Save Libbey Bowl from the City Council
How to Demolish a City and Not a Bowl
After being given a gift of 2.8 m dollars from the people of Ojai, the city council last night voted 2 to 2 to delay for at least another week the decision to move forward with construction of the new bowl. This delay has put the entire project in jeopardy. The two council members, who abstained from support of the motion made by Councilwoman Carol Smith to move ahead with the project, gave “insufficient information” as the reason for the additional delay. In fact, adequate information has been provided for several weeks to both City Council and City staff.
The core problem is this: 2.8 million dollars have been raised, 1.8 of that is in the form of pledges which will come in over the next 1-4 years. The two abstaining Council members felt it would be “imprudent to move ahead” because they did not trust that their constituents would honor their pledges.
This decision to delay again puts the entire project at risk and shows a profound failure of vision, leadership, and confidence from the city council. The meeting held on Tuesday evening had been postponed twice due to the schedule needs of the council and requests for further analysis from staff. In just the past three weeks alone, over 60 hours have been spent by the Save the Bowl leadership to provide analysis and answer questions to City staff, with no further questions posed from City staff.
The actual situation is straightforward: The cost of the project is $2.65. $1 million is available now in cash and $1.8 million is pledged to be paid over the next 1-4 years. History proves that pledges are honored; in addition, a contingency fund has been established in case there are uncollected pledges.
In fact, the greatest risk is not to move forward and leave the heart of our community deteriorating behind a chain link fence. Revenues generated by a new Libbey Bowl will provide needed City services for the community for years to come.
We respect the City Council’s responsibility to make prudent financial decisions; however, over 700 households in the Ojai Community who have the same responsibilities to their families, have made the investment in Libbey Bowl in recognition of the fact that the Bowl is the single most effective economic driver the City owns.
A Last Gasp celebration party to say goodbye to the old Bowl and celebrate raising the money for the new Bowl is scheduled for this Saturday, June 19th at 4:30pm. It will most certainly be a party to say goodbye to the Bowl one way or the other. The Bowl, our Bowl, this beautiful open forum for our school’s performances, our children’s events, our music, our plays, our City celebrations and our City sorrows, the heart of our Hamlet, cannot denied.
This is the last gasp to save Libbey Bowl. If you care about the heart and soul of Ojai, be there with us to rally the City Council to action.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Betsy and Sue,
You have no idea how totally discouraging last night was. To have created that kind of disappointment is still beyond my comprehension. The way the staff and committee runs the Music Festival is professional and the results have proven to be superior on every level. In spite of giving it all to raise the money for Libbey Bowl they were still able to put on one of the best Festivals I have ever been to. They left nothing to chance. Every detail from seats, to parties, to booths, to parking, to dessert tables at intermission, to extra free concerts for the general public, to housing, to set up, to ushers, to extra seats, and on and on and on. That same kind of excellent administrative ability was used consistently to raise the extraordinary amount of money they did in such a short time for the Bowl. They don’t work only certain days, they don’t take long weekends, they work straight through until the job is done and with a professionalism that few organizations could match. I have complete confidence in Easter Wachtell, Jeff Hayden, Anna Cho, and all of us who have been so well directed by them to make sure that we bring this project to completion.
All of the above being said, don’t you think that the reason there are over 700 people contributing to this is cause is because everyone realizes the importance of making it happen. It cannot wait another year, once those pledges are returned there is no one who would ever believe that we could get it done, and the city at this point does not have a good track record of getting things done. In fact many of the pledges were given with specific instructions that if the city became a stumbling block they would not honor them. You can be sure that none of us will go out there again and put this effort out. The city can try and raise the money if this moment passes because none of us will give it another pass. We have a time line to honor, and if that cannot be honored, the bowl will not be built. The city is out its $800,000 dollars, and the Libbey Bowl will be fenced off for years to come, not a good future prospect for Ojai.
I would suggest that you get together before Tuesday, do some over time and get this taken care of quickly. No matter how you look at the numbers, they are not going to change, and you are just going to have to step up and award the bid, because the alternative will be a disaster for city of Ojai, and its citizens. I would not want to be in your position if this does not happen, because none of us will help to resurrect this project for a second time. I think waiting until next Tuesday is just too long. You need to call a special meeting and have this approved by the Last Gasp Party on Saturday.
We feel this is an egregious act on the part of the council members who have delayed the Libby Bowl project. The Bowl is the heart and soul of our community. Why would a city council allocate money to market the city and then sabotauge the very thing that brings people to our community. This is just unacceptable, does not make any sense and needs to be fixed!
Vera Carbaugh