VIRGINIA BEACH — Companies that Virginia Beach economic leaders are trying to woo received complimentary VIP tickets to the Something in the Water festival, but the city refuses to reveal who some of them are, citing an exemption of proprietary information in public records law.
The move is raising questions about the reasoning behind the city’s lack of transparency and how the perk is being used.
The Virginian-Pilot requested the VIP ticket recipient list from the city before the Something in the Water festival in late April. The city’s agreement with festival organizers states the promoter will provide the city with VIP tickets for up to 50 attendees for promotional purposes. The same will be the case for the Beach It! country music festival later this month.
After several delays within the city’s communications office, the inquiry was forwarded to Virginia Beach’s Freedom of Information Act office. The Pilot received a spreadsheet with several redacted names May 11.
Melena Johnson, the city’s FOIA specialist, explained in an email that the names of individuals and businesses that are considering locating in, or expanding in, the city were redacted, but recipients including businesses and organizations that have partnered with the city on initiatives remained intact.
The spreadsheet appears to indicate at least 17 businesses or organizations received tickets from the city. Ten businesses identified on the spreadsheet: HR Alliance, Geico, The Port of Virginia, PLC, TCC, Truist, Hampton University, HR Workforce, Cox Communications and Sentara. Several code names for projects were listed, such as “Project C-Rex” and “Project Star,” with no details. Others are completely redacted.
Erin Goldmeier, spokesperson for the city’s Convention & Visitors Bureau, wrote in an email that her department and Economic Development work together to identify who gets tickets. The spreadsheet included who in the city government was responsible for each ticket. Forty-four were distributed.
City employees provide the tickets to the companies and their employees choose to distribute how they want, according to Goldmeier.
“The companies are chosen based on their potential investment in our city, i.e. bringing a conference to Virginia Beach or establishing a new business here,” Goldmeier wrote.
By hiding some of the companies’ names, a level of oversight is missing, according to Megan Rhyne of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government.
“It pushes the envelope to say that the name and company name on a list of VIP guests is enough to trigger some sort of information blackout in the name of economic development,” Rhyne wrote in an email. “That is, any business could be said to be considering locating here. Any existing business could be said to be considering expanding here. It would be very easy to hide perks to friends, relatives or others under the theory of, well, they might expand here.”
Rhyne cautioned that the exemption used to withhold the company names should be narrowly interpreted, as FOIA’s policy says, to protect the interests of the city where disclosure could hurt their bargaining position.
“This exemption is to protect the public body, not the company,” she wrote. “If the identification of these individuals and their companies is so sensitive that their mere appearance on a list of complimentary festival tickets could scupper a deal, perhaps that’s not a business with the best interests of the city at heart.”
But one prospective client, who received a VIP ticket and who’s organization wasn’t identified by the city, didn’t seem to mind if the public knew.
At the Something in the Water Festival, before the recipient list was provided to The Pilot, Goldmeier offered an interview with the client.
Ivan Crosling, executive director of the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources, traveled from Atlanta to consider holding his organization’s upcoming annual conference at the beach. It just so happened the festival was the same weekend he planned to visit, he said.
“It was a pleasant surprise,” Crosling said of receiving a complimentary ticket from the city.
After the first day in town and experiencing the festival, Crosling said he was impressed with the amenities Virginia Beach has to offer and was ready to book the conference.
“There’s something for everyone,” he said. “It’s a great fit.”
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com
