The Fresno City Council voted yesterday on the motion of cutting funding to the Fresno Film & Entertainment Commission (FFEC) and in a 5 to 2 vote decided to keep funding the entity. So another year, another round of Russian roulette and they’re still here. So some people are not very happy with the result & I’d like to hear from everyone on this issue. It seems to me like the issue was painted in the mainstream media as a choice between a fire house & the FFEC and that brought a lot of negativity against the commission. Essential safety services are necessary and in no way would I say the commission is more important than protecting citizens but to fact of the matter is that the FFEC, according to the numbers provided by Fresno Film Commissioner Ray Arthur, brought in over $700,000 in revenue last year so compared to the $140,000 budget, I’d say that’s a pretty decent return. At this point, the pressure is on for the FFEC to continue to deliver and increase that revenue number for next year and I’m sure they will be trying their best in order to avoid having to do this again and I wish them good luck. Please feel free to chime in here with your rants, ideas, suggestions or anything else you might think that needs to be discussed on this issue.
Hazaa!