Re: [Mpls] Re: Park Board Decision on DQ

[Lisa McDonald]

I really have gotten a kick out of this whole DQ issue. First of all Don Sigggelkow is one of the best budget people we had at the city before he went to the Park Board. He talked to me almost two years ago about looking for new sources of revenue for the Park Board, including outside food vendors; because unless you want to continue to raise taxes you are going to have to learn to run a more efficient operation and/or find money elsewhere.   I find it hard to believe that some of the Park commissioners  (not the new ones) weren't aware of this proposal.   Secondly I've run a restaurant. There isn't a lot of profit margin in the business unless you sell alcohol and you always have to worry about waste and employee theft. Plus the Park Board knows how to run parks not food operations. It makes all the sense in the world to try to farm this out and make some money and be more efficient.   The problem is that the Park Board (which at last count had several free-lance marketing/pr people on staff) as usual, didn't think to survey the public, particularly those within walking/living distance of the Lakes. Asking first might have prevented this imbroglio.   Quite frankly, living on Lake Harriet, directly across from the Rose Garden, I would love to walk down to the refractory and have lunch, but there is very little on the menu I would consider eating (although my dogs Lex and Lois like the ice cream cones). Now what I'm going to say will probably freak a whole lot of list people out, but, what they should have done was let purveyers serve wine and beer in a restricted area near the pavilion...just like we do with sidewalk cafes. Then smaller vendors like D'Amico, BLB and others would have made enough profit to justify undertaking a new venture. Dairy Queen bid on this contract because of economies of scale. They know how to run an operation like this and make a profit without alcohol. Smaller local vendors need the extra revenue. That's why we almost always grant wine and beer licenses in the city, we understand you need that to make a profit.   Like Dean Carlson I agree that we need to get realistic about the fact that there isn't an infinite amount of money in the system so we have to be more innovative. If the Park Board had explained this in a series of meetings and surveys the public would get it. I for one would rather see the system make money, serve better food, and have the money go to better upkeep of the system or more staff in the parks, along with a few extra streetlights near the rose garden (very dark down here). This is not a bucolic, country exprience. It's an urban park and it is supposed to be lively and fun and those of us who live near the Lakes understand that sometimes for the wonderful views we have to put up with some hassles. I believe there is a solution to this that makes money for the system, and protects it too. ----- Original Message ----- From: deanc Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 12:54 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] Re: Park Board Decision on DQ   Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com