A blog dedicated to public records requests and Monterey County news.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Is Goldenvoice hiding First City Festival numbers?

Best Coast performs on Saturday at First City Festival 
As someone who attended First City Festival both days two years in a row, I can tell you attendance was down this weekend from 2013.

I think it is noteworthy a potential major tourism draw for Monterey did not get more popular in its second year (probably not a good sign for a music festival), despite arguably better known acts such as Beck and Phantogram.

This is perhaps why concert promoter Goldenvoice has been ducking me for three days. Despite repeated attempts to reach them by phone and email, I keep being told they are too busy to talk. 

This could be some sort of "small town newspaper" scenario. Who cares about the Monterey Herald if you have Rolling Stone on the other line? Yet, last year, I got them on the phone almost immediately. 

In that article, Goldenvoice executive Rick Mueller told me the morning after the festival his company's attendance estimates and its hope for future events. I was told Monday by Goldenvoice they could not talk until Tuesday, told Tuesday they could talk that day but then did not respond to my email, and then this morning told they could talk but did not reply to my response.

The festival drew roughly 10,000 people both days in 2013, Goldenvoice told me at the time. My personal guess for attendance this year was around 8,000 on Saturday and 5,000 on Sunday.

A few estimates were made in other media: SF Weekly said the festival "didn't have a huge attendance," Herald freelancer Beth Peerless said she spoke to someone at Goldenvoice on Sunday who put it at 9,000 each day and the San Jose Mercury News made a Saturday estimate of 8,000.

I'm fine just using what Goldenvoice told us Sunday for attendance (although, I would guess that is a bit high) but, for the newspaper, I would like to ask the promoter what it means and why they think it happened. 

Monterey police have already told me attendance was down for the festival, which law enforcement statistics at least partially reinforce. 

Last year, there were 12 arrests inside the fairgrounds and 23 citations outside during the festival on Saturday and Sunday, Monterey police said.

Lt. Leslie Sonne said there were no arrests inside the fairgrounds this year and just five citations outside.

One person was arrested outside Sunday around 1 p.m. for possession of methamphetamine, Sonne said. There was also a report of a theft of a wallet out of an unattended purse Saturday. 

I happened to be there for all the major acts both years -- and took video. Unfortunately, they both look pretty bad but you can see the Modest Mouse crowd was much thicker toward the front.

Here is Modest Mouse closing the show Sunday night in 2013: 


Here is The National closing the show Sunday night in 2014: 



I guess one could just argue Modest Mouse is more popular than The National, which is another reason why I can't really say for sure what happened on Sunday when attendance appeared to have gone down significantly.

Also, another anecdotal observation that I cannot pin down until I talk to Goldenvoice is the high amount of give-away tickets and last-minute deals on tickets. I ran into three friends that told me they got free tickets and you should have seen my friend Jeff's face (who flew up from Los Angeles and paid full price) when two Santa Cruz women told us they got their tickets for $50.

There are a lot of  factors to consider in the success of the festival. Even attendance may not be a fair analysis if you consider all the free tickets. They also could have made a high profit on concessions after it bought out concessionaire services from the Monterey County Fair.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Rep. Sam Farr on Monterey Downs

U.S. Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel) met with veterans earlier this week to discuss issues of note to the community, but the talked veered into other areas such as the proposed Monterey Downs project.

Although Farr has made comments regarding a land-use measure designed to stop the equestrian-themed project (he was against it), he typically steers clear of discussing the project directly.

Downs is a major development proposed for 550 acres of Fort Ord straddling the east side of Seaside. The city of Seaside is handling the project application. Developer Brian Boudreau, a major figure in the horse racing world, unveiled the $750 million project in 2010.

The project is somewhat connected to the proposed Fort Ord veterans cemetery because it is included in Downs' environmental assessment and developers plan to buy a 30-acre endowment parcel north of the 78-acre cemetery to help fund the burial place and its roads.

"The developer has an option on that parcel. If he was really sincere he'd just give you the money" before the project is approved, Farr said.

"That's not part of the (veterans) cemetery project. Monterey Downs rises and falls on its own merits," he said. "It's got to go through tons of political issues. It has so many gates it needs to go through."

He said was not sure what the current status of the project was at but he was "not so keen on it anyway."

Downs calls for 1,280 homes and apartments, a horse track, stables, a 6,500-seat sports arena, a horse park, three hotels, a swim and tennis club, offices, a veterinary clinic and commercial space. There would be 73 acres of habitat preservation area and 74 acres of parks and open space.