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Dana Point officials spent $4,800 to attend Pebble Beach “concours.”
November 10th, 2008, 6:30 am · 21 Comments · posted by Tony Saavedra, Register investigative reporter
For 28 years, the Newport Beach Concours d’Elegance has staged one of the finest classic and rare car shows around.
But when they moved - at least temporarily – to Dana Point in September, city officials in that town figured they needed a crash course in how to host the event. So in August, Dana Point City Manager Douglas Chotkevys and Mayor Joel Bishop (pictured below) — spent $4,842 for a weekend trip to the grand daddy of car shows: the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Not that Chotkevys or Bishop had any major say in the planning of the Newport Beach Concours.
To be fair, Chotkevys and Bishop tried to save money by staying 40-miles away from Pebble Beach at a Hilton in Santa Cruz, where the rooms were still $334 a night. They drove to the concours in a rented convertible Toyota Solara (well, even I wouldn’t take a Corolla to a car show.)
And they splurged on the $500 VIP tickets to the Pebble Beach event, including meals, special tours around town and virtually all access to the lavish show.
Bishop said he came away with a better idea of what a concours is. Chotkevys said he got a better handle on the traffic and parking problems generated by the event — lessons that came in handy when the Newport Beach Concours D’Elegance pulled into the St. Regis the next month. Chotkevys figures the show generated up to $30,000 in city taxes — more than covering the money spent on the Pebble Beach trip.
Oddly enough, the Newport Beach event never has been in Newport Beach. And Dana Point is hoping to adopt the concours and give it a proper home — now that they know what a “concours” is.
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Jeeezze Louiiisee… this seems totally fair for city officials to do. The way this is written makes it sound like they did something terrible. There are times when this stuff goes overboard but give me a break, this is next to NOTHING!!!!!
I’m sure they gained a lot of info and made contacts that could likely help make the show better for down this way.
These watch dogs would like to see city officials run business like destitute paupers.. some of that surely has to do with jealousy or something way off base.
Here’s another slant for this article…. one which is strangely downplayed. “City officials visit Pebble Beach to learn to make car show better…etc”
Of course the socialist media would NEVER think of taking this angle.
Please, save these stories for when they’re truely deserved. These people don’t deserve this type ridiculous attack.
Cheers.
OK, register investigative reporter. Just what, exactly, were you “investigating”?
You give no background indicating WHY you felt the need to “investigate” the spending of the city officials, provide no comparisons in reference to spending on other city development projects, nor draw any conclusions as to the appropriateness of the spending in question.
Based on your article, I could only conclude that the trip was appropriate given the expectation for the concours being hosted by the city, and the amounts spent were consistent with what a visitor would pay to participate and stay at the event.
Talk about a no-starter article…
If they really wanted to know what a concours is, why not look it up on the internet. Alot less expensive
Aren’t these the same folks who gave $50 million away to joggers injured by a car while jogging on the highway?
It’s just so darn easy to spend other people’s money, isn’t it?
I agree with the expense (as a Dana Point resident) as we should bolster our City’s name and reputation. We have the Ritz and everyone believes it is in Laguna Niguel (which never touches the ocean). We have the St. Regis and everyone says Monarch Beach.
My hometown is Pacific Grove (adjacent to Pebble Beach); I know that that type of event is vital for the tourism of the surrounding communities (Carmel, Pacific Grove, and Monterey).
I hope our mayor does put in a bid for the event.
Who cares! They tried to save money. They drove a dumpy car and stayed at a dumpy hotel, all in an effort to have a better show in DP. Sounds to me like they did the right thing and were very frugal. Let’s do the show right and not guess at how it should be done. Good for them and next time, stay a little nicer, you deserve it.
Yep, disgusting
You’d hope these days they’d know better. But, apparently not.
I wonder if they will have turkey or ham on Thanksgiving?
Hey, what’s wrong with a little scouting adventure… I think this really WAS A learning experience.
Local or City Governments have no concept when it comes to spending others peoples money. For some reason they think they are entitlements.
It is mostly someone else’s money, so it is fine.
I smell another recall just around the corner!
There was a Newport Concours car show in September like the one at Pebble Beach and Huntington Beach had one as well. Could have saved money by driving to those instead of going to Pebble Beach. I know Pebble Beach is the premiere event, but the trip wasn’t necessary in our car show rich Southern California.
Just another story where the OC Register pulls out minimal numbers to try and make a point that non-profits and government should be staying in 3rd name hotels and eating at McDonald’s (but no McFlurries).
However, based on the last two (2) articles they would rather have the County spend an extra $5 Million to have an extra voting machine at every polling place instead of centralizing polling placed designed to help handicap and provide them with specialize staff at a much lower cost to the taxpayer and a great benefit to the People they serve.
are you kidding if he were to rent a benz then it would matter
This goes to show you greed and corruption is everywhere!
This is proof that politicians are only out for themselves. They are greedy SOBs
Great comments, all. Let me point out, however, these blog posts are not intended as full investigative articles. You can find those on our investigations page. The Watchdog Blog attempts to provide food for thought on how government spends tax money. The post on the concours doesn’t attempt to pass judgment one way or the other, but to let folks know what happened, and leave it to them to pass judgment.
Nothing wrong with that!
But nice try OC Watchdog.
This isn’t food for thought but rather “‘i’ve got a column to write and need to come up with something fast before I hear from the editor!!” You need to be more careful not to impugn people without a valid reason.
“And they splurged on the $500 VIP tickets to the Pebble Beach event, including meals, special tours around town and virtually all access to the lavish show.”
This isn’t fair reporting. replace “splurged” with spent. Delete “lavish”. You’re really trying to make them out as villians, and it’s very apparent.