When you don’t want to point a finger at an individual, you rely on process to explain your position — Anonymous 19th century philosopher
Once again, that man Mandell is back in the news.
Are they comin’ after him again?
Some day a smart person at City Hall may recognize that the owner of Boulevard Music is the best gimmick they have for promoting the 9-week Summer Music Festival concert series, which Mr. Mandell niftily produces every year.
Before the City Council swiftly approved an interim budget last night for the new fiscal year, a true detail, a member of the Cultural Affairs Commission declared it was housekeeping time.
Ronnie Jayne, holding a prepared statement, said “I am here to clarify what appears to be a misunderstanding.”
The alleged misinterpretation is a yarn that is threatening to swell into an old wives’ tale draped in very long, very white whiskers.
Ms. Jayne wanted to rebut the widely held conviction that the Cultural Affairs Commission’s annual ritual of attempting to scuttle Summer Music Festival producer Gary Mandell isn’t really that at all.
‘These Looks Are Deceiving’
It is not what it looks like, she insisted.
Commissioners are just testing the market, she suggested, as others before her have, to see if, you know, there might be somebody out there in Producerland who is an even more deft impresario than the masterful Mr. Mandell.
Around the turn of the century, Mr. Mandell was hired to grab by the ears what had been an embarrassingly weak weekly City Hall concert promotion.
Almost instantly, summoning expertise accumulated during, then, more than 20 years in entertainment, Mr. Mandell built a strongly praised every-summer event.
Even though he seems to be laconic and easy-going, frequently when he glances over his narrow shoulders, someone seems to be chasing his job security and gaining on him.
Ms. Jayne told the City Council in her statement:
“The Cultural Affairs Commission never, I repeat never, recommended dumping Gary Mandell. Let me give you the background on what we did vote on and why.”
She said that “two contracts ago,” the Cultural Affairs Commission “was allowed” to be part of the process, with the city, of selecting a producer — thereby removing from the Commission any culpability for trying to unhitch Mr. Mandell.
“Our part of the process,” Ms. Jayne said, “was to look at applications that came in from prospective producers in response to the city’s ‘Request for Proposals’ and recommend elements the City Council should consider when they choose a producer.
“At the time, members of my Commission noted the lack of specificity in the (Request for Proposal), reflected in proposals that were given to you that were all over the board…
“We recommended that future (Requests for Proposal) outline exactly what tasks were expected of the producer so that all proposals can be compared well, and that it applied apples to apples.
“As it happened, Gary Mandell was chosen to continue on as producer, and the result has been that the Festival has been a great success.
“When it came time to send out a new RFP and hire a producer at the end of 2007, our Commission was kept completely out of the loop. We heard and saw nothing until the contract with Gary Mandell was completed. As a Commission, we asked, ‘Why were we kept out of the process since we have a number of Commission members who are experienced in events and production, and could have been active in completing the RFP.’
“We were told that it was a lack-of-time issue. Not wanting this to happen again, the Commission agendized creating a timeline for choosing a producer to be used when needed as well as tweaking the RFP reflecting all the duties, skills, responsibilities for the producer, whoever that might be.
“We thought this would help the City Council draft the qualifications and budget, and that the timeline would help prevent keeping the Commission out of the loop due to a lack of time issue.
“At our meetings, many Commissioners repeatedly stated that this project had nothing to do with our satisfaction of our current producer, Gary Mandell.
“In fact, many, including myself, praised his work and the quality of the Festival. This was never about dumping Gary Mandell. It’s always about the process — setting up a process to last Culver City beyond the tenure of this Commission and into producers well off into the future.
“We recommended a revised RFP in case the City Council decided to send out a bid. At the City Council meeting, a Commissioner praised Gary Mandell, and the Cultural Affairs staff expressed that we were pleased as well.
“How this got misinterpreted that the Commission was trying to dump Gary Mandell is beyond me.”
