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Sound Waves and IPAs in the Books for 2017, but Some Aim to Implement Changes for the Future

By Julie Perine on June 26, 2017 via Connect-Bridgeport.com

The second annual Sound Waves and IPAs is in the books. Sponsored by Bridgeport Arts Council and intended as a fundraiser for the organization’s free events – such as concerts in the park, etc. – the SWIPA event took place Saturday.
 
At a recent meeting of Bridgeport City Council, the event inspired one citizen and youth sports league representative to speak out.
 
Lifelong resident and Bridgeport Softball Association President Sonny Pethel asked Council to – in the future - reconsider allowing the craft beer festival to take place at Bridgeport City Park.
 
“I’m a 1998 Bridgeport High School graduate and I think Bridgeport is the greatest city in North Central West Virginia and maybe even the state. We have the best children’s (athletic) leagues which do great work with our kids,” he said. “But I hate seeing an area designed for kids to be used for this (SWIPA) event.”  
 
On a personal level, Penthel said, it bothers him that alcohol is being served at the kids’ City Park and that the facility is not only off-basis to children that day, but that his league and likely others cannot use any of the youth athletic fields on that particular Saturday. He told Council earlier in June that he could have hosted a tournament at the facility during the weekend of June 25 and although BSA was able to host it at Bridgeport Recreation Complex, the league missed out on profiting from concession sales. The softball association operates concessions out of City Park. Bridgeport Little League runs the concession stand at Bridgeport Recreation Complex. Prior to voicing his concern, Pethel did thank Council for supporting his league and for implementing improvements – including establishment of the concession stand – at Bridgeport City Park.
 
Council member Lowell Maxey, who has been opposed to the event taking place at Bridgeport City Park, also spoke out at the June 14 Council meeting.
 
“The issue of alcohol in City Parks came to be as a result of an administrative order issued to bypass an ordinance, which had been in place prohibiting the drinking of alcohol beverages on city property. Rather than issuing an administrative order, the matter should have been handled differently, Maxey said.
 
“Had there been a proposed change in the ordinance, there would have been opportunity for people like Mr. Pethel to come in for public comment and this would have alleviated some of the problems we’re seeing here tonight,” he said. “I’d like for Council to perhaps consider voting – or at least the City Manager voiding the administrative order – following this event and debate this issue of alcohol at City Park and afford people who have concerns to make public comment. That opportunity was never been given.”
 
Following the meeting, Maxey pointed out the ordinance – located in Section 521.06 of the Bridgeport City Code citing that a personal shall not appear in a public place in an intoxicated condition or drink alcoholic liquor or nonintoxicating beer in a public place.
 
“And the section goes on to list other violations. It is basically an adoption of the state code against consuming alcohol in a public place (public parks),” Maxey said. “This has always been enforced in Bridgeport. To circumvent this for the IPA event, (City Attorney Dean Ramsey) crafted an ‘Administrative Order’ for the city manager to sign, which carves out specific conditions which must be met to allow for alcohol consumption in the City Park.”
 
Maxey said he has never seen the order, established in 2016 under Mayor Bob Greer's tenure,  but he intends to. Though it’s likely legal, the matter he said wasn’t handled in a transparent way and he intends to work to get the administrative order rescinded and an amendment to the city ordinance, which would call for two readings at City Council and a public comment opportunity from Bridgeport citizens.
 
“Just some accountability and transparency,” Maxey said. “This event really needs to seek another venue besides a public park.”
 
The SWIPA event was originally intended to serve as a fundraiser for the Arts Council, for which Mary Kay Greer serves as president. In its debut year – 2016 - the event received city revenue funding without Maxey’s vote, he said.
 
“And the event had a loss of $4,247.40 with an ‘estimated’ attendance of 400,” he said.
 
Maxey went on to say he didn’t believe any Bridgeport Arts Council event showed a profit last year, but rather most ticketed events – Winter Jazz Weekend and Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. concert, included - lost thousands of dollars each.
 
“In the 2016/17 fiscal year budget, the city appropriated $17,000 to the Arts Council operating costs or about half of their $35,479.07 revenues,” he said. “Really, what business and/or publicly-funded entity should continue to operate with those types of losses? I’m all for ‘cultural enrichment,’ but you can’t create interest where it doesn’t exist.”
 
Mayor Bob Greer explained how the idea of the Arts Council and subsequently the Sound Waves and IPAs event came to be in the first place.
 
“Our community has some outstanding programs for youth and adults, but unfortunately, we fall short – as has been identified in our long-term plan – is on the cultural and arts side,” he said. “More often than not, we don’t have a venue for those types of events and we didn’t have a real strong, organized group within the community – the magnitude of a Little League or Jerry West – for arts and culture.”
 
So what the city did several years ago, Greer said, was to set aside some funding out of money collected for hotel/motel tax to fund a Bridgeport Arts Council. Headed up by Mary Kay Greer, that group has diligently tried to make original  funds appropriated serve their purpose of putting together programs intended to fill the cultural and arts void, Greer said. Two years ago, the idea of Bridgeport's Sound Waves and IPAs - a festival featuring craft beer sampling and sales combined with multiple live bands - first came about.
“It was thought to be a fantastic opportunity for those interested in that aspect of entertainment and also serve as a fundraiser for the rest of (Bridgeport Arts Council’s) programming," Greer said. "So the money generated would be used as seed money because otherwise the Arts Council was sort of limited as to what they could do with the amount of money previously appropriated by the city.”
 
Greer said there is no Council action necessary to implement the SWIPA event or any other event which citizens or non-citizens want to hold in our city parks or at the Benedum Civic Center.
 
“A parks and recreation policy has been hashed out by our City Council, legal council and city manager and it has to be complied with by anybody,” he said. “If they choose to hold a wedding reception and serve wine, there are rules they have to follow. If they hold an event like SWIPA in the park, those same rules apply. To my knowledge, the Bridgeport Arts Council has complied with those same rules, as well as all state rules which apply to festivals such as this one.”
 
Greer said to his knowledge, there has been no special administrative order implemented in order to hold SWIPA.
 
“If there is an administrative order, it’s not specific, but rather a blanket policy,” he said. “We can’t discriminate against one and not another. So, if someone wants to host a jazz and wine event, they could theoretically do that.”
 
Greer said he disagrees with some members of City Council that the governing body should legislate morality.
 
“We have a community that is very diverse and we celebrate that diversity,” he said. “And in my opinion, it is the city’s role to balance all of that, so that everybody has the same opportunity to use public facilities as everyone else.”
 
The 2017 SWIPA went on the city schedule a year ago and now that it is over, the third annual event is being implemented into that scheduling, Greer said.
 
“Our hopes is that this event not only continues to grow, but becomes a fundraising mechanism for a much broader arts and cultural community inside of Bridgeport,” he said.
 
It is possible, he said, that another venue will be utilized.
 
“We have had discussions about using other venues, but there’s nothing concrete to talk about yet,” Greer said. “We’re not sure there is another venue at the moment that’s available that has adequate parking. Some other venues have been proposed or suggested and we are organizing a group to look into those. But in the short-term, we’ve reserved the place (Bridgeport City Park) that has worked in the past.” 
 
Editor's Note: Pictured from top is Sonny Pethel speaking at the June 14 Bridgeport City Council meeting; Mayor Bob Greer, Recorder Hank Murray and Councilman John Wilson; Council member Diana Cole Marra and Greer; an image captured by Ben Queen Photography Saturday at the Sound Waves and IPA Event at Bridgeport City Park. 


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