Just how much does one play devil's advocate before the advocacy rots in hell.
Any short-sighted attempt to reduce the city's bonded indebtedness by contributing not only to an increasing national monopoly, but also to that monopoly's increasing monopoly on much of the entertainment and advertising business in the Twin Cities - seven radio stations, most of the booking arrangements and nearly every billboard in Minnesota, not to mention the back-door ownership of the Minnesota Vikings - and I don't what all else - is stepping way beyond the role of devil's advocate and into the arms of the very corporate entity prepared to use its oligarchical clout to steer public policy and control the flow of entertainment dollars in and out of the cities at the expense of community ownership and management. For shame. Andy Driscoll Saint Paul -- The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men: Plato > From: "David Brauer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 15:37:49 -0600 > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: RE: [Mpls] Council Votes to Negotiate with Current Theater Managers > > Greg Luce notes: > >> David Brauer [on the position that the Ordway deal would result in its >> monopoly of the big theater market] >> >> No, it is. If you wanted to present a big theater show, where else would you >> play? You'd have to deal with the Ordway. >> >> Me: >> >> I'm still unconvinced, but open to argument. I'll grudgingly accept for >> purposes of this argument that the Ordway deal creates a monopoly on the 'big >> theater show' market in the Twin Cities. But I'm unconvinced that the >> Ordway--or the proposed Twin Cities Theater Alliance--will exhibit >> monopolistic practices, such as artificially inflated ticket prices or, >> conversely, artificially low prices to drive perceived competitors away. >> > I basically agree. While the Ordway deal would create a local theater > monopoly, I don't think the harm is that great overall. It is one point > among many. > > Fundamentally, though, the Historic Theater Group deal seems more certain to > get the theater debt & capital costs off our backs, which is why (for > purposes of Devil's advocacy), I favor that bid in this debate. > > David Brauer Kingfield > > REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager > at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the > troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: > http://e-democracy.org/mpls > > REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
