Anonymous wrote:The same county will fund illegal aliens in civil, not criminal matters

Anonymous wrote:Money can only be spent on new immigrants in MoCo. Everyone else can go rot.

In a statement issued Tuesday night, County Council President Nancy Navarro said the local government has given National Philharmonic more than $2.5 million in recent years to support the orchestra, but “as the county begins to look at equity across all our investments, this level of investment isn’t sustainable for one organization over the long term.”

“It’s disappointing that the organization wasn’t able to leverage these investments into a financially sustainable model,” Navarro wrote. “… My hope is that these artists will reach out to our Arts and Humanities Council to help cultivate new artistic endeavors that will continue to enrich our community.”

Council member Craig Rice, chair of the Council’s Education & Culture Committee, echoed Navarro’s statements and said he is “disappointed” National Philharmonic has decided to close, but understands orchestras across the country are facing similar budget issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh please. Why keep throwing good money after bad? If the National Phil has a crappy business model, that’s not the Council’s fault.

There are lots of things the government subsidizes despite their crappy business models. Public schools, for example.[b] Also, roads. So why not the arts?

+ 1 million

The Council supports a miserable school system that is incredibly poorly managed. And continues to throw money at it, even when the stats show that student performance is decreasing. MCPS leadership has shown itself to be inept and incompetent. Maybe the County can work out a deal where they actually now fire that ex-Damascus HS principal (who had kids raped at her school, under her watch) and now has a cushy Central Office job. Wasn't her salary about 150K? Take that money and use it to fund the National Philharmonic so that we can save all these jobs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county can’t keep bailing out unsustainable organizations. This is sad but clearly their business model wasn’t sustainable.

By this reasoning, there are a boatload of programs the County should stop funding. Maybe they could quit funding the Parks and the Nature Centers since they are clearly not self-funding. Maybe libraries need to go. No way the library would be sustainable without County funding.

Meh. The libraries and parks are government agencies.

And there are plenty of nonprofit programs the county funds that could be cut because they aren't achieving the outcomes they promised. This is sad, but the orchestra got plenty of county funding above and beyond the $150k they asked for as a rescue. Annual funding, even. And they couldn't bridge the gap between that funding and their operations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county can’t keep bailing out unsustainable organizations. This is sad but clearly their business model wasn’t sustainable.

By this reasoning, there are a boatload of programs the County should stop funding. Maybe they could quit funding the Parks and the Nature Centers since they are clearly not self-funding. Maybe libraries need to go. No way the library would be sustainable without County funding.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh please. Why keep throwing good money after bad? If the National Phil has a crappy business model, that’s not the Council’s fault.

There are lots of things the government subsidizes despite their crappy business models. Public schools, for example.[b] Also, roads. So why not the arts?

+ 1 million

The Council supports a miserable school system that is incredibly poorly managed. And continues to throw money at it, even when the stats show that student performance is decreasing. MCPS leadership has shown itself to be inept and incompetent. Maybe the County can work out a deal where they actually now fire that ex-Damascus HS principal (who had kids raped at her school, under her watch) and now has a cushy Central Office job. Wasn't her salary about 150K? Take that money and use it to fund the National Philharmonic so that we can save all these jobs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh please. Why keep throwing good money after bad? If the National Phil has a crappy business model, that’s not the Council’s fault.

There are lots of things the government subsidizes despite their crappy business models. Public schools, for example.[b] Also, roads. So why not the arts?

+ 1 million

The Council supports a miserable school system that is incredibly poorly managed. And continues to throw money at it, even when the stats show that student performance is decreasing. MCPS leadership has shown itself to be inept and incompetent. Maybe the County can work out a deal where they actually now fire that ex-Damascus HS principal (who had kids raped at her school, under her watch) and now has a cushy Central Office job. Wasn't her salary about 150K? Take that money and use it to fund the National Philharmonic so that we can save all these jobs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Such a shame the county didn’t provide the 150k. The county benefits greatly from the National Philharmonic. They host concerts regularly for elementary school students at no cost and they provide a draw to Strathmore/MoCo.

My kid really enjoyed this field trip in 2nd grade.

Mine went on a similar trip, too.
Something else must be going on here - 150K is peanuts, realistically speaking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Such a shame the county didn’t provide the 150k. The county benefits greatly from the National Philharmonic. They host concerts regularly for elementary school students at no cost and they provide a draw to Strathmore/MoCo.

My kid really enjoyed this field trip in 2nd grade.

Anonymous wrote:The county can’t keep bailing out unsustainable organizations. This is sad but clearly their business model wasn’t sustainable.