I wrote this week about the city’s efforts to raise money for Mardi Gras by asking locals and visitors alike to donate money via text message. Really no response on my thoughts other than by Chick Ciccarelli who works for MediaBuys LLC, the company that the City of New Orleans has worked with for the last 18 months to find a sponsor or sponsors for Mardi Gras. Here is his response:
“You may really have gone off the deep end. The Paypal Text To Give program is not a scam. It is the “Support” portion of the Mardi Gras Sponsorship and Support program. Our company’s job is to help offset costs of Mardi Gras, whether it be from sponsors or individuals. The program is designed not only to help offset Mardi Gras costs underserved by corporate sponsorship involvement, pay for city infrastructure repairs underserved by slow moving government funding but also to tap into public support due to lack of help from Katrina Relief (501c3) organizations.While you are making fun of helping New Orleans, what you should be doing is donating to the cause. You can do so by visiting http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?tabid=86.”
In my initial post, I did not even mention MediaBuys. I wrote about the effort last Mardi Gras and didn’t feel the need to point out what everyone living here already knows. The attempt to sell sponsorships for Mardi Gras by MediaBuys LLC has been a failure.
At first I thought I would just blow off Chick’s comments. Free country, welcome to post anything he wants to really. But as I was in the shower, preparing for a beautiful parade day, I couldn’t get what Chick wrote out of my head and felt the need to respond.
The radio station (AM 690 WIST) has City Council Vice President Arnie Fielkow on at least once a month to discuss the state of the city. Mr. Fielkow was vice-president of the New Orleans Saints before being fired by Tom Benson for pushing the team to play games in the state of Louisiana last season. He was involved in corporate style fund-raising/sponsorships for many years with the Saints. The last time we had him on, Mr. Fielkow stated matter of fact that MediaBuys LLC has failed in their efforts to sell Mardi Gras. This isn’t to say that MediaBuys did not try hard, nor does it mean they are not a good company. It just means they failed. None of us, individual or company, succeeds 100 % of the time. But after 18 months of having the ability to find sponsors, yet not finding any with a large cash donation, it’s time to go in another direction.
Now I was unaware that the Mardi Gras sponsorships were intended to “pay for city infrastructure repairs underserved by slow moving government funding but also to tap into public support due to lack of help from Katrina Relief (501c3) organizations”. That is a new one from my vantage point. The selling of Mardi Gras sponsorships, the public was told anyway, was to pay for the event itself. Period. No one in city government has EVER said publicly that this was to help pay for other issues.
Blaming Katrina Relief organizations for not stepping up to the plate? You’re kidding hopefully. If not for the efforts of thousands of everyday Joe’s and Jane’s, we would have 100,000 un-gutted homes instead of 12,000. Without Habitat for Humanity shipping houses down here faster than Ray Nagin can shave his bald dome, no one would be back or even have a chance at coming back. Even with all the help from these organizations, we still have firehouses based in trailers, people living in tents, a homeless population out of control and a city that mentally is hanging on by a thread. I guess Chick and the city think they should give up the efforts they are making and just give Ray a big blank check.
Chick thinks I should stop making fun of the text message-begging plan and do my part by donating. Hmmm. Chick I live in Orleans Parish. I pay taxes on everything I buy in Orleans parish. I try not to buy anything outside the parish so I can help in my own little way. Even though it cost more in Orleans Parish and the taxes are higher. I drive through the destruction (yes, there is still destruction) twice a day. Everyday. I see it, breath it, live it 365, 24, 7. I pay the parking tickets that arrive on the car at 10:30 at night, when the meter maids are suppose to have been in bed. I walk through my city’s streets with one eye ahead and one behind to make sure I’m not shot, mugged, beaten and robbed or a combination of all three.
I am Vice-President of the corporation that owns the radio station I oversee on a daily basis. We are investing millions of dollars in rebuilding the radio station in New Orleans. We have not and will not attempt to get grants or SBA loans because we feel that there are other businesses that need those things more than we do. Is that smart? Maybe not. Replacement costs are double what they would have been before Katrina. But we decided to tighten the belt and make it happen. We talk about recovery 9 hours a day, Monday through Friday. Do you have any idea how difficult that is Chick? Do you have any idea how much people depend on us to get them information that can inform, enlighten and entertain them to get through another day?
That my friend is what I’m doing to help MY city recover. Your effort has been commendable. But the bottom line is that MediaBuys attempts to sell Mardi Gras have been a failure. Thank you for the attempt, but it’s time to find a company that can really get it done instead of turning our city in a panhandler.
