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Tourism Marketing District board seeks to intervene in hospitality union's case against city council
Aha, yes you are on the right track. And so is Filner. His letter to SDCCC is posted on vosd today: see twitdoc.com/1ULC For a primer on the entities shuffling tourist and other tax dollars , see one of Dorian's previous articles: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/news-ticker…— March 5, 2013 9:33 a.m.
Flit About with Butterflies
Thanks. I also meant to say that the morphed caterpillars don't actually move around inside the chrysalis, because they can't! As they develop from a soft green caterpillar blob into a butterfly with distinct body parts, they are packed inside the chrysalis case so tightly and economically that movement would be impossible. It's amazing to watch them emerge: The chrysalis case splits near the bottom and the wet butterfly comes out head first, with its legs trying to grab on to the case. The legs feel around until they can grab the case firmly along some ridges on the case, and the butterfly pulls itself out and turns itself head up, holding on to the case as seen in the last pic.— March 4, 2013 1:05 p.m.
Flit About with Butterflies
Barbarella, Actually, the transformation of the Monarch chrysalis is beautiful. The outer shell is clear. The early stage of the chrysalis looks like a jade carving, then becomes dark bluish as the black and orange parts of the butterfly develop. Here are some pics. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/0… http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/0… http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/mar/0…— March 3, 2013 1:16 p.m.
Hotel/worker battle escalates as cops arrest 20
So will my family. Support a living wage.— March 2, 2013 10:42 p.m.
Tourism Marketing District board seeks to intervene in hospitality union's case against city council
Wow again. This is really weird. Will the TMD intervention be legal efforts in support of the city?— March 1, 2013 3:48 p.m.
Hotel Circle Howard Johnson faces penalties for prostitution complacency
Well, you have to wonder how Chhatrala voted on the tourism marketing district surcharge!— March 1, 2013 3:39 p.m.
Majority of Tourism Marketing District board didn't even vote to renew the Tourism Marketing District
Wow, this is amazing. It's hard to understand what the real motives might be for any of the TMD Board members.— March 1, 2013 3:33 p.m.
San Diego Tourism Authority plans to spend more than 44 percent of hotel tax on staff salaries so far this year
You wrote a previous article, which said "out of the 1,379 ballots sent out, only 355 were returned. Of those 355, 127 approved the two percent assessment on hotel guests while 218 voted against it." Makes me wonder how many of the ballots mailed out actually reached the business owners who fall into the Muni Code category of operating a "hotel." The original 2007 TMD plan listed about 170 hotels (those citywide with over 70 rooms), with addresses given, that were targeted to assess. The 2012 TMD renewal plan includes 1379 overnight room vendors, but provides no addresses for any of them. Some are just LLC names, or personal names; many of their addresses are probably out of town/state. In any case, not even the original ~170 big hotels voted yes.— February 28, 2013 12:11 p.m.
San Diego Tourism Authority plans to spend more than 44 percent of hotel tax on staff salaries so far this year
"*Nearly 50 percent, or $1,221,334 is set aside for salaries, taxes, and benefits for ConVis employees*" The FY2010 ConVis nonprofit IRS filing shows the top five employees were paid $1,140,047. That included the total compensation of $435,121 to Joe Terzi, ConVis President/CEO. He's probably making more now. No wonder he showed up at the council meeting to demand that Filner release the TMD surcharges collected, because most of it goes to his nonprofit. All of the money being passed from one nonprofit to another! My head spins. The three main nonprofits that are involved in marketing tourism while fighting the living wage: **San Diego Tourism Marketing District** (SDTMD): http://www.sdtmd.org/board-of-directors/ The newest nonprofit, formed in 2007/8 for 5 years. Renewed in 2012 for 40 years, to force hundreds of hotels/room rentals throughout San Diego to charge their customers a surcharge. All surcharges are turned over to the city's Economic Development Department, which then issues the money directly to the SDTMD's account (minus a $305,000 cut for the Economic Development Department). SDTMD currently pays an executive director, Lorin Stewart, ~$160K. Gives most of the surcharge to another nonprofit, San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, **San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau** ("ConVis," = San Diego Tourism Authority): http://www.sandiego.org/sdta-members.aspx A nonprofit formed to market the convention center (the convention center operates as yet another nonprofit, the San Diego Convention Center Corporation). ConVis has always collected about $1.4 million/year indues from hospitality industry members, and now is granted most of the surcharge by the TMD nonprofit. Before the TMD surcharge started rolling its way, ConVis still had plenty of millions for marketing. In 2004, President/CEO Reint Reinders earned $312,000/year. In 2010, President/CEO Joe Terzi earned $435,121. **San Diego Convention Center Corporation** (SDCCC): http://visitsandiego.com/aboutus/financials.cfm The nonprofit set up to market and operate the Convention Center. Operates on about $30-40 million in convention-related revenue; includes about $3,400,000 from City for operations. In 2008, President/CEO Carol Wallace earned $334,208, out of a total $1,315,768 paid to seven employees.— February 27, 2013 5:04 p.m.
City council hears Tourism Marketing District comments as union hotel workers unveil a new lawsuit
Is this the report? http://docs.sandiego.gov/cityattorneyreports/RC-2…— February 26, 2013 9:44 a.m.