[DeTomaso] 2009 Fun Rally Location

[John Taphorn]

Hi Jim

Fair question.  POCA certainly isn't wealthy; but, it is financially 
healthy.  My desire is to price the Event at breakeven and we generally 
leave that math to our Treasurer.  I am being careful not to speak for 
others, yet, I believe most other Fun Rally Committee members agree with me 
when I say we have always tried to keep the price of the Event as low as 
possible to encourage maximum attendance.  Thus, the profit from the Event 
has generally been derived from Raffle Ticket sales.  Of course now, POCA 
also splits a portion of those revenues with the Chapters that sell them at 
the Rally.

Our financial risk with the Fun Rally is relatively low and in my opinion, 
POCA would not be financially harmed or compromised if in the exercise of 
something new, the result was financially negative.

I sense that the group think is that Vegas is financially safe, while Reno 
may not be - I do not see it this way.  The trend has been poorer attendance 
at Vegas and I do not see that trend changing.  We all know the adage of 
doing the same thing and expecting different results - it defines crazy.

The POCA board has been relatively courageous the past several years and 
introduced a lot of new alternatives to it's membership.  Some of these 
changes have been greeted enthusiastically, others less so.  However, I feel 
it is the POCA Board's responsibility to listen to the membership, be 
receptive to their suggestions, provide the alternatives and ultimately let 
the membership decide.

What I do find disconcerting is when members of the Committee impose their 
personal bias in such a manner as to prevent the membership from having a 
choice.

I am enthusiastic about championing a choice for the 2009 Fun Rally.  I 
believe Reno is a viable option that provides a fresh experience, allows us 
to revisit previous successful Rally attributes (Street display, cars in 
Ballroom, new driving experiences) and because of it's northern location and 
change of dates potentially opens the door for people to participate who 
couldn't in the past.  This is a good thing as POCA should do it's best to 
serve all of it's membership. That said, I realize change is difficult for 
many to accept and I respect your vote.

In the end, the membership has been provided the opportunity to speak their 
mind and make their choice.  We are a stronger club for it.

I hope that I see you in either Vegas or Reno in 2009.

JT
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim & Emilia" <jes at riverdeltawireless.com>
To: "deTomaso list" <detomaso at realbig.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 11:07 PM
Subject: [DeTomaso] 2009 Fun Rally Location


> Some where in the 10's of emails, someone mentioned that POCA derives a 
> very
> large portion of it's annual operating funds from the raffle.  If the 
> event
> was moved, even for 1 year, does POCA have a sufficient buffer in the
> savings to keep on publishing the newsletters and magazines?  What level 
> of
> attendance would be needed so POCA doesn't need to borrow money to stay
> alive?
>
> As far a people flying into Reno, there is no need to get an expensive
> flight into Reno.  Fly into Sacramento, rent your car, then drive up to
> Reno.  It's only 140 miles of freeway driving and a little over 2 hours to
> Reno.  Delta has non-stop flights from Atlanta to Sacramento.  It's one of
> their "milk" runs, been there done that many times.  I'm sure there are
> other flights from the east coast on other airlines, non-stop, into
> Sacramento.  Plus, you could join one of the Valley or Bay Area caravans 
> up
> to Reno.  We've done exactly the same thing going to the Italian Car day 
> in
> Atlanta.  I rode with Jay Curreri and Emilia followed the caravan, in our
> rental car, from Charlotte to Atlanta.  Thanks for the ride, Jay, it was
> fun!
>
> Just some thoughts, nobody has expressed yet.
>
>
> Jim
>
> Jim & Emilia Seiferling
> Co-Presidents, Capitol Panteras
> http://www.capitolpanteras.org
> jes at riverdeltawireless.com
> #1575 [JHSTBAD]
> #7114 [JIMS CAT]
>
> Life goal: To be the person my dog thinks I am.
>
> "You're never too old to do goofy stuff."
>                ~Ward Cleaver
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
>
> Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
>
> DeTomaso mailing list
> DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
> http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso