Join Club

The Right Note: If At First You Don’t Succeed?

The Right Note is a weekly opinion column published on Thursdays. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

Mark KellyAccording to a 2009 announcement, the Artisphere was supposed to be open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, attract over 250,000 visitors a year, become profitable in three years, and spur additional economic development in Rosslyn.

Two years later, the Artisphere produced massive first-year operational cost overruns and revenue shortages that would require escalating taxpayer subsidies for the foreseeable future. County Manager Barbara Donnellan produced what she deemed “a much more realistic plan.”

The new plan has still failed to put the Artisphere on a trajectory towards self-sufficiency. The bottom line is that we have pumped millions of taxpayer dollars into it, and the Artisphere is still nowhere near fulfilling the promises the County Board made to us, not once but twice.

Last week, we learned that the County Board had voted unanimously to bail out the Signature Theater to the tune of $250,000. The bailout covers the theater’s delinquent taxes — taxes they chose not to pay in an effort to “control expenses”. This bailout led one newspaper to deem the theater “too fabulous to fail.”

How would this have gone over with Treasurer Frank O’Leary if the offender had been anyone but a county-backed project? Quite possibly, it would have been sold to pay the debt.

Instead, the County Board essentially made a simple spreadsheet maneuver. The taxes were magically marked as paid courtesy of the rest of us who pay our taxes every year while controlling other costs in our budget. The money is still in the general fund to be spent elsewhere this year, while the theater is simply off the hook.

If you reach back into your memory banks, you may remember the County Board’s approval of another theater project in January 2012. As part of site plan concessions, the County will receive a black box theater on Wilson Boulevard. The County will pay to fill in the developer-provided shell, but it will make out well on the lease, at $1 a year. This is a similar deal to the 15 years of free rent for the Artisphere. The new theater will likely not be saddled with the repayment of a huge construction loan, something Signature still owes to the tune of $7.8 million.

So, will the financial honeymoon end soon after operations begin as it did with the previous two projects? According to the press release announcing the new theater last January:

“County staff will work with the Arlington Commission for the Arts and others to develop a business plan and economic options for the operations of the theater. These will address a series of cost, use and operational alternatives for review by the County Manager in the preparation of future budgets.”

Hopefully these are not the same county staff who assisted with the Artisphere’s original business plan or its “new” and “more realistic” plan. Of course, if they can count on the County Board for ongoing subsidies and bailouts, creating a business plan is little more than an intellectual exercise anyway.

The bottom line is Arlingtonians deserve more accountability than we are getting from our taxpayer-funded arts endeavors.

Mark Kelly is a former Arlington GOP Chairman and two-time Republican candidate for Arlington County Board.

Recent Stories

Good Thursday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar. 🕗 News recap The following articles were published earlier today…

Last year, an attempt to broaden the Arlington police auditor’s access to police records quietly fizzled before reaching the public for discussion.

George Mason University’s new Fuse at Mason Square in Arlington, is poised to become a 345,000-square-foot collaborative and digital innovation space in the heart of the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor. “As Mason expands in…

These tree care companies serve Arlington County and received Washington Consumers’ Checkbook’s top rating for quality (as reported by their customers in Checkbook’s surveys).

Award-winning drag queen Tara Hoot is bringing her Family Fun Story Time Brunch to Arlington at Freddie’s Beach Bar! Saturday April 6 at noon! Join Tara for songs, stories, puppets, bubbles and joy! It’s not just stories, it’s a SHOW that’s perfect for kids and kids at heart–fun for everyone! Plus a tasty brunch at Freddie’s! Click the link and make your reservations now! ❤️ 🫧 🌈

Submit your own Announcement here.

The Summer 2024 STEAM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Arts/Math) Fellowship application is now open! Apply by April 15 to be considered!

The STEAM Workforce Development Teacher Fellowship provides Arlington Public Schools (APS) high school, middle school, and elementary school teachers with opportunities to learn about workplace needs in STEAM-related fields and for them to use the experience to enhance student learning to match workplace expectations in a selected industry. STEAM Fellows participate in a three-week summer fellowship, receiving a $4,000 stipend upon completion.

Applicants planning to pursue a fellowship in the arts must demonstrate how they will build connections between the arts and science, technology, engineering, or mathematics.

Click the button to learn more, share, apply, and see the variety of fellowships completed in previous years.

Read More

Submit your own Announcement here.

Free Right-Sizing Workshop – How to Get Rid of Your…

Cody Chance and Dick Nathan of Long & Foster are hosting a free workshop at our office on Cherry Hill Rd. (formerly Lee Highway) on the topic of “down-sizing” Thursday, March 28 from 5:30-7:30. We have created a workbook with

Portofino Italian Wine Dinner, April 6, 6:30pm

Four course Italian dinner, paired with 2 wines each. The wines will be served “blind” and notes on each wine will be discussed. The event is coordinated with Elite Wine Importers and The Portofino Restaurant. The dinner is on Saturday,

×

Subscribe to our mailing list