The Miseducation of William Reed

Metro reported today that William Reed, the owner of Johnny Brenda's and the Standard Tap, is "disheartened" by the receipt of $1M by House of Blues. Omitted from the story is the fact that last summer HOB received $4M for the Packard Building project.

If $1M left William Reed disheartened, what end may befall him when he learns of the additional $4M? I fear he may end up on the wrong end of a bottle of Elmer T. Lee while he stumbles furtively along Girard Avenue searching for the last, long-lost rivulet of Cohocksink Creek to drown away the wailing dirge of the bahdb.

$4M is a material omission that not only renders the Metro story incomplete, it renders it misleading. Today is June 5th, 18 days since my post disclosing actual amount of cash waived under the nose of the HOB: $5,000,000. How could it be that I scooped the entire Philadelphia press by nearly three weeks and counting?

Why is it left to me, some hobbyist who looses his demons upon the keys of a tired iBook G4 connected to the unprotected wireless connection belonging to the funeral parlour next door, to inform the citizenry? Has the press truly become so irrelevant?

Last week I posited a series of why's in reference to "why give the House of Blues $5 million to come to Philadelphia?" Upon further rumination, a trip to the third stomach of the amygdala and a series of walks with good old Thome the rat terrier, I've arrived upon a decent answer - maybe HOB will provide a venue to compete against the Tweeter Center. Camden gets all the large shows at the Tweeter Center. If HOB was located in Center City, imagine all those concert goers pouring out on to the streets late Friday night? It would be like the swarm that emanates from Irving Plaza or Hammerstein Ballroom.

Despite that hypothetical justification, I still have no answer to my and, apparently with some editing, William Reed's retort:

“You have a local person fighting to put something on with the neighborhood backing them and you’re going to give a $1 million gift to a company from [another state]?” he said. “Philadelphia should be [supporting its own].”

I am in complete agreement with Mr. Reed's sentiment. But I would like to remindstate for the public record that Mr. Reed is exactly $4M short in his estimation of the amount of the gifttaxpayer largess received by House of Blues.

$4M is a significant number, completely material to any discussion of the subsidy received by the HOB to enter the Philadelphia market.

William Reed is a business owner who is himself attempting to build his own music venue. I am sure the availability of $5M large is something that would sure facilitate Mr. Reed's efforts. Yet, he apears to be completely unaware.

William Reed, the owner of the Standard Tap and Johnny Brenda's, should know of the existence of the Commonwealth Financing Authority. Considering his business plan is entirely dependent on the renovation of brownfield sites, how can Mr. Reed not be intimately familiar with the machinations of Business in Our Sites?

If he knew of these programs, Mr. Reed would have corrected Mr. Cornfield's question premised on the House of Blue's receipt of a mere $1M. Mr. Reed would have known that House of Blues had already received the benefit of the $2 million loan to and the $2 million grant received by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia on behalf of House of Blues' plan to redevelop the Packard Building.

$5M large.

To be absolutely clear, I do not fault Mr. Reed.

So who should we fault?

Should we blame Harrisburg for failing to properly educate business owners? Sure, our politicians our lazy. In a perfect world, they should have done a better job of alerting the likes of Mr. Reed of their intent to hand out bags of cash. To regurgitate a tired truism, we don't live in a perfect world. And our politicians keep a tight lid on the availability of such funds to insure their cronies are first in line. But we do live in a world with subsidies provided by the First Amendment meant to facilitate the existence of an informed citizenry.

Which brings me to the point of this little diatribe.

What of our journalists' obligation to create an informed citizenry? I can hardly blame Josh and the bootstrapped organization that is the Philadelphia Metro. But what of Andrew Cassel or even the likes of Flavia "McMakeMePuke" Colgan? What of Will Bunch and his plans to reinvent the newspaper? Are they not culpable for the Miseducation of William Reed? While chasing the bright lights of MSNBC and Fox News, have they not forgotten their obligation to the likes of William Reed?

Does not the blame lie at their collective feet?

To revisit the central protagonist in this story, the Business in Our Sites program provided $4M of the $5M received by HOB. As described by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:

"A $300 million funding pool of grants and loans is available to public and private real estate developers for the acquisition and development of these sites. The program puts special emphasis on communities that lack the resources necessary to invest in site preparation and the renovation of brownfield sites in order to prevent urban sprawl. Business in Our Sites is a vital component of Governor Rendell’s economic stimulus package."

Why are Philadelphia business owners like Mr. Reed not aware of this money? Why does House of Blues take these funds by default?

Unlike my last series of "whys," these are purely rhetorical. House of Blues, instead of the likes of Mr. Reed, will renovate the Packard Building because our press has failed to inform the public.

Which brings me to my answer to the question posited by Above Average Jane, as for our part of the bargain, I posit yet another reason - to make journalism relevant to the likes of William Reed.