See update:
https://blnnews.com/2019/10/31/update-to-hiding-bcpa-numbers/
By: Diane Benjamin
Read this one slow! Lots of info to absorb.
The ONLY mention of the BCPA in the just released financial statements is the number of employees – PDF page 194 https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23337
First, note the BCPA is part of Parks and Recreation. Second, celebrate the number of employees has decreased. More on that in a minute.
The two charts below of Parks and Recreation are from pages 195 – 196. The title is operating indicators, it means number of people. Since it goes over 2 pages with the titles not on page 2, I added them to make it easier to read.
The first thing to notice is the BCPA doesn’t have it’s own line!
Page 1
Page 2
The Ice Center isn’t Pepsi anymore, but why change it years later. Why is the BCPA listed under employees, but it isn’t listed above?
Pools, Zoo, Golf, and Ice Rink all get a line, but we can’t know how many people actually attended events at the BCPA?
Note – Zoo attendance goes up when a new exhibit is added, then drops down. The increase never covers to cost of the exhibit.
Golf is down, Ice Center is down. Program attendance is down – this likely includes summer programs and things like the Lincoln Leisure Center. If the BCPA is included attendance is dismal.
Who are the 11 eleven employees and how much do they cost you?
That one is also hidden. Only two employees on the annual compensation report have BCPA in their job title: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=21565
I found 7 other employees on the arts website: https://www.artsblooming.org/about/bcpa-staff
Wegrzynski must be a new employee, he wasn’t on last years compensation report.
This one might be a BCPA employee, but she isn’t listed on the website.
So far just salaries is $505,280.77. These salaries may not be for an entire year. I don’t know the salary of one and the employee list claims 11 employees. This is only 10.
The 11th employee might be the fundraiser hired for the Creativity Center. We aren’t allowed to know how much she has raised though: (State secret) See the story below.
The budget for last year is in this story: https://blnnews.com/2019/01/26/what-no-one-in-bloomington-talks-about/
One thing is clear, the BCPA does not pay for itself. That means all the Bloomington taxpayers who will never attend a $30-$40-$50 or more show are subsidizing those that do.
It is also clear BCPA operations are kept as secret as possible. Events must not have a specific time to be posted. It appears to be when I FOIA them.
The BCPA must be Quality of Life for rich people. I’d love to hear any other explanation.
More information that may explain the problem:
As taxpayers, should we not know the number of attendees and the profit/loss of the programs we pay for? I don’t get the secrecy! Could someone exxplain, please? thanks.
THEFT!
Add David Young, Ryan High, and Nicholas Niemerg to your list of BCPA employees.
In addition to the names ones?
Most likely some BCPA staff are “hidden” in other parks and rec areas in the employee count and budget. They used to be separate departments – long ago since merged and probably hiding the true numbers.
It seems like the BCPA employs more people than the attendance of an average event. Ha! It’s the new government hack jobs program for the friends of Tari and his cronies. When I lived in BN not so long ago, the BCPA cast itself as a humble arts program with a handful of employees that depended on an army of passionate volunteers. As I long suspected, this doesn’t seem to be the case. The attendance is most likely not listed because it’s so dismal, while the expenses seem hidden within other cultural, parks and rec expenses. The “Cultural Commission” is a very Maoist sounding name. Many of the listed members are known loonies. Racki was behind the police civilian review board and runs a race-baiting non-profit, while Richards, Mathy, Stiller, and (not so) Smart are all champions of big government and pom-pom cheerleaders for Tari.
We should point out that some events at the BCPA are subsidized by people from the community. For example, the recent Black Violin show was well attended and subsidized by local doctors. I should add that the show was really very good. I had never heard of them before, but I was so glad I went.
The event numbers are right there in the report under “Cultural District”.
There is no line that says Cultural District
https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23337
The finance statements are searchable. Find any page that says Cultural District.
Copied from the report PDF – sorry for the formatting
Parks and Recreation:
Recreation program attendance (FY 2019) 163,414 148,857 146,140 139,320
Aquatics program attendance (FY 2019) 40,849 48,695 57,091 57,861
Pepsi Ice Center (FY 2019) 145,000 133,616 165,000 168,000
Golf rounds played (Calendar 2018) 75,200 76,337 68,367 72,349
Miller Park Zoo attendance (Calendar 2018) 112,133 101,182 111,863 107,082
Street trees maintained (Calendar Year 2018) 4,552 6,012 8,590 7,488
Cultural District:
Events (Calendar 2018) 463 498 469 534
Attendance (Calendar 2018) 98,388 86,227 82,880 83,345
What report?
Now I see it! Those numbers are dismal! Sure you want people to see them?
The same one you just linked to! And I searched cultural district and it came up twice in the report – one instance being the one I copied and pasted.
Really? Diane, I respect your right to have opinions and to express them, but it drives me absolutely crazy when you write things that are not true and act like they are gospel. The only times I feel compelled to post are those where your posts include things that are patently false – like the post you removed regarding the city’s ethics board. Now, when you are confronted with posting inaccurate information your response is to denigrate instead of simply saying “my bad, I guess the numbers are there after all”. I really do not understand, but whatever. Keep on trucking.
I’m happy to correct anything that isn’t right. I’m doing a story now with those numbers. I don’t remember the story about ethics, but again I will fix anything that is wrong!