Photo credit: Matthew Cunningham
On the sad news front: It was announced at the close of WonderCon that the increasingly popular comics and sci-fi convention will be moving to the Los Angeles Convention Center for 2016. WonderCon has only signed a one-year contract, so it premature to assume the show will not return to Anaheim, where is has been since 2012.
I contacted Anaheim/OC Visitor & Convention Bureau spokesperson Tania Weinkle, who said is came down to a scheduling matter: WonderCon changed their dates for next year and Anaheim was unable to accommodate them.
WonderCon attendance projections for this weekend were between 60,000 and 90,000 attendees; no final numbers were available as of yesterday afternoon.
It’s at least a temporary coup for Los Angeles: the estimated economic impact for LA will be $32 million, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
“Los Angeles is honored to have been selected as the destination for WonderCon 2016. We look forward to establishing a long-term partnership with Comic-Con International, the presenter, and helping them establish a home base in L.A. We anticipate the show to be highly attended and to set the precedent for future successful Comic-Con events in L.A.,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti.
The move could have several repercussions.
It’s seen as an opening salvo in Los Angeles’ bid to muscle in on the super-powered action currently enjoyed by the granddaddy of conventions, San Diego Comic-Con International. That convention, which has been selling out its over 130,000 badges for the last several years, is straining the capacity of its San Diego Convention Center location and has been exploring its options. By showing what it can do with WonderCon, Los Angeles can put itself in pole position to nab it.
L.A.’s mayor seems fully engaged in this. Anaheim’s mayor should take a high-profile role in wooing them back.
I believe that the thousands of Conventioneers and visitors to Disneyland do not have enough Restaurants, Stores or casual dining within walking distance of the Convention Center. Have you looked at the lines 5 deep at the 5 only restaurants on Katella ? The thousands of visitors get to wait in line for up 3 hours or more to have dinner when they stay within walking distance of either Disneyland or the Convention Center – why is it that nobody will invest in Anaheim while our neighbors in Buena Park and Garden Grove are attracting new venues all the time. Even KIIS took their brand new enterprise to BP – why is that I wonder? It is unacceptable that at 10.00 pm last weekend the line in front of the Cheesecake Factory was as big as it was at 6.30 pm. How do we expect to encourage other huge conventions to come – Comic Con etc. when there are no restaurants or stores to provide the most basic of all services to our tourists.
I have shouted about it for almost 20 years and we still have no store i.e. Trader Joe’s Sprouts etc. or not another good restaurant has been added to the meager 5 in existence. It is obvious they will be better catered to in Los Angeles, San Diego etc.
Anyone want to bet if the Mayor of Los Angeles has a full time staff?
Gee. I wonder.
Do you have a point here, Ryan?
Sure.
Just highlighting that the Mayor of Anaheim has significantly more responsibility than the other council members when it comes to championing the interests of the city.
Much like the Mayor of Los Angeles.
He ought to have greater access to resources.
“Much like the Mayor of Los Angeles.”
Not even close.
Los Angeles has more than 10 times the population of Anaheim, and is 10 times larger in geographic size. You cannot compare the two positions.
Although it is interesting to see self-appointed conservatism police bang the drum for aggrandizing a political office.
Of course you can compare the two positions. One is bigger than the other. DUH.
Come on Matt, you’re being ridiculous. If you’re going to stand up and say the Mayor of Anaheim should play a similar role to the Mayor of Los Angeles in securing a convention (HEY, YOU JUST COMPARED THE TWO. HOLY CRAP.) you really should advocate for giving Anaheim’s mayor the tools to do his job.
Perhaps he already has them, I’ll leave that option for discussion. But your reply above, complete with name calling and labeling, is just juvenile.
You can’t compare the two positions in terms of responsibility, and therefore need for resources. Being smug and obnoxious seems to an instinctive reflex for you, Ryan. Don’t be deliberately obtuse.
I didn’t say Anaheim’s mayor should “play a similar role” to LA’s Mayor. I said Anaheim’s mayor should be participate in the effort to bring WonderCon back to Anaheim. That doesn’t require more staff or a bigger office budget. It wasn’t necessary to mayoral lobbying to bring the Sacramento Kings to Anaheim (I realize that was long ago in 2011 before you paid attention to Anaheim affairs).
But name calling? Please.
The Mayor of Los Angeles is a full time position with a strong executive model. The Mayor of Anaheim is a part-time position with a city manager model.
What you’re really advocating for here Ryan is the Mayor’s aide to be paid $100,000 for part-time work so she can draw a salary and max out her pension. But her pension is the only one Tait wants to reward. He continues to fight against pensions for rank and file employees on city staff and voted against restoring their pay from voluntary cuts taken in 2011 at the height of the financial crisis.
But hey, if the Mayor of Anaheim doesn’t want to lead on this issue, I’m sure one of the other council members will step up and do the job the mayor won’t
Nice job on the SUCCESSFUL COMPARISON OF TWO POSITIONS.
Also, nice job coming to Matt’s rescue. I’m pretty sure he can handle himself.
Matt can handle himself; you are being obtuse. Are you on vacation this week?
Also, I’m not advocating for anything other than giving the Mayor of Anaheim the tools to do his job.
Your insertion of some other discussion is entirely your own.
the tools to do his job? Isn’t that what you and CATER are for Tait…tools?
I have no idea about CATER.
I’d gladly call myself a tool for the Mayor, but that’d be a serious step up from general supporter– which is all I am, Dan.
You need to find something better to do than attempt to pick a vendetta on your buddy’s blog. Go bill a client for something useful.
Sure you can. What is this, a challenge for the stupidest argument in this history of your blog?
LA Mayor > Anaheim Mayor in terms of responsibility.
Done. Comparison over.
Now I understand that your strong dislike of me clouds every single response you make to my comments. That combined with your reflexive need to feel superior in both ownership of history and all things political tends to make conversation with you impossible — but consider this:
If you really expect the Mayor of Anaheim to compete with the Mayors of Los Angeles and Sacramento, perhaps he should have better tools.
Now go call me some more names. It suits you.
“What is this, a challenge for the stupidest argument in this history of your blog?”
You’re certainly doing your best to push it in that direction by trivializing it with diversionary, legalistic nitpicking.
And please don’t project onto me, Ryan. I don’t dislike you. But your approach to discussion on this blog is almost invariably to come storming in with the attitude that you are smarter than everyone else, and anyone who disagrees with you is dumb and a reprobate.
Alright, who had Matt for three more insults?
I thought he’d at least squeak four in there, so it’s my quarter being given up.
Sheesh – what a baby!
None of that was an insult. Happy to oblige if you really want to be insulted. Because you’ll know it
You’d be happy to insult me?
Really?
Happy?
You’re a special guy, Dan.
Happy to insult someone. Delightful.
For the record, you aren’t dumb.
Many of your anonymous commentators– yeah. They have issues.
Enough. You’re a time suck.
Tom. tait has a full time staff and he is not a full time mayor nor the mayor of a city the size of LA. The fact that his sycophants think Anaheim taxpayers should pad his friend and personal aides pension by compensating her $100K a year for part time work is crazy. There is an entire staff dedicated to him and a full time secretary who handles his appointments. His aid is purely political. Everyone in Anaheim who has any knowledge of city hall politics knows this.
Interesting PC.
My point is the Mayor ought to have access to greater resources than the other council members. You’re saying that’s the case today?
No, he shouldn’t; he only has a few ceremonial duties over other council members which doesn’t justify additional resources.
So you disagree with Matt then?
Up next, hell freezing over.
The city has made a bid for ComicCon — a larger event than WonderCon which is run by the same company. It will take the mayor 10 minutes to make a phone call.
That said, I’m sure the Anaheim Chamber and other council members will step up for Tait who probably has some conflict that requires him to abstain from doing anything.
Why would they need to “step up”?
I mean that implies the Mayor has some greater duty for them to step up into.
You’re slicing it both ways, Dan. Pick a line of logic and stick to it.
Or, be you. That’s cool, too.
The Mayor doesn’t care. Garcetti issues a statement LA wants to keep WonderCon. Crickets from Tait. If the Mayor has greater duties, as you imply Ryan, he would. But he isn’t. Perhaps Disney can insert some influence; they own Marvel Comics and the Star Wars franchise afterall and are far more likely to have influence over Anaheim getting WonderCon or ComicCon than Tait will
So maybe one of the other council members will outreach to keep WonderCon while making a play for ComicCon.
You all are off on a tangent here as usual – I believe conventioneers need services – Please use your platform to lobby for the most basic needs instead of majoring in the minutia!
Where is the consideration for the paying customers who come to Anaheim expecting this City to be ‘World Class’ and find it is so sadly lacking that it is an embarrassment. Once again it gets swept under the rug wrapped up in the political mire at City Hall. We are building hundreds of hotel rooms, apartments and condos and check out Katella …..Food 4 less is the closest grocery store for our visitors – shameful!
MC says; “I contacted Anaheim/OC Visitor & Convention Bureau spokesperson Tania Weinkle, who said is came down to a scheduling matter: WonderCon changed their dates for next year and Anaheim was unable to accommodate them.”
So your claim is that Mayor Tom Tait is personally responsible for the conflict in schedules? Did he intentionally book the Convention Center for a cocktail party in honor of Jose Moreno’s announced campaign to “Take Down Anaheim 2016” knowing it was the same week that WonderCon wanted to switch to? COME ON, talk about reaching.
Oh and our glittering new debt riddled Convention Center expansion is supposed to WOW folks so beautifully that Mayor Tait need not do anything to draw conventions and unicorn trade shows to our glittering new nirvana.
The City would be wise to listen to Frances, I know nobody who understands the visitor experience firsthand better than she does, and I suspect she has more first person contact with our tax paying guests than anyone at the Chamber or the AOCVCB, who primarily deal with hotels and booking agents but how much guest interaction do they get? You could not pay for a better market study than Frances can give you over a cup of coffee and the fact she has been ignored speaks volumes! City Hall and AOCVCB are not interested in anything that contradicts their own predetermined outcome, and the needs and desires of visitors need not factor into those outcomes.
As Frances wisely points out, THERE IS NOTHING TO DO IN ANAHEIM RESORT other than Disney, and that is the way Disney has fought to keep it all this time. THIS, more than anything, is why we have no 4 star hotels, nor is O’Connell building one despite offering interest rates (funded by taxpayers) equivalent to a hard money loan for a bad credit rating borrower! A 4 star experience is more than a room it is the entire streetscape, it is a good restaurant consistent with your room rate, it is shopping and entertainment that do not involve costumed characters and coloring pages on the table. The Convention Center expansion was a great chance to incorporate those desperately needed amenities, and we failed. Congratulations, we just mortgaged our children’s future in order to expand our pursuit of mediocrity, precooked and served in an aluminum foil sleeve.
Do you know where the fastest growing segment of Anaheim’s tourism network is right now? The COLONY, where guests enjoy the Packing District, interesting neighborhoods and architecture, and a focus on something other than proximity to fireworks. The Resort needs to keep up with the new markets in experiential tourism and offer what visitors want and that, along with a change in the scheduling of WonderCOn is NOT the Mayor’s job. The old tourism models are not valid, visitors are not content to accept what is doled out, and will make that displeasure known…while the escalating payments on the bonds will come due whether we built was was needed to draw tourists or not. May I remind you that the Mayor has not prevented anyone in the market from building what is needed, and even the majority vote up and over his dead body to build Gardenwalk failed to build it.
BTW-who claimed the Mayor has a full time staff? You are kidding, right? I have ordered documents detailing what the Mayor is told by staff, he is LIED TO and KEPT IN THE DARK about projects until they come to City Council, leaving him blindsided by something the rest of Council clearly has been briefed about, and has already mysteriously agreed to, leaving bizarre agreements committed in open session without a word of discussion or deliberation. Tait tries to ask questions and is dog-piled by staff and/or Council members; “I have called the question! I have called the question!” Try again.
Deals are done today based NOT on what is best for Anaheim or even what best draws our visitors but what best suits specific leaders, insider business interests, and the vision of staff based on their own career ambition. After all, if we build something bigger THEY get raises, never mind whether it offers visitors what is needed, never mind it doesn’t make money or actually draws against the General Fund, they get raises if the Council approves even the most inane of plans, and our grandchildren will pay for it. Get a clue, you are so off in the weeds you have lost perspective on how badly run things are, and our future is going to pay the price, WAY beyond WonderCon or any other single convention we may or may not score.
“So your claim is that Mayor Tom Tait is personally responsible for the conflict in schedules?”
Uh, no. Have you now completely departed from the realm of logic and reason, Cynthia? Not that you have ever been more than an itinerant passerby in that realm.
I think that the point was that blaming Tait for WonderCon’s departure (for at least a year) when it was based on a scheduling conflict he had nothing to do with is screwy.
Meanwhile, I hope that you don’t mind our borrowing Frances Noteboom’s excellent observations for a story at OJB. If you’re not going to engage them, I suppose that it will fall to us to do so.
I wrote that that the mayor should take an active role in wooing WonderCon back to Anaheim.
That straightforward statement enters Cynthia’s thought process and is churned out as me blaming the mayor for the scheduling conflict to led to WonderCon going to LA in 2016. That defies logic. It’s a great illustration of why Cynthia’s representations of events and what others say and do are so unreliable. She literally hears what she wants to hear.
And you buy into her misrepresentation.
I don’t think anyone’s blaming Tait, but Garcetti has already stated he’ll do what he can to keep the show. If Tait’s not interested in keeping convention business in Anaheim, there are other city council members and a chamber of commerce that can work with the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau to make the case.
Hmmm, where did I get the idea that people were blaming Tait for something related to this matter? Let me think:
Just wait, I’m sure I’ll remember.
I could point out various examples here of rhetorical techniques along the lines of (but more extreme than Cynthia’s example) “oh does that mean that you’re saying that…”, but it’s not worth the search.
I’ll stop here because we’re distracting from Frances Noteboom’s comments, which are what anyone interested in this matter OUGHT to be discussing.
Greg:
Cynthia completely misrepresented what I wrote, and you seconded her misrepresentation. Stop trying to wriggle out of that reality and just own up to what you did.
As for your “stop distracting from Francis Noteboom’s comment” mewling: people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. She has a perfectly legitimate point. Maybe you and Cynthia can cogitate on that rather than concocting straw men.
Greg, since you remain one of Tait’s biggest fans and strongest supporters, there are actually two arguments at play here. WonderCon is leaving Anaheim for one year due to a scheduling issue, none of which has anything to do with Tait although I’ll bet the CATER lawsuit you lost delayed co structuring on the Convention Center expansion long enough to create the scheduling conflict. Not Tait’s faul unles he encouraged CATER to sue.
The second item is LosAngeles has WonderCon now and doesn’t want to give it up. Tait should be leading here to fight for it, but he isn’t.
Clear enough?
4-star hotels in Anaheim:
The Grand Californian
Anaheim Marriott
Disneyland Hotel
Your refuting arguments that your friends made at the meeting, Dan. Carry on.
You mean “you’re refuting,” not “your refuting” – don’t you, counselor?
Carry on.
Anaheim could use more and a couple of Five star hotels.
Yep. Thanks for the correction.
Cynthia, how many events do you attend at the Convention Center annually? I’m there at least 4X a year — enough to know where I like to park and what time to arrive. I think you’re completely off base here. Anaheim has a much better convention center than Boston, better than Javitts in NYC, closer to amenities than Atlanta and as nice as San Diego, LA and SF. Vegas is hard to beat for conventions. But you are wrong when it comes to the Anaheim Convention Center.
Dan, Cynthia IS able to make comparisons with the convention centers (and 4-star hotel accommodations) where she has been attending California Special Districts Association annual conferences for the last several years.
On the taxpayers’ dime.
Hmm….folks over here seemed miffed with the assumption that Mayor Tait was not doing enough to bring in conventions, and maybe he could make a phone call to woo Comic-Con back to Anaheim. Apparently he did ya one better, and went to see the next big headlining event celebrity in person, just to make sure he had what was needed for his upcoming celebration at the Honda Center. (and I did check, and Tait HAS agreed with the AOCVCB to send letters or make a phone call to any prospective conventions, and especially those like ComicCon being wooed by others. But please continue leaping to conclusions.)
“In preparation for the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday celebration here in Anaheim, Julie and I were honored to be invited to Dharamsala, India to discuss the City of Kindness initiatives taking place in our great city. I was proud to share with him photos of the “Million Acts of Kindness” that our students have completed. He is looking forward to celebrating in our City of Kindness on July 5th at the Honda Center!
To check ticket availability, go to ticketmaster.com”
https://www.facebook.com/tomtaitformayorofanaheim?fref=photo
Ooooo Cynthia, who paid for the trip? Did the city pony up Mrs. Tait’s ticket or did Tom pay for it himself? Who invited Tait? I see a massive conspiracy here…..
And as far as Tait agreeing to write letters or make phone calls, that discussion was two weeks ago. Glad to see the mayor decide it was important enough to do. That’s a no-brainer moment.
Tait pays for his own trips and you know it, but please feel free to continue exposing to readers that your default position is mean spirited. And while you were busy running down the Mayor with the assumption he was not supporting the Convention industry, I followed up and discovered that the AOCVCB asked Tait ages ago to participate in outreach, he agreed wholeheartedly seeing it as part of his job to promote the City, and it happened LONG before any of the discussion HERE took place, so this blog discussion did not prompt action, you simply jumped the gun based on your own preconceived idea of who you think Tait is. But please, keep at it with the investigative journalism based on assumption and innuendo.