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The City of El Cajon has proposed a closure of the theater on Dec 24, 2009, for 18 to 24 months for some sort of "rennovations". See Recent Media (below) for details.

Our study of how well the theater is performing under CCT:

The following study was performed for the 2006 period.

City provided the information for the operation of the ECPAC theater for 2006. This info was combined with the info on the ECPACLive.com website. No performances shown for Jan, 2006. There were approximately 35 entities with which contracts would have been executed.

Nominal rate for one-day rental: $2500. Cost to run: approximately 4 person-days. Guess $20 per hour. 20*4*8 = $640. Call it $1250, or half of the fee for the room. That would net 50% of the rental fee for the city to account for running the building. Net result is about $150,000 in revenue.

• See also: ECPACTakeover By CCT

35539

143

100295.7

0

47755.42

Headliners

Headliners are defined as Non-CCT/Non-rentals/Non-Locals. All other usage of the theater should be self-funding, as rentals pay for themselves.

Date	Event	Tickets	Days	Rental Fee	Renovation Fee	Comments
03 Mar 2006	Beatles Tribute (Headliner)	858	1		$858.00
27 Apr 2006	Chubby Checker (Headliner)	265	1		$265.00
25 May 2006	Eagles Tribute (Headliner)	292	1		$292.00
16 Sep 2006	An Evening with Elvis (Headliner)	947	1		$947.00
		2362	4	0	2362

How much does CCT/ABM cost the City of El Cajon?

Performance Parameter	Value
Total days rented	32
Average rental rate	$3134
Total Days used by CCT w/o paying rent:	61
Total rent gifted to CCT:	$191,174
Total Days used for "other" performances, not CCT and not rented:	60
Total rent not collected for "other" performances:	$188,040
Total Uncollected Rents:	$379,214
Total Rents Collected and Kept by CCT:	$100,295
Renovation Fees Paid:	($47,755)
Lost Revenue to the City:	$431,754
Subsidy paid by City:	$340,000
Total Loss:	$771,754
Total Loss per attendee:	$21.71

The above figures assume that the same events would occur but management would be handled by the Recreation Department, which is already skilled at handling facility rental agreements. Utilities are already paid separately, and are not included here.

If boosting the economy downtown is the goal, it would probably be more effective to give 35,000 coupons for $20 each to downtown restaurants and businesses.

Notes:

• GCCA: Grossmont Community Concert Association
• GSO: Grossmont Symphony Orchestra

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A request for documents was submitted and we got the response of: "Document Withheld as a Confidential Communication Pursuant to Evidence Code Sections 950-962, Lawyer-Client Privilege."

According to the CPRA:

Pending Litigation Documents
(b) Records pertaining to pending litigation to which the public agency is a party, or to claims made pursuant to Division 3.6 (commencing with Section 810), until the pending litigation or claim has been finally adjudicated or otherwise settled.

Articles and Media (Add | All):

• Activist a common sight recording local meetings -- Ray Lutz is government watchdog -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2010-01-30 Features Raymond Lutz
• A venue to make El Cajon proud -- Editor, Union Tribune, 2010-01-23
• A stage in disrepair -- Editor, Union Tribune, 2010-01-16
• ECPAC Community Forum -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2009-12-16
• THE SHOW “NEEDS” TO GO ON -- Ron Shelby, ", 2009-11-02 Rebuttal to UT Editorial of 2009-10-31
• The Show Need Not Go On -- Don Sevrens, Union Tribune, 2009-10-31
• CCT Termination Agreement for ECPAC Management -- ", City Of El Cajon, 2009-10-13
• Repairs could close arts center for 2 years -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2009-09-24
• ECPAC Expansion Proposal by Pacific Realty Advisors -- ", Pacific Realty Advisors, 2008-05-13 15 related documents. See Also video of the presentation.
• ECPAC Expansion Proposal by Pacific Realty Advisors -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2008-05-13 Includes John Gibson?, Paul Russell?, John Martes, Hamann Company?
• A Convenient Emergency: The ECPAC Sky Is Falling -- Raymond Lutz, Cops Blog, 2007-08-15
• Decaying arts center closed as city weighs repair costs -- Liz Neely, Union Tribune, 2007-08-14
• Misguided management at performing arts center -- Gail Nye, Union Tribune, 2007-08-02
• Theater struggles to find the right fit -- Liz Neely, Union Tribune, 2007-05-29 Damning article showing nearly empty theatre.
• El Cajon shuns light on government by crony -- Raymond Lutz, Union Tribune, 2007-02-22
• East County arts center reports profit: Rentals up 72%, new managers say -- Liz Neely, Union Tribune, 2007-01-24
• ECPAC: The elephant in the room -- Derek Shaw, East County Californian, 2006-07-20
• Arts center foundation, El Cajon reach an agreement -- Liz Neely, Union Tribune, 2006-07-13
• Q&A: Paul Russell; Executive artistic director, East County Performing Arts Center -- Editor, Union Tribune, 2006-06-29
• ECPAC suffers under new operator -- Gail Nye, Union Tribune, 2006-06-06
• A sweetheart deal for new ECPAC operator -- Gail Nye, Union Tribune, 2005-11-17
• Brief History of ECPAC Takeover -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2005-11-01
• WHO’S PULLING THE STRINGS IN EL CAJON? -- ", Citizens Oversight, 2005-06-04
• Around the region: Performing arts centers face business and artistic risks -- Edgar Stemen, Union Tribune, 2005-03-03
• Leaders hear pitch for arts center dining, shops -- Liz Neely, Union Tribune, 2004-03-24

Related Documents

• ArtBeatMgmtAudit.pdf: Art-Beat Mgmt Report
• ECPAC_2006AnnualReport.pdf: ECPAC/Art-Beat Management 2006 Annual Report
• PaulRussell_070605letter.pdf: Letter from Paul Russell requesting lower renovation fees
• ECPAC_Statistics.pdf: ECPAC Statistics
• ECPACMarketingReport.pdf: ECPAC Marketing Report by Jan Heyning commissioned by Arts Center Foundation
• ECPAC_RFP.pdf: ECPAC Request For Proposal (After Arts Center Foundation was terminated)
• ECPAC-CCT_EventCalendar.pdf: ECPAC-CCTEventCalendar. Posted here from their website before it "disappears."