 For
the past several years, I have regularly excoriated Reno mayor Jeff
Griffin for his uncontrollable CEO ego. It started on KUNR radio
during his election campaign when Griffin referred to homeless people
as "human debris." When no one challenged such a bigoted and intolerant
statement, I called in and chewed his ass.For dictatorial corporate
chiefs, morality and legality just get in the way of quick action. Griffin
has wilfully participated in bending, if not breaking, Nevada's open
meeting law. Because of secret, less-than-quorum serial meetings, the
voters rightly sensed some subrosa skulduggery in the OliverMcMillan
downtown redevelopment deal. The winner was announced before competing
presentations were made. One bidder was even advised not to show up.The OliverMcMillan outfit
got the city's choicest river frontage and multi-millions on top without
competitive bids. The great unwashed did get invited to some sham input
sessions last week, the equivalent of suggesting carpet colors for a
home bought site unseen. Griffin nonetheless thinks the process has
been fair. "I think that we've been very open," he told KOLO TV-8's
Sam Shad on October 4."We created a task force
for design guidelines that said here's what the setbacks have to be
along the river, here's how tall the buildings can be," Griffin said.
Worthless work. Turns out that OM's deal with Regal Theaters gives the
movie exhibitor full and final say over riverfront design. They can
leave a dark alley if they want. The council never bothered to inquire
before its rah-rah 6-1 vote. (Only Judy Herman voted nay.)The mayor may be temperamentally
unsuited for office, but once in awhile, Griffin's business acumen surfaces
and we are well served. When Mr. Shad asked if the whole package represents
a good deal for the citizens, Griffin told the brutal truth."Well, I'm a business
person, so I will say right out of the chute that this is not, as a
business deal, a good deal. No question, I have never portrayed this
as a good business deal," the mayor said. "Keeping in mind that redevelopment
never generally makes economic sense, but within the guidelines of economic
development projects, does this make sense? The answer is 'yes,'" he
added in unintended testament to the curious moral obtuseness of conservative
officialdom when it's merely public money pissed away."I personally am a conservative
businessman. I think the role of government is extremely limited," he
meandered. "In terms of what we are doing here, we are being limited,"
he added.Right. They are limiting
themselves to not only giving away the store, but all of its cash flow
for the foreseeable future. What a businessman.He
also made a shocking revelation. Contrary to previous public statements,
the city did research the market feasibility of more movie theaters.
Prior to this, the only known current survey was done by Regal Theaters
which refused to give it to the council."As part of our due diligence,
we did a market survey," Griffin said. "There's a market in Reno and
Sparks - forget about Carson and so forth - for around 34 screens. That's
about what's on the drawing board and what's going to actually be built."Zounds. Even allowing
for demolition of the existing old Century 11-screen complex on S. Virginia
St., 59 screens will soon serve Washoe County with another couple dozen
planned.No wonder Regal refused
to reveal its research. It would show an oversaturated market. So why
would two big, fat rich companies like Syufy/Century and Regal invest
in Reno and Sparks? Because the theaters are a meaningless part of the
equation, the gambling district equivalent of storage buildings.Real estate speculators
frequently buy land in growing areas and build storage sheds. The rentals
provide income until they can sell and turn a fat profit on value appreciation.
Whether or not the business made money is not an issue. An operating
loss just means tax benefits. Buying low and selling high is the name
of the game.Both Regal and Syufy/Century
have acquired choice dirt, cheap. They will run storage lockers...er,
theaters, for a few years, all the while looking for opportunities to
turn the property at a profit. Nothing else makes sense. Syufy's deal
with Sparks says it must operate theaters for only five years.Out-of-state business
moguls have once again taken the hicks for a ride, obtaining huge public
subsidies and title to choice property at far below true value.We should thank Mayor
Griffin for his honesty. When engaged by Mr. Shad in a thoughtful discussion,
the no-nonsense businessman came through. Griffin knows redevelopment
is lousy business deal for the city and said so.The current Reno council,
like its predecessors, does goofy things for no good reason. It is bickering
and divided, usually unable to make up its mind—just like its constituents.
The operative management philosophy under Griffin is "do something,
even if it's wrong."The least our councilcritters
should do is perpetuate the fiction of listening before acting, suffering
many idiots because you represent them, too. Running for and serving
in office tends to make some people more tolerant. Perhaps the brusque
business mogul-mayor will leave more mellow than when he came. His honest
disclosure to Mr. Shad gives hope. [Editor's note: Read
Griffin five years down the road. It appears this was a one-time-only
flirtation with the truth.]MEDIA BLACKOUT DEPT.
Nevada PBS TV stations have yet to schedule "Fear & Favor in the Newsroom."
I suggest those having video dishes simply steal it off the bird next
Sunday, Nov. 9, 7:00-8:00 p.m. EST. Check schedule 586 on the National
Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) satellite. Run dubs
so your friends can see how corporations and governments doctor the
news. If you want the producers to get a fair return, send donations.Narrated by Pulitzer
Prize winner Studs Terkel, the show tells how corporate and government
influence keep you blissfully in the dark. If information is power,
this show demonstrates how increasingly powerless the undermonied are
becoming.Corporate media uniformly
kept unsavory video of dead women and children off the air in order
to properly promote the Gulf War. We didn't want to believe pro-life
George Bush, compliant Gen. Powell and huggy bear Stormin'
Norman were really baby killers, did we? The media saw how pro-war
euphoria boosted ratings and thus participated in perpetrating the fiction.
There was no pro-war point of view during 1991, remember? The media
presented only two sides: anti-war or support-the-troops.I was the best kind of
supporter of the troops—I didn't want them to go to war.Fear & Favoritism reveals
how the PBS Jim Lehrer News Hour censored a report about Nevada
and California nuke dumping. It demonstrates how powerful the nuclear
utility industry and the government can be when suppressing negative
nuclear news, even at the New York Times.It tells how news of
Guatemalan labor unrest never made U.S. TV. Producer Allan Nairn
says "In all there were more than a dozen American firms where workers
attempting to organize unions were assassinated. At the Coca-cola plant
more than a dozen workers were assassinated."Prestigious reporter
and editor Sydney Schanberg of "The Killing Fields" fame was
fired from the New York Times for writing a column on local corruption.
He later became one of a few courageous reporters who sued to break
the Pentagon's total control of Gulf War news. No major media reported
on the suit, let alone joined it.In a segment reminiscent
of several Nevada scandals, Fear & Favoritism tells of San Jose car
dealers successfully pressuring the San Jose Mercury News. No wonder
this show took an act of God to produce. Local PBS stations just don't
want to piss off potential corporate donors.Let PBS program directors
know you want the awful truth. E-mail betsy_dickinson@knpb.pbs.org for
northern Nevada or patty_thaxton@kuat.pbs.org for southern Nevada. You
may call them, respectively, at (775) 784-4555 or (520) 299-1866. You
can preview audio and video at www.speakeasy.org/citizen/thismonth.htmlBe well. Raise hell.
Andrew
Barbano, a Reno-based syndicated columnist and 29-year Nevadan, is
editor of U-News.Barbwire by Barbano has
originated in the Daily Sparks Tribune since 1988.Nevada Instant Type in Sparks and both Office Depot Reno locations. |
