Shot in the Dark

Gouging

It seemed like a “punk”; the Minneapolis Park Board goes on video and says they’re jacking their “large tent rental” from $60 to $10,000, to take advantage of the Republican National Convention. So much so that I had to double-check to make sure it wasn’t tongue-in-cheek.

No such luck.

Sure enough; the Minneapolis Park Board wants to gouge Republican event planners.

PARK SUPERINTENDENT JON GURBAN: I would then turn over the numbers point to Julie, subbing for Don, who presented these to the mayor and will also report on where we found that new goldmine. No?
PARK COMMISSIONER SCOTT VREELAND: Thank you. Juli Wiseman will be making the staff presentation.
PARK COMMISSIONER CAROL KUMMER: Mr. Chair, just before she gets … Under Strategy 1, I’m assuming the tent rental increase went from $60 to $100, not $10,000. Or is that your goldmine? [general laughter]
GURBAN: No, you’re … Allow me to explain. The small tent rental went to that. But we now have a larger tent rental that somehow coincided with a convention that is coming to town that had a number of requests for LARGE events and gatherings on our property.
KUMMER: It’s not a typo.
GURBAN: No.
KUMMER: Thank you for that good news.

Chris Steller has the video over at the Mindy. See for yourself.

So – now that we know this isn’t some elaborate hoax – you have the Minneapolis City Council actively and publicly planning to gouge the GOP Convention on the one hand, and the President of the Saint Paul City Council publicly expressing his contempt for Republicans on the other, while passing resolutions welcoming the protesters.

Naturaly, I’ll be inviting all the principals to this discussion onto the NARN. Hopefully Superintendent Gurban and Commissioners Vreeland and Kummer will be forthcoming.

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Mitch Berg

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Comments

6 responses to “Gouging”

  1. Chuck Avatar
    Chuck

    I’m sure they will do the same thing during next years gay pride fest. (sarc of course)

  2. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    I’ll bet dollars to donuts that someone in the private sector will be able to provide big tents to the Big Tent Party for significantly less. Republicans are usually smart enough to get a phone book and start dialing. Upshot: these geniuses won’t get their 10 large per tent; they won’t even get the $100 they usually get.

  3. Seflores Avatar
    Seflores

    As a Capitalist, I believe that in the final analysis, something is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. But it gives me pause to think about a supposedly non-partisan government agency (the park board for Pete’s sake!!) gouging out of spite. But, this is what you get when you have a monopoly on the available tents and space and politically appointed employees running the show.
    Question: Are ticket scalpers allowed to operate in in Minneapolis? Are they required to charge face value or can they let the “street” determine what they’ll charge? If not the latter, the city has some explaining to do as to why they are allowed to scalp tent rental, but scalpers are not allowed to charge what the street will bear when/if ever the World Series comes to town.

  4. Shoebox Avatar
    Shoebox

    Ummmmm, I thought the Left was fully against Windfall Profits? I’m sure the park board will be using these Windfall Profits to develop alternative, green cover options?

  5. Bike Bubba Avatar
    Bike Bubba

    Leave it to gummint workers to fail to realize that if they gouge Group A, Groups B, C, D through Z will figure out that holding a convention in St. Paul or Minneapolis leaves them at the mercy of politically motivated twits.

    It’ll be a great time to run a convention center in Omaha, though.

  6. unclebenjamin Avatar
    unclebenjamin

    Isn’t it vexing that you could go to a 5th grade classroom and find more fair-minded and rational people than you can around here? At the very least some of these people have no business controlling any aspect of anybody else’s life. They simply aren’t mature enough.

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