b'Community FeatureLeft: The Quintanilla family photographed with San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg at the announcement of the Selena Veinticinco Aos (Selena 25 Years) concert, taking place at the Alamodome on May 9th. Right/Upper: Selena fans on the bayfront during Fiesta de la Flor in Corpus Christifive of more almost 60,000 who attended the two-day event.selling tickets and filling venues. The Corpus Christi CVB, an organization that hasand quality-of-life interests of the citizens he was elected to represent, about Fiesta lost conventions hand over fist, has overseen tourism growth that is 80% behindde la Florhe just doesnt care.San Antonio and Austin over the last thirty years, and that has been led by a dozenThere is another Gringo mayor two hours north of here who gets it. His name or so CEOs since 1986, few of them with accreditation and education in destinationis Mayor Ron Nirenberg of San Antonio, who led the citys campaign to win the marketing, was now going to be a big-time event producer! 2020 Selena tribute event from Corpus ChristiSelena Veinticinco Aos (Selena The CVBs inevitable failure to produce a satisfactory profit from Fiesta de la25 Years) will be a one-night concert, not a two-day festival, at the Alamodome on Flor led to justified financial pressure from the Quintanillas, and Kluge made theMay 9th. At the announcement ceremony with the Quintanillas, whose company, Q unilateral decision to alter the original arrangement from an equal split of profits,Productions, is the full producer and promoter of the concert, Mayor Nirenberg said, to all the profit of the 2019 event, and wrote a check for $35,000, while agreeing to aAs many of you know, San Antonio continues to be, and is known as, the Tejano minimum payment of $50,000 in 2020. Considering the economic impact of almostand Conjunto capital of the world, and Selena has always been known as the Queen $20 million over a weekend in the shoulder season, it was obviously in the bestof Tejano music. So, its only fitting that this concert be held right here in our city.interest of Corpus Christi to more-than-fairly compensate the Quintanillasand theLet us declare that it is also fitting to congratulate San Antonio on yet another best way to do that would have been for the CVB to not have been the producer ofsuccessful piratingwhich we wholly allow and, in fact, encourageof a precious, Fiesta de la Flor in the first place. Corpus Christi, hometown treasure. Let the Selena festival join Sea World, Landrys After Paulette Kluge admitted to City Council that she altered the CVBs arrange- $100 million investment, Whataburger headquarters, HEB headquarters, a quarter ment with the Quintanillas, including the issuance of a $35,000 payment that shouldof our adult children, and four decades of shared growth and prosperity, as just an-have been half that amount, she resigned her position at end of October 2019. Theother thing we loved, migrating 150 miles northfor good.next interim director was assigned the role of finding a full-time CEO, and a kind- In his few public comments on losing Fiesta de la Flor, Mayor McComb has both looking gentleman from Topeka, Kansas, who has never lived outside the state ofdenied knowledge of the CVBs arrangement with the Quintanillas and criticized Kansas, is the new hire. God help him. its detailson the same day. When Paulette Kluges admission came forth, McComb predicted that the city would not lose the festival, then was dumfounded two months YOU MIGHT SEE A BLIP later when the cancelation was announcedit can be safely assumed that he played Enter our fearless, well-informed, detail-oriented and highly-skilled overseer ofno role and had nothing to say in the time in between, or if he did, it obviously failed. public policy, Mayor Joe McComb. We will guess on the safe side, and assume the Mayors indifference.While the CVB is not a department of the City of Corpus Christi, it is created,When asked about the loss of thousands of visitors and more than $15 million funded, and overseen by the City Council and City Managerit is self-identified asthey spend over the festivals weekend, Mayor McComb said, Possibly next year the marketing arm of the City. Mayor Joe McComb was never involved in the publicyou might see a blip for that time frame, but I think overall the city will recover and conversation regarding Fiesta de la Flor, neither as it was producing millions in taxmove on.revenue for the City and attracting tens of thousands of visitors from across the U.S.A blip. Just a blip. Like everything else our city losesjust a blip. And like a and Latin America, nor when it was falling apart as a government-managed enter- Riverwalk-style Grand Canal on North Beach, just a blip. Lots of blipsand 30 years prise that should have been managed as a for-profit ventureand in all fairness toof blips later, here we are. As San Antonio and Austin continue to grow and improve him, it is unlikely that he was ever invited to the table. The hit isnt that the Mayorand attract more people, and their money, year after yearCorpus Christi is growing doesnt come across as a particularly fun kinda guy, groovin onstage to Bidi Bidiat one tick above stagnate. Bom Bom, or that hes too white, or anything like thatbut in the strict economicJust a Blip.78 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINEQ2.2020 TheCoastalBend.com'