that it might be too late to organize a rally in less than seven months.
“We’re in the 12th hour,” Scattini said. “I don’t see how we can put anything together this late in the game.”
Members of the Hollister Airport Commission said they wouldn’t mind the event being held at the airport as long as no runways are shut down. Rally organizers assured them that would not be the case. But some raised the point that 100,000 people milling around the airport, many with beers in their hands, could pose a hazard for aircraft landing and taking off, including the CDF fire suppression craft. Airport Manager Bill Gere said he would look into the FAA requirements on the matter.
No vote was taken. The council will meet again on Jan. 3.
