LETTER: Katz Undercut Kenny Rogers Concert At Doubleday

2-19-10

To the Editor:
When my wife Judi and I stepped in to promote the Beachboys/Herman’s Hermits concert, we asked for and were assured by Mayor Waller and the trustees that we would be given first rights to promote a concert the following year.
We were assured that Cooperstown would only allow one concert per year, and didn’t want to have concerts take away from the baseball games.
The next march Jeff Katz was elected trustee. By October, we had a verbal contract with Kenny Rogers & The Oak Ridge Boys to do a Saturday concert at Doubleday Field.
We spent the next six months trying to get the concert committee to agree to allow us to proceed and book the acts.  We were continually told we had to wait until Katz could possibly come up with a better deal for the village.
When March rolled around, he did indeed schedule not one but two concerts that would compete with ours, three in one summer despite assurances.
Just hours before sending a deposit for our concert Mayor Waller called and informed us that Katz had ignored the concert committee that we were forced to deal with and brought his proposals directly to the Board of Trustees.
What followed were two concerts that left the promoters with huge losses but filled the village till with profits for use of the field, extra police etc.
After those losses, Katz again found a promoter to pay the large sum he was convinced was obtainable. The last concert at Doubleday was again a huge loss for the promoter.
In short, Katz found deep pockets and picked them.
No promoter, including ourselves, has ever made a cent in producing all of these concerts (the Nelson/Dylan was the only exception) – the reason, if Katz is elected, the chance of a future concert at Doubleday is slim to none.
In case anyone doubts any of my statements, all comments by all involved are recorded in trustee meetings minutes and concert committee minutes.
This week, I spoke with mayoral candidate Joe Booan. We discussed a number of topics. He will do his best to bring a suitable concert back to Cooperstown’s venue.
We discussed parking and he assured me that he has no intention of installing parking meters on Main Street. I’m sure the business community, residents and visitors alike are glad to hear that.
I urge you to vote for long-time Cooperstown residents Joe Booan for mayor, Doug Walker and Alton G. “Chip” Dunn, III, for trustees, and Mike Molloy for justice.
ED TRIPP
McKinney, Texas
(Tripp was village trustee, 1997-2001)