December 16, 2022
By Brian Hews
Final week, Hews Media Group-Neighborhood Information reported that Cerritos Administration and Mayor Chuong Vo refused a legitimate public data request asking for Cerritos Heart for the Performing Arts (CCPA) particular person present ticket gross sales and revenues.
One long-time municipal legal professional known as the request lawful and stated that the data are disclosable.
There’s a purpose why administration and the mayor don’t wish to disclose the ticket gross sales; they might present the CCPA, for the final 16 years, has misplaced thousands and thousands.
An HMG-CN examination of Cerritos’ audited monetary statements discovered on-line present that the CCPA has misplaced a staggering $112 million since 2004, 16 straight years dropping $7 million on common per 12 months.
Supply: Cerritos Loses Cash Fb.
And the operation of the theater lands solely on Metropolis Administration and the bulk Metropolis Council. Between 2004 and 2014, the theater by no means reached greater than $6.250 million in ticket gross sales; from 2004-2009, complete bills averaged $14 million, and the theater misplaced a staggering $9 million per 12 months.
But it surely was the redevelopment period, and, because the late former mayor of Norwalk Luigi Vernola used to say, “Cerritos was the poster little one for redevelopment abuse.”
From 2010-2014, gross sales had been tanking, averaging $4.5 million, and the theater was hemorrhaging thousands and thousands yearly. The town, after the dissolution of redevelopment in 2012, started chopping bills, however with the decrease gross sales, losses nonetheless hit $5 million per 12 months.
However the metropolis was being dominated by Republicans Carol Chen, the late Jim Edwards, and present Mayor professional tem Bruce Barrows, who ignored the complaints, bankrolled the losses and refused to be clear regarding theater operations.
Some Republicans complained; enterprise house owners and former Mayors George Ray and present Councilman Naresh Solanki continually complained in regards to the losses, however the metropolis stored the theater open whereas conserving the working income and losses buried behind Metropolis Corridor doorways.
From 2015-2017 bills had been $9 million, leaping to $10 million, for a complete of $48 million. However ticket gross sales had been solely $23 million, the theater dropping $30 million in six years.
2014-2020 Cerritos Heart and bills exhibiting large losses.
Now, town is once more dominated by Republicans, run by Bruce Barrows along with his allies Mayor Chuong Vo and Councilmember Lynda Johnson, who’re ignoring the losses.
They not too long ago accepted an addition to the losses, with Vo, Barrows and Johnson approving an Government Director place saddling the CCPA with a further estimated $150,000 in annual wage and advantages.
And, as reported final week, in November of this 12 months, HMG-CN requested year-to-date per-show ticket gross sales and revenues generated on the theater, however the metropolis despatched paperwork with ticket gross sales and greenback quantity redacted; the one merchandise not redacted was the title of the present.
The knowledge is clearly public document, however the Metropolis Legal professional redacted the knowledge.
When requested for particular person present ticket gross sales for the close by La Mirada Theater for 2022, town despatched the knowledge unredacted the subsequent day.
A number of emails into Metropolis Supervisor Artwork Gallucci and Cerritos Mayor Chuong Vo asking for remark in regards to the non-disclosure went unanswered.