There is apparently a grassroots petition campaign underway in San Diego, where concerned citizens hope to get a ballot initiative that will keep Comic-Con in San Diego.
In front of many stores, voters are being asked to sign petitions in support of an initiative that “could save Comic-Con” or “help build a downtown stadium.” But what the measure would really do is far more complicated.
It’s called the “The Citizens’ Plan for the Responsible Management of Major Tourism and Entertainment Resources,” proposed by attorney Cory Briggs of San Diegans for Open Government.
While the proposed initiative is a touching reminder that San Diegans love their annual nerdfest and the money it brings, the CCI folks just released a statement saying NOT SO FAST:
Some signature gatherers have claimed that signing in favor of a proposed ballot initiative will help keep Comic-Con in San Diego. This news comes as a surprise to the organizers of the 46-year San Diego event.
“We’ve received emails and phone calls regarding this issue asking if it was true that signing the form would keep Comic-Con in San Diego,” said Comic-Con spokesperson David Glanzer. “We had no knowledge of this effort and as you might imagine, this came as a total surprise to us.”
Comic-Con is not a party to the initiative and its passing will have no effect on the organization’s decision to remain in San Diego. Comic-Con has stated in the past, and continues to believe, a contiguous, expanded convention center is one that will benefit the city best. It appears this ballot initiative does not favor that scenario.
“We were born in San Diego and our hope is to remain here for a long time,” continued Glanzer. “However there are always challenges to face. Hotel room rates and meeting space are just some of them. Rarely is one issue the determining factor in our plans for the future.”
The battle for Comic-Con has raged for many years now, and although we all know that the locale is what made SDCC the great event it is, well, you know ‘nothin’ lasts forever, even cold November rain. Los Angeles and Anaheim remain suitors for the big show, and the CCI folks are never going to close that door completely.
It may well be that Comicon might have to move, but if it did the only logical place is Anaheim. Logistics block consideration for San Francisco (very expensive, hotels charge $50 a day for parking for guests, and the convention center closed underground parking for security reasons), downtown L.A. at the convention center is a traffic nightmare already and is not a convenient location for that and other reasons) and Las Vegas in the summer tops 115 degrees which is not conducive to a gigantic event as large events in Vegas (like the Consumer Electronics Show) choose the winter for that reason.
I’d rather pay a higher rate for a hotel room in San Diego over convenience of Anaheim. There are very, very few places in North America with the same feel that the San Diego water front has.
As “the Con’ continues to spread out into the Gas Lamp Quarter, it makes it even more clearly evident that San Diego and CCI are inseparable.
The City of San Diego need more shows like Comic Con and should do more to invest in the convention center expansion. Who the hell cares if the Chargers move to LA? They do nothing to bring people and revenue into the city like a top-quality convention center does.
Glanzer and co have done a lot to make this show what it is. It is now time for San Diego to step up.
And besides, Anaheim is just Disney. There’s nothing else to do, nowhere else to go but Disney. That’s almost as bad as going to Vegas.
“There are very, very few places in North America with the same feel that the San Diego water front has.” -of course, consumer, we live in a fake country whose only purpose is bigotry, consumerism, profit, and cost savings. As a result most of the ‘USA’ is asphalt, grueling traffic, strip malls, homes made to be flipped instead of lived in, more grueling traffic, when people graduate from high school no one knows who makes up their city council, who their congressmen are, where town hall or city council meetings are, or how to have a non-violent protest, yet we ‘love’ ‘America’. Did you obsess enough today Shableski on who is if from the city and country, and who is ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’, and then how to be a bigot towards others different? Did you sit in enough traffic yet? Get enough asphalt in your ‘community’ yet? Are there not enough jobs out-sourced yet? We are consumerthat pretend to be ‘American’. The SCC -who cares. No one is talking about just having another convention, or how to improve the conventions in your own area. SCC is not about comic books any more -Let it go. Consumerism rules, no parking, grueling traffic, over priced everything, advertisements disguised as entertainment w/commercials, and more grueling traffic. What ever ‘solution’ is formed with the San Diego comic con it will have nothing to do with things that have to do with a real practical long term ‘solution’; anything that has to do with real enjoyment, livability, facilitating traffic, making things work and last when you buy them, amicable communication, and cooperation -these are all taboo concepts in the former-USA. Regardless of the outcome of how they handle the SCC it will still be a foreign concept doing things like participating in democracy, improving livability, cooperation, and making things the work and last -“There’s nothing else to do, nowhere else to go…”: profit, cost savings, consumerism, and bigotry are the only things that matter in the ‘USA’.
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