In the promoting and hyping of the film festival, one of the sales pitches from the organizers was the economic impact the event would have on businesses downtown. On opening night, I thought it would be interesting to visit the businesses that line White, Ives, and Main Street and see first-hand the so-called economic impact that went largely ignored by the media.
Will there really be over 5,000 people attending the films?
Will the festival bring in the projected revenue for the area as promised?
Since word that the Common Council was prepared to fork over 75,000 to the organizers of the Connecticut Film Festival, I thought it would be important to keep a CLOSE eye on the success of the event.
You see, I have a problem what the media in our area. If you look at the list of organizations sponsoring the festival, you'll notice such media outlets as The News-Times, Fairfield County Weekly, and Tribuna. Now, with that being the case, it's logical to assume that they won't do much in terms of monitoring the success of the festival when it comes to holding the organizers accountable for the promises they gave to the city (i.e., revenue the festival would bring into the city, numbers of people attending the event, etc).
FOR INSTANCE, watch this report on the festival from FOX-61.
Okay, with that in mind and remembering that the city was told that this event would people in aprox. 5,000 over the course of the entire event, which would result in people eating, drinking, and partying downtown (a.k.a. spend money in downtown businesses), take a look at MY footage from opening night. Make sure to check the footage of all the restaurants on Ives, White, and Main Street.
NOTE: The footage of downtown businesses was shot at various times from 8 pm until 11:30 pm.
Get the point (and to note: a good portion of people who were at the Palace that night were affiliated with City Hall, or the event in some capacity). It's almost like the two videos were shot in different cities. Mind you, this was opening night...a night that would probably attract the largest number of people to a screening.
Again, was the 75,000 dollars the city put into this festival a good investment? We'll soon find out as I'm just getting started.
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On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
