Mareel - Cinema & Music Venue

[max]

 

Lots of community halls spend many days closed and empty...the comparison isn’t correct.

 

Although I wish the SIC would treat all community buildings fairly, I wish we could get away from this 'halls v mareel' discussion. Re the comparison though, there really is quite a bit to compare.

 

It matters not how many days community halls are open, but rather what they mean to rural communities when they are.

 

A community hall is the place where school events, social evenings and events, teas, craft fairs, markets, a range of sporting activity, drama, arts events, and youth clubs happen.

 

It’s also the place where you might get your Chinese take away fae in rural areas, old folks clubs meet; it even used to be the place where films where shown in Shetland. It’s a music venue; bands, discos, Folk Festival, Fiddle & Accordion Festival, Blues Festival, even many of those who also grace the stage at Mareel perform in public halls. Halls are often the place where weddings are held, christening celebrations and for some it’s where their funeral takes place; cradle to grave............these are just the things that come to mind after thinking about it for 2 minutes.

 

Folk from all over Shetland and beyond are using these buildings and whilst the user numbers might never be as high as those using Mareel, the community hall is of equal importance to those that use it.

[1979 Sheltie]

Is there no end in sight to this on going saga !

[grift]

I can understand the comparisons between community halls having a capital grant refused and Mareel apparently getting a capital injection, but it seems that there's real confusion about blaming Mareel for ongoing SIC revenue cuts.

 

I find it frustrating that folk seem to be using Mareel for a whipping boy for everything from roads not being gritted to schools being closed. That's simply not the case.

 

The SIC has had an annual revenue spend outwith its means for decades, and it has long been known that revenue will have to be reeled in - it seems that this council (and Mareel) is being demonised for doing what previous councils have failed to do in terms of spending cuts.

 

I don't know the figures but, from my limited understanding, if the £600,000 for Mareel was used to continue to provide services at the current level, it would only postpone the inevitable by a month or two.

 

Does anyone know what the current revenue overspend is so we can put the £600,000 into perspective??

[Speccy]

It's £80,000 a day, isn't it?

http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2012/12/01/council-is-still-80000-a-day-over-budget

So you make a very good point.

[grift]

£600,000 (Mareel capital allocation) ÷ £80,000 (SIC daily overspend) = 7.5 days

 

 

So if the £600,000 was still available to the SIC then it would only delay 'the cuts' by just over a week?

 

Am I missing something, or is that right?!

[Ghostrider]

I find it frustrating that folk seem to be using Mareel for a whipping boy for everything from roads not being gritted to schools being closed. That's simply not the case.

 

I won't argue that some people may well be doing this, although I can't say its something I've picked up on. Rather the objection is more along the lines that at a time when just about everything is having to economise and reduce, Mareel can suddenly come along and "new" additional money is immediately found to give them more or less what they asked for.

 

Obviously its far more complicated than that, and using the £600k to pay for services instead of cutting back would make minimal difference in practice, but you get the gist. That basically everybody except Mareel has to get by on less - an issue probably exacerbated by the preception that Mareel is a "luxury" spend, but schools, gritting etc are "essential" spend.

[tivacudda]

£600,000 (Mareel capital allocation) ÷ £80,000 (SIC daily overspend) = 7.5 days

 

 

So if the £600,000 was still available to the SIC then it would only delay 'the cuts' by just over a week?

 

Am I missing something, or is that right?!

So...hmm...Oh yes I get it now, that means that the 6 million initial investment was only 75 days worth of overspend, let me see....that means we could of had nearly 5 mareels for a years worth.

o well thats ok then

[grift]

Despite your sarcasm, I think you raise an interesting point by putting the initial £6million into the context of 75 days worth of revenue overspend.

 

While my calculator is out, we could have had the new SIC offices @ £7,500,000 for 93.75 days overspend etc etc

[Spinner72]

That really is a good way of demostrating how serious the situation is just now, or should I say always has been, its only now the reserves are lower and not producing enough returns to cover it.

 

Its also a good way of illustrating the difference (as it genuinely seems to be being missed by many people) between one-off savings and real ongoing savings.

 

Perhaps thats a way the council could present things.

 

Current Overspend = £80,000 per day

Saving X will reduce it to £75,000 per day and so on.

 

Especially in recent days and across many subjects the amount of assumptions/guesswork presented as fact has been incredible. Anything that can be done to clarify things in the simplest manner is essential.

[paulb]

we and they know there is only one real way of getting that figure to zero. Sadly they still are not at the point of cutting 25-30% of staff posts and cutting wages and conditions. or add 3k onto council tax.

[BigMouth]

I want to watch a film that is coming up shortly, but having looked at the Mareel's menu there is nothing that particularly interests me so I am thinking of baking a pizza then rolling it up and putting it into a carboard tube from a kitchen roll. I am worried though that, slipped into a trouser pocket, the oil may drip out and spoil the look of my trousers and give the game away. I am looking for suggestions of where I could secrete the tube to get it into the Mareel.

 

Any ideas? I would prefer some soup to be honest, but getting a tureen of hot soup, ladle, dishes and spoons, along with crusty bread, a bread board and a bread knife past the food security staff would be mission impossible.

[grift]

That really is a good way of demostrating how serious the situation is just now, or should I say always has been, its only now the reserves are lower and not producing enough returns to cover it.

 

Its also a good way of illustrating the difference (as it genuinely seems to be being missed by many people) between one-off savings and real ongoing savings.

 

Perhaps thats a way the council could present things.

 

Current Overspend = £80,000 per day

Saving X will reduce it to £75,000 per day and so on.

 

Especially in recent days and across many subjects the amount of assumptions/guesswork presented as fact has been incredible. Anything that can be done to clarify things in the simplest manner is essential.

Completely agree with all of this.

 

Over the past few days (in particular) I've been quite amazed at the confusion over the proposed revenue spending cuts, and that many folk don't know the difference between revenue and capital/one off spending. I'm not saying folk are thick(!), merely that it's a complex situation - I don't understand much of it myself

 

I think the SIC have a duty to present the cost savings in a more understandable manner and present the whole picture, perhaps with the aid of some infographics. That would hopefully let folk see where the money goes, how serious the situation is and that revenue simply must be reduced.

 

It seems that folk feel understandably 'picked on' if a service they use or rely on is facing reduction or withdrawal, but if it was presented as part of the overall savings, perhaps it would provide some context.

 

For example, I live at the end of a single track road which is facing a reduction of gritting service. I know that I would feel 'better' if there was simple and readily available information on what the previous expenditure on gritting was, how much the reduction in service will save and how much this will help with reducing the overall SIC revenue expenditure. In fact, I might even feel like I was 'doing my bit'

 

I'm sure the SIC officials must have this information available, so why not knock up a few graphics to present this in a more digestible way?

[unlinkedstudent]

^ perhaps the SIC could save a few bob by no longer jointly owning/being responsible for Shetland Box Office. Just what precisely do SIC do concerning its development and delivery of services - or is the SIC's involvement strictly limited to franking the envelopes containing tickets for SADA's/Mareel's gigs? Do they get any of the postage costs back, given that it is SIC's logo on the post franking and not Shetland Box Office.

 

Small fry perhaps but if savings are to be made, do we really need more than one place in town to collect tickets from?

 

Edit: I know that the Box Office sells tickets for other gigs too but given that SADA is meant to be for arts throughout Shetland, would it really present a problem if Box Office didn't have any SIC involvement?

[Staney Dale]

£600,000 (Mareel capital allocation) ÷ £80,000 (SIC daily overspend) = 7.5 days

 

So if the £600,000 was still available to the SIC then it would only delay 'the cuts' by just over a week?

 

Am I missing something, or is that right?!

Ths says it all about this thread and the ongoing pettiness and spite about Mareel. Get a grip. It is not Mareel, or SA, or the 'box office' that is the problem. We need to seriously cut revenue spending, and Mareel as an investment has a chance of doing better than many of our others. The carping shows the worst of Shetland, the positivity of building Mareel shows the best. And I never even liked Mareel, till the spite-mongers pushed me into it.

[oxna]

Pricing structure all wrong and in my view and nothing better than Mr Gulluiable's guesswork, family of five £12; sticky sweets £4, smaller ones £0.39. Mr G hasn't got a clue and even the SIC allude to that!