Culver City Parks Task 8.1 Final Plan - Flipbook - Page 228
REVENUE GENERATION
Perhaps even more critical than one-time or bond
funding is the development of on-going revenue
generation strategies that can support the parks in
perpetuity. Revenue generation is often one of the
most successful ways to fund ongoing operations
and maintenance since many local, state, and
federal initiatives only provide funding for capital
improvements.
Culver City’s parks can bolster economic
development goals without detracting from the
parks’ primary mission of providing open space
amenities to the community. To capitalize on these
opportunities parks must remain free and open to
the public.
Culver City’s parks are already treasured amenities
for residents, workers, and regional visitors,
as well as a driver of economic development.
Continued successful operation of the parks can
be leveraged to grow food and beverage revenues
(including seasonal and permanent concessions),
sponsorships, and revenues from public and private
events. Many of the current fee structures for events
are not “market-rate,” and although certainly the
overarching goal is to provide an amenity for the
community that is not cost prohibitive, private
events should be cost-neutral for the city after
accounting for both staff time and impact on
facilities, which may require subsidies that could
be offset with additional revenues.
The feasibility of any potential revenue stream is
based on a high-level assessment of the barriers
that will impact each individual opportunity’s
viability:
• Commercial viability: is there a business
case to be made for the profitability of any
individual revenue stream?
• Political: will the implementation of any
individual revenue stream be met with
political resistance that might render the
likelihood of inclusion more or less difficult?
• Community: will the implementation of
any individual revenue stream be met with
community or neighborhood resistance
that might render the likelihood of inclusion
more or less difficult?
• Contractual: are there existing rules,
regulations, and/or restrictions on city
contracting processes that might stand in
the way of execution?
228 IMPLEMENTATION // PRIORITIZATION, COSTS, AND FUNDING
• Capital: are the actual dollar value costs of
inclusion prohibitively expensive?
• Operational: is the management or
oversight overly burdensome or too far
outside the scope of existing department
operations to render any specific item
unrealistic?
Despite the potential for additional revenues, it
is to be stressed that residents and visitors will
be sensitive to anything that feels like it is purely
commercial, rather than amenities being provided
for park users. Potential avenues for additional
revenue will continue to be developed with
community engagement to foster an inclusive
implementation process and reflect the needs of
the surrounding neighborhoods.
Rental Fees
Culver City already distinguishes between different
types of users (government and resident vs.
nonresident) and uses (nonprofit vs. commercial) for
space rentals for indoor rooms. Designated spaces
with parks PRCS aims to activate can be treated
similarly. The City might choose to reduce or waive
fees for nonprofit users holding events that are free
and open to the public, and distinguish those from
ticketed events and private events, which would be
charged fees. Establishing a nonprofit governance
and management partner for PRCS, as discussed
below, would create additional opportunities to
collect revenue from commercial, ticketed, and
private events. The nonprofit would enter into
revenue sharing agreements with the producers
of events on a case-by-case basis, with that revenue
received by the nonprofit required to be spent in
Culver City’s parks.
Food and Beverage
In crafting opportunities for food and beverage
partners, PRCS should take into account different
segments of a comprehensive, system-wide
food and beverage program that will need to
be combined in different permutations in order
to attract operators with a commercially viable
opportunity. These segments include:
• Permanent, year-round restaurants and
concessions
• Seasonal, fixed concessions
• Mobile concessions
• Catering for private events in Culver City
Parks
• Event-related concessions at large events
