Alerus Center Has Lost $508,000 YTD!

Ken McCracken • October 28, 2009

The Grand Forks Alerus Center

Financial Disaster on the Prairie
Compared to $173,000 last year for the same period.
The link says that these figures don’t seem to include the $225,000 the city has transferred to them over the summer. So Does that mean they’ve lost the $508,000 or is it more like $733,000? It’s not clear. That in itself says a lot about the Alerus Gang. It’s not hard to make the figures clear. But to do that you’d have to WANT to be transparent. This gang wants to keep the public in the dark as much as they can.
A lot of information is coming out of today’s Alerus Commission meeting. The losses as certainly stunning as compared with last year. It’s really no surprise considering the gross mismanagement coming out of the Alerus Commission as well as the Venuworks.
They’re claiming NOW that they expect to show a loss of $120,000 plus the $97,000 they lost on the Britney Spears concert. That and buck will buy you a cup of coffee at McDonalds. Just this summer the Alerus Gang was claiming that they were going to break even.
The link says that the Alerus Commission is going to invoke the clause in their contract that VenuWorks wouldn’t get paid on their management contract if they lose money. What about last year? The same provision was there but as far as anyone can figure out the Alerus Commission let them off of the hook. City Council Member Terry Bjerke has been pushing that and I think we can give him credit for holding VenuWorks to their contract.
The Alerus Gang is still pushing their BS economic development meme, which assumes that money spent at Alerus events would have never been spent in town otherwise.
The Alerus Gang, they can’t manage and they can’t be honest. What can they do?
Note: I’ve not explained my term Alerus Gang for quite a while. When it comes to the Alerus we have a number of individual groups that work together to mislead and/or milk the public. They include the Alerus Commission, VenuWorks Management company, a majority of the City Council, the Grand Forks Herald and certain community leaders. I chose the term “Alerus Gang” to refer to all (or a portion) of them as is appropriate.

Update:
True to form the Grand Forks Herald Headline reported as a fact that the Alerus was going to lose $120,000. In the fourth paragraph he admitted that doesn’t include all of the loss, specifically the Britney losses. Nice misleading the public there.
I also noted that the January through September accounted for the lowest attendance that the Alerus has ever had during that period. I’m not reading that much into that figure since there weren’t any Sioux home football games during that period. You’d have to look at the numbers a bit closer to get a true picture.
Another Thought: Tran reported constantly the the Alerus ticket sales were going great. When it turned out not to be the case he never called them on the carpet for intentionally lying to the newspaper. I guess accurate news is not a priority over there.

Tags: North Dakota News

http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

Unless you go to, say, Michigan, where Dems and liberals have caused an actual meltdown of massive proportions. Median home price in Detroit is $7,500. Put one on your credit card, Dino! Stimulate the liberal economy you so desperately want for the rest of the nation!
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

Paragary’s in Sacramento has quite the reputation. I understand that the Stockton “Paragary’s” will be or has been sold and if it stays open, will be under different management.
ec99

As Mr. Peabody implies above, the Alerus holds all the cards at this point: powerful people on the commission and council who support it, other bigwigs in the community who do the same, and the local paper which constantly pumps the place, inventing successes for it and downplaying (or not reporting) failures. Given that situation, it is no wonder why Alerus officials have the chutzpah to call critics “morons,” and fear no retribution. It’s no wonder the status quo of huge losses, burning through cash, outright lies and deceptions as regards bookkeeping, continue.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

You North Dakotans are such pikers! Here in Stockton, we have our own performing arts venue, the Bob Hope theater, a renovated and restored movie theater converted for concerts, that runs in the red, plus we have our own ball stadium and marina all run by ciity hall, in the red, and the marina alone will lose $700,000 a year (seven times the projected loss).

Come cry in your beer when you can lose money like a Californian!
sayanything-106

Time to vote some of the city leaders out of office.
sayanything-463

I guess I don’t quite understand.
There is money coming into the Alerus and there is money going out of the Alerus.
12 year olds are taught how to do a budget.
I can pretty much balance a checkbook.
What is so dang hard about reporting the totals for the Alerus?
Because anonymous people are doing the asking? (as complained about by the GF Herald City Beat author)

I would think if the numbers cannot be produced, either something is being hidden or we need new people running the place.
ec99

Won’t happen. They have the time, the money, and the influence and name recognition to run the town. Gershman can leave his liquor store at 11:00 am for a meeting, I can’t. Nor can his employees. As with many towns this size, there is an aristocracy that runs it. Everyone knows their names. And they want the Alerus, and will keep it, and present the rest of us with the bill.
ec99

Well congrats, Anon. You seem to have some pull with the Herald. Don’t know if that can be construed as a compliment or not.
ec99

Don’t ever expect to see any legitmate financial information about the Alerus. The commission won’t allow it, the council won’t allow it, the Herald won’t allow it. And there seems to be no recourse for the truth of the matter.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

I can see that we have a lot to look forward to.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

Harping about the identity of the people questioning the place is just a
shabby way of attacking the messenger.

If it wasn’t for I and some other’s having to do this anonymously he’d find
some other way to make it personal.

That’s just the way he is.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

simple-minded miscreants with the intellectual agility of a soap dish.

Projection on your part, Din? Or one of your aspirations to someday be that smart?

Do you get paid by the word, Din, or by how many threads you actually hijack?
sayanything-106

Awesome article Whistler…
Anon

508K, + 97K, + 225K, + 500K (tax subsidy), that’s over a 1.3M operating loss if the year ended tomorrow.

Who are the people/entities that are paying for the suites with virtually no events?
How much revenue does that amount to annually?
Are they paying full price to help offset the operating loss and burden to the taxpayer?
Or, are the suites now just all discounted and virtually given to the Alerus Gang and their cronies?

I’d like to know!!!
Anon

Okay, now I’m freaked out. Shortly after I asked the prior question about Alerus suite revenue, The Herald updated their story with info on the suites.
sayanything-4416

Pretty easy to point out anyone or anything losing money after the meltdown caused by years of destructive conservative rule.
bikebubba

And it doesn’t even start to cover the capital cost of building it. Real loss: millions, if not tens of millions, this year.

Ouch.
sayanything-453

STFU Goon.
sayanything-4416

Oh, that’s right! Michigan isn’t part of the same country run by republicans that went into meltdown.

The state with the worst budget situation is Arizona, a republican-controlled state for decades. Nevada, Alabama, South Carolina and a host of republican states are also in the sh*tter.

I do find it funny how you disgusting slugs glom onto Michigan’s troubles and try and attribute it to liberals when the state is far from, nor has it ever been “liberal.” In fact, liberalism has been in retreat in this country for…..wait for it……30 years.

You’re just simple-minded miscreants with the intellectual agility of a soap dish.
sayanything-453

This Stockton milkmaid was pushed and built by Republican ultraconservative mayor Gary Podesto. They have a clause in the contract that stipulates that the city council and city employees cannot criticize the management company. To top it off the Podesto gang paid over $2,000,000 dollars of tax payer money to help a private restaurateur to open “Paragary’s Bar and Grill.” To sweeten the deal, and screw the tax payers some more the city signed a 5 year lease offering the paragary group rent free space for his restaurant.

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Alerus Center Has Lost $508,000 YTD!

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