0621 Reading: $1m deal will open Tall Ships to public

This news was written by Donovan Slack on June 17, 2009. The news described that the Boston government agreed with the Tall Ship festival this week. In April, the Boston mayor insisted not to hold this festival this year because government wanted Sail Boston organizer to prepay the security costs, but the organizer did not have any plan to do it. Why did the government and the event’s organizer not have a consensus? According to the news, the argument was rooted in the event in 2000. The festival increased government’s security costs, but the organizer of the festival did not feedback benefits to Boston. In my opinion, it seems the organizer stole from the public benefits.

I think that some institutes, except the non-profit institutes, want to hold a convention or festival in cities, and they have to pay some money back to cities. It is reasonable to pay the cities when they use the cities’ resources to make profits. How much money those institutes have to pay is a dispute. In my opinion, there are two ways to decide the price. First, the government can set up price depending on the population of festivals. If more people take part into festivals, government will assign more police officers or manpower on this festival. Second, government can charge the fee by incomes of festivals. Like income taxes, the fee can bring benefits to cities, and the cities’ government can secure those festivals. Once the government supports those festivals, more people or tourists will come. The local economy will boost, and the festivals will make cities have unique images. Those two ways can create win-win situations between the government and festivals’ organizers.