The below link is a brief excerpt from the April 18, 2018 KPFT LSB meeting. It does not contain earthshaking news, but it has a telling whiff of Houston discontent. It may be just the ongoing secrecy or lack of vital details, but many of us who care about Pacifica's future are beginning to lose the glimmer of hope that partially blinded us when we read the recently announced development in ESRT vs Pacifica.
Some, like Kim Kaufman, received the news with due skepticism, pointing out missing details and wondering why there were vital omissions—documents, for example. After all, the veil of secrecy was supposed to have been lifted—Pacifica had readopted its long-abandoned policy of honesty. Or had it? Kim Kaufman's questions brought out the apologists and the Pacifica Radiowaves forum was buzzing like a dropped beehive.
I-told-you-so's clashed with don't-tell-me-so's and it was beginning to feel like the bad old times again, but Kim was making inroads in her quest for truth.
You will get some idea of the current mood by listening to the KPFT LSB extract. Pay particular attention to DeWayne Lark, who predicts that bankruptcy will be declared by the end of 2019—that only draws a solo applause, but note that nobody is heard disagreeing when that same gentleman wonders aloud what iED Tom Livingston has done to relieve the Pacifica crisis and what he might have up his sleeve.
Perhaps this is an overreaction to perceived inaction, but I thought it worth bringing up.
KPFT LSB excerpt.
Some, like Kim Kaufman, received the news with due skepticism, pointing out missing details and wondering why there were vital omissions—documents, for example. After all, the veil of secrecy was supposed to have been lifted—Pacifica had readopted its long-abandoned policy of honesty. Or had it? Kim Kaufman's questions brought out the apologists and the Pacifica Radiowaves forum was buzzing like a dropped beehive.
I-told-you-so's clashed with don't-tell-me-so's and it was beginning to feel like the bad old times again, but Kim was making inroads in her quest for truth.
You will get some idea of the current mood by listening to the KPFT LSB extract. Pay particular attention to DeWayne Lark, who predicts that bankruptcy will be declared by the end of 2019—that only draws a solo applause, but note that nobody is heard disagreeing when that same gentleman wonders aloud what iED Tom Livingston has done to relieve the Pacifica crisis and what he might have up his sleeve.
Perhaps this is an overreaction to perceived inaction, but I thought it worth bringing up.
KPFT LSB excerpt.
Perhaps a Houstonian can name the gentleman who speaks up at the end.
ReplyDeleteI'll listen later. Mimi is covering the story's of the century .
ReplyDeleteYou know , the Black panthers ,mumia ,blm , slavery, etc.. YAWN!
There have been no apparent significant moves on Livingston's part to change operations or programming. He is a placeholder who is in charge of finding a permanent ED. The stage will soon
ReplyDeletebe set to impose changes on the organization using the settlement as a pretext. It should happen right around the time they have to pay more than just the interest on the loan.
Thank you, Chris, for the shout out to transparency and, uh, desire for honesty and basic common sense. The moral of the story is that both factions are stupid and evil.
ReplyDeleteThe speakers, in order: Bill Crosier, DeWayne Lark, Joseph Davis, the familiar dulcet tones of Adriana Casaneve, and, again, DeWayne.
Of note: Per Bill Crosier, the expenses and interest for the $3.7 million loan are over $1m. My understanding is that $600,000 of that loan is money put aside to pay back part of the interest (notwithstanding the ignorant claim of not having to pay interest for the first 18 months). In order words, because Pacifica is such a deadbeat organization, it is paying interest on the money to pay the interest on the loan.
We still have no idea how much the "friends of Jan Goodman" $500,000 loan is costing in points and interest, which goes to her and her friends.
The $150,000 legal fees to enter bankruptcy was one of the main arguments against bk. There appears to be a failure of basic arithmetic by those that pushed the loan. This makes obvious why they sidelined the CFO. And why he quit. With the exception of Bill, none of these geniuses realize how totally f***ed they will be without a CFO. And the liklihood of being able to get someone as honest and competent as Sam Agarawal is about the same as getting a competent new ED: zero.
There is the argument that they "saved" $1m by getting out of the ESRT lease early. That of course remains to be seen if and when those documents are ever made public. And speaking of that, both DeWayne and Adriana said they still have not received all the documents. This is a profound lack of fiduciary responsibility.
Joseph Davis' stated reason for being for the loan is that he was told, by some nameless lawyer or something, that Pacifica would not be able to escape paying their debts in bk. I'm at a loss as to the meaning of that. Do they simply intend to not pay their debts? He claims centralizing the finances will make a difference but he is very confused. What's at issue is having all the units use the same banking institution for the purpose of not having to pay the enormous wiring fees separate banks charge to wire money from bank to bank. Nothing more. There is no way to escape the accounting that the organization requires.
I think the point DeWayne may have been making is that Pacifica, in the near future, will not be able to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but will go straight to Chapter 7 where everything will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The deliberate choice of taking out a loan - which they were warned by the bk attorneys not to do - will prevent them from Chapter 11 protection, imo.
- Kim Kaufman
Thank you for the important details and ID, Kim.
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