Popular Posts

Tuesday, October 01, 2019

Public Information Act Request: National Folk Festival 2018

Mr. King,

In response to your MPIA request for: 2018 Folk Festival: What was the operational budget for the festival (line by line and abstract). Including budgeted items and actual numbers or costs (line by line). This should include costs of bands, police security, porta potties, construction, etc...
How much was the grant money that was received and who supplied the grant with contact information. How much money did the city have to spend to match grant. How much overall did the festival cost the city. How many people attended the festival - broken down day by day and grand total. Who was the organizer of the festival and how much was that person paid. Also, the cost to pay employees and their names that helped run the festival (line by line). How much (in dollars) did the city benefit from the festival (line by line and estimate of all businesses benefits). A copy of the contract between the City of Salisbury and the National Folk Festival; year by year (including costs/payment to the National Folk Festival for helping the city organize the festival). Also, line by line. In total and line by line, where did the city get the money for the Folk Festival. How much tax money was used for the Folk Festival. Budgeted money for the 2019 folk festival and all donors (such as the county, company donors, personal donors etc...) All line by line,”
  please see the following information and attached documents. Answers will be provided in the order with which the questions occur in your request:
1.       What was the operational budget for the festival (line by line and abstract). Including budgeted items and actual numbers or costs (line by line). This should include costs of bands, police security, porta potties, construction, etc...
As mentioned in my previous response, the National Folk Festival’s budget is overseen by the Salisbury Arts & Entertainment District, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity. Their website can be found at https://www.salisburyartsdistrict.com/, if you have any further questions about the budget, please reach out to them.  I will only be able to provide you with the information I have access to, which will be limited to what happens on the municipal side.  Line-by-line expenses will only be available directly through them.
2.       How much was the grant money that was received and who supplied the grant with contact information. How much money did the city have to spend to match grant.Please see attached documents: Ord2508, Ord2514, and Ord2518.  For future reference, all City ordinances are publically accessible and searchable by key term (such as “National Folk Festival grant”) on the City website at https://salisbury.md/departments/city-clerk, or simply go to www.salisbury.com and click on “departments” on the right.

3.       How much overall did the festival cost the city.The 2018 National Folk Festival cost the City of Salisbury $160,534.94  This how that number breaks out:

a.       $80,263.51: Business Development Department’s budget, provided to you in response to you previous MPIA request, and reattached to this reply as “Business_Development_NFF1”
b.       $64,853.99: National Folk Festival Local Director Caroline O’Hare’s salary
c.       $15,417.44: Material cost for the City’s Field Operations division, as provided in response to your previous MPIA request, and reattached to this reply as “NFF_Material_Costs1”

4.        How many people attended the festival - broken down day by day and grand total


             Please See below:

HOURLY DEVICE COUNT – WEEKEND OF 8/17 – 8/19


12pm
1pm
2pm
3pm
4pm
5pm
6pm
7pm
8pm
9pm
10pm
Fri 8/17
3RD FRIDAY





2960
1708
1407
960
798
Sat 8/18
912
945
1102
1070
1060
1077
1114
965
981
864
669
Sun 8/19
922
1113
966
1094
858
877
998






HOURLY DEVICE COUNT – WEEKEND OF 8/24 – 8/26


12pm
1pm
2pm
3pm
4pm
5pm
6pm
7pm
8pm
9pm
10pm
Fri 8/24






1364
1225
1021
902
740
Sat 8/25
1375
1555
1366
1242
1043
1163
1083
1128
854
804
743
Sun 8/26
1231
1132
1105
1135
970
957
1001






HOURLY DEVICE COUNT – WEEKEND OF 8/31 – 9/2


12pm
1pm
2pm
3pm
4pm
5pm
6pm
7pm
8pm
9pm
10pm
Fri 8/31






1529
1455
1170
1101
1034
Sat 9/1
2048
1788
1499
1720
1427
1456
1488
1330
1230
1078
889
Sun 9/2
1592
1267
1332
1231
1196
1130
1100




  

HOURLY DEVICE COUNT  - AVERAGE NON-FOLK-FESITVAL WEEKEND TRAFFIC


12pm
1pm
2pm
3pm
4pm
5pm
6pm
7pm
8pm
9pm
10pm
Fri Average






1951
1463
1199
988
857
Sat Average
1445
1429
1322
1344
1177
1232
1228
1141
1022
915
767
Sun Average
1248
1171
1134
1153
1008
988
1033




  

HOURLY DEVICE COUNT – FOLK FESTIVAL WEEKEND 9/7 – 9/9


12pm
1pm
2pm
3pm
4pm
5pm
6pm
7pm
8pm
9pm
10pm
Fri 9/7






5310
7804
6931
5629
2759
Sat 9/8
4904
5918
7535
7158
7248
6833
7332
6647
5508
5304
4398
Sun 9/9
3106
3567
3727
3128
3368
3223
2217






HOURLY DEVICE COUNT  - % INCREASE FOR FESTIVAL TRAFFIC


12pm
1pm
2pm
3pm
4pm
5pm
6pm
7pm
8pm
9pm
10pm
Fri






272%
534%
578%
570%
322%
Sat
339%
414%
570%
533%
616%
555%
597%
583%
539%
579%
573%
Sun
249%
305%
329%
271%
334%
326%
215%





  
This includes paid city staff, volunteers, etc.  It also doesn’t account for people without mobile devices such as ‘off the grid’ people, older people who might not use technology, and the very young.

 We then pulled the Number of Sessions over Time for the weekend.  This shows people who were at the festival for 5+ minutes.  This eliminates all people who were driving by.
  
Average total devices in the Festival footprint for the 3 weekends prior to the Festival for 5 minutes or more:

Friday
13,116
Saturday
10,077
Sunday
7,634

  
Total devices in the Festival footprint during the Folk Festival for 5 minutes or more:
  
Friday
32,096
Saturday
49,164
Sunday
16,671


Gross Total – 97,931 devices in the footprint during the 3 day Festival

Net total (removing the average device count (30,827)  from festival total) – 67,104  new devices detected over the weekendAfter applying the algorithm which accounts for standard deviation from the norm, the City estimated 63,000 attendees.


5.       Also, the cost to pay employees and their names that helped run the festival (line by line).
This response is, ,admittedly, not ready, and for that I apologize.  Due to an miscommunication on my part, the numbers I sourced are the totals, and are not broken down by name.  I ask that you allow me an extra day as allowed under GP § 4-203(d)(1) of the MPIA to produce the names.  Please bear in mind that there may be redactions made for undercover SPD officers, or those acting in sensitive capacities whose identities are protected by law.  The time periods imposed by GP § 4-203 may be extended, with the consent of the applicant, for an additional period not to exceed 30 days, which I ask you to do as the response to this request and the others you have submitted have required extensive work by multiple agencies to compile.  I can produce this response no later than close of business tomorrow, 9/17/2018.

6.       How much (in dollars) did the city benefit from the festival (line by line and estimate of all businesses benefits).Please see the attached document: Beacon_NFF_Impact. This document is readily and publically available online, and was found with a Google search.
7.       A copy of the contract between the City of Salisbury and the National Folk Festival; year by year (including costs/payment to the National Folk Festival for helping the city organize the festival). Also, line by line. In total and line by line, where did the city get the money for the Folk Festival. How much tax money was used for the Folk Festival.
Budgeted money for the 2019 folk festival and all donors (such as the county, company donors, personal donors etc...) All line by line
This information falls under the purview of the Arts & Entertainment District.
8.        Also, line by line. In total and line by line, where did the city get the money for the Folk Festival. How much tax money was used for the Folk Festival.As elucidated in point 3 above, the 2018 National Folk Festival cost the City of Salisbury $160,534.94.  That is the cost to the taxpayer.
9.       Budgeted money for the 2019 folk festival and all donors (such as the county, company donors, personal donors etc...) All line by linePlease see above for the City’s contributions.  Beyond the information I’ve provided, everything else you seek falls under the purview of the Arts & Entertainment District, as mentioned in our previous correspondence.
I will respond to point 5 in full tomorrow, with your approval.  Should you not wish to grant the extra time, I would urge you to contact the State of Maryland’s PIA Ombudsman to voice your concerns.  Their office exists to ensure that municipalities and their PIOs hew to the letter of the law, and I expect to be held to no less a standard than anyone else.

Please don’t hesitate to let me know if I can be of any further service in this matter.

Sincerely,
Christopher M. Demone

10 comments:

  1. 1 employee salary benefit 85 thousand for arts district. The city funds the place. What for? The city just throws money at the place. Wake up people

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can hardly wait until Wayne King takes the Office of Salisbury’s Mayor and pulls the plug on this stupid Folk Festival, 3rd Friday crap and stupid bike lanes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Is this the Caroline O'Hare, the wife of Dan from Ocean Pines, the anti American who answered a question that he does not want to hear the national anthem played and stated on Facebook "As if I needed more proof that Europe is better than America."?

    ReplyDelete
  4. So does the money spent on the Folk Festival include things like paving main Street and then ripping it up again? Does it include the $95k vinyl wrap on the parking garage? Doubt it.
    The Chris Demone sure sounds nice in the letter. Wonder if it's because he knows he's writing it to his next boss.

    ReplyDelete
  5. If Wayne King wins I would hope his first order would be to get rid of idiots like Chris Demone. He is a pos.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I hope their is one more thing on the horizon before the Mayoral Election and that is a debate between Day & King, that would really tie the election up. After this the costs of the Festival, we just now need to see face to face answers on the Salisbury true # 1 crime stats, where $ has been allocated by the City Council & Jake Day since his term in office, the euthanasia of the 400+ geese real answers as to what was done with them & verification of where they were received, The depreciation of the city housing inspections, rental properties & slum lords accountability, the unfinished deplorable streets, and over extended construction all over the city. The outrageous foreclosures, and properties turned back over to owners who never paid taxes and morgages, and are further still bringing crime and filth to a higher level than ever before. Accountability for a city not on the lines with the Mayor's beloved Inner Harbor, but more like "little Chicago". BRING THE DEBATE ON KING WILL WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. If the 501 c3 received funds from the city's Budget (check the nonprofits receiving grants like SNHS or the Food bank, maybe) and see if this group is on the list, also if there were any pass through grants. If so, I believe the city has a reporting requirement. If there are public funds available the budget should be disclosed. If the mayor is an honest broker he would help you work with the nonprofit to receive what you’ve requested. It’s not the festival that I dislike it’s the lying and deception by the mayor and the city.

    ReplyDelete
  8. When will the sidewalks and curbing be done on Rt 13 south of PRMC ?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi All,
    Every time I put a PIA request in, city hall makes sure I always wait the full 30 days. The PIA I have on the geese should take 10 minutes to put together, but I am sure I will be waiting the full 30 days once again.
    I smell corruption. I am very disappointed in our political system. Day and I should be discussing issues. Meanwhile, his progressive cronies are constantly attacking me on my FB page. Making crap up, being rude, using fake FB identities, and acting like a bunch of children that can't find their toy. These progressives are pathetic with their temper tantrums and act like a bunch of bullies. Like Jake! What they don't realize is that I don't give a crap! Bring it on! We need to get these people out of power.

    To the progressives, "you don't scare me!"

    Wayne King
    Future Mayor of Salisbury

    ReplyDelete
  10. Debate is October 23rd at 6pm at Guerrieri Hall, Salisbury University. Show up early and get up front, in front of the snowflakes.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.