I noted earlier this week how I could hear Greensboro City Council member Robbie Perkins take charge of the discussion surrounding coliseum director Matt Brown’s plan to divert food service grants toward his amphitheater.
As you can probably imagine, the Rhino took note as well:
Perkins sounded like a prosecutor who has gone over and over the testimony of a key witness in court and can’t wait for them to answer the questions. Perkins asked Brown if the Ovations money, in addition to building the VIP lounge, could be used to finish the amphitheater, and Brown said that it could. The emphasis by Perkins and (fellow council member Nancy) Vaughan and Brown was that no taxpayer money would be used on these projects. But no one suggested that the Coliseum would operate at less of a deficit if these facilities were built.
The $140,000 in revenue the amphitheater would bring in sounds slack to me, considering —as John Hammer notes — the fact that the coliseum operates at a $1.5 million annual deficit.
Meanwhile, the N&R —- no surprise —- sticks up for Matt Brown.
