Community Corner
Royal Oak's Gross Revenue from Arts, Beats & Eats Down for 2013
Despite a drop in gross revenue, City Manager Don Johnson is hopeful the city will break even.
Despite a 10 percent drop in attendance at this year's Arts, Beats & Eats (ABE) festival, Royal Oak City Manager Don Johnson's spirits remain high.
With tentative numbers in place, Johnson is optimistic the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), which invests $100,000 in ABE, will be fully repaid.
Early numbers show gross revenue from parking during the four-day festival is $328,550, down from $430,330 in 2012.
Johnson noted the city lost $73,185 in gross revenue from the Oakland Community College parking structure. Earlier this year, the community college informed the city it could no longer collect $15 per vehicle at its parking structure located at Washington and Lincoln.
In addition to parking, the city also received revenue from sponsorships from Oakland County and DTE Energy, Johnson said.
"Gross revenue is down approximately 8 percent from last year, after adjusting for OCC," Johnson said.
The City Manager noted the city is getting better at spending "less and less" as they learn from experience. The festival is now in its fourth year in Royal Oak.
"We'll probably be able to fully repay the DDA," Johnson said. "Unfortunately, we won't be able to put any money into the parks."
In August, Royal Oak announced net income from official Arts, Beats & Eats public parking lots would go into the Park Improvement Fund where it would be exclusively used for park improvements.
Floods, fire and a shooting
The City Manager reports high marks for Royal Oak's Department of Public Service and police and fire staff who had to deal with a number of issues over the long holiday weekend. In addition to keeping festivalgoers safe, city staff was busy with flooding, a fire and a shooting outside the festival footprint during the four days.
"We certainly had a few things we had to deal with," Johnson said. "On Friday, we had a lot of stalled cars, including one police car."
Many calls for service were made Friday night after heavy rains downed power lines and flooded Royal Oak streets and basements.
Late Monday afternoon, firefighters worked quickly to extinguish a fire in the 1500 block of North Main Street, while earlier in the day police investigated the shooting death of a 61-year-old Royal Oak man at the Main Street Lofts at the corner of 11 Mile Road and Main Street. Police say Randy Michael Bergeron may have accidentally shot himself.
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