The Foster City Chamber of Commerce announced that its annual event cityFEST will be canceled this year after the City Council decided to no longer co-sponsor it.
“It is with mixed emotion and regret that the Foster City Chamber of Commerce announces it is cancelling cityFEST 2019 this June,” according to a letter published last week. “We understand that this decision impacts our residents, local businesses, event partners, artisans, volunteers, neighbors and more.”
The city’s largest event, previously called the arts and wine festival, has typically included arts and crafts vendors, food and drink booths and live music. It’s scheduled to return May 29-31, 2020.
The chamber canceled this year’s cityFEST after the council, in January, adopted a “full cost recovery” policy for special events such as this one, meaning organizers now have to pay for the cost of having city employees work the event.
The estimated cost of cityFEST this year changed several times since 2018 and finally settled on $41,562, a 600 percent increase in fees, according to the letter, which states that all estimated fees are due in advance of the event.
In the letter, the chamber accuses the city for not being transparent about the new policy and the cost of organizing events.
“The Foster City Chamber of Commerce respects the city’s desire to recoup costs incurred by special events held in Foster City, but only if implemented in an equitable, consistent and transparent manner,” according to the letter.
Mayor Sam Hindi said the full cost recovery policy is indeed equitable and transparent, noting that it was adopted after more than a year of outreach and multiple discussions during public council meetings.
“What we were trying to do is be fair and equitable to all organizations. We don’t want to treat one preferentially or have better rates for one. [CityFEST] is an event in which money is being raised for the chamber using city staff and facilities and it’s only fair to recover that cost because it’s taxpayer money at the end of the day,” he said.
Hindi noted the loss of revenue to the city by having the recreation center occupied for three days during the event as well as the cost of police, fire and Public Works and stressed that the city would not be making any money off of the event.
“The city by law can’t make any profit on any of its facilities. This is about cost recovery, not about making money,” he said.
Hindi added that the city also agreed to have volunteers clean up after cityFEST rather than city staff to keep costs down.
The city will sponsor a new event this summer called “Summer Days” to commemorate the city’s birthday. It will be held Aug. 23-25 and will feature live music, including headliner band Tainted Love, local art, carnival rides, food trucks and craft beer tastings, according to Vice Mayor Herb Perez’s Council Corner column, released Monday.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
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Dirk van Ulden said:
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(1) comment
Why should the city be subsidising such corporate outreach? Have it in the Gilliad parking lots or Chess Drive (which is empty). Also, from what I see on the Chamber website have they done nothing since the election? Are they primarily a political organisation at this point? Looks like the city will do its own event now that will help finance other community events which is probably better for fiscal transparency anyway.
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