"CHeezzburg, CHezzburg, CHeezzburger."
NO fries... CHeeps.
No Coke... Pepsi.

In Ocean City, Maryland.. there's always some sort of phoney balogna'nny.. and it's time for the shannagans again... Will they paint the town Red or Blue.

February 11, 2002
THE WINNER IS PEPSI
At least their local guys and gals from Salisbury... and this time given a fair shake at the promotion of their product. Winning the contract with $1.1 million dollars for 5 years providing a juicy cash cow for the town. More discussions about the new deal later in the week... allegations of price fixing at town events, unfair business practices, and free trade will be discussed later in the week.

But for now... we hope the town doesn't blow the bucks in one day. Or, if at least do something nice for North Ocean City for a change. And North Ocean City... ho boy... can't wait to roll out that article. Stay tuned...


UPDATING WEEKLY

Only in Ocean City, Maryland can a town make a Zombie out of water, sugar, and food coloring.
Updated February 6, 2002

On January 29th, 2002 Ocean City received the two bids, one from Pepsi and one from Coke, for the exclusive rights to have their respective soda beverage represent Ocean City Maryland at the towns events. On March 29th, 2002 the current franchise deal ends with Coke-Cola and either must be renewed or choose another company for the "sink hole" that the town has gotten itself into with a corporate sponsorship enterprise they struck up 5 years ago. The town's recreation and parks department will review the deals (bids) and submit their recommendation to the Silly (City) Town Council next month.

What is a sink hole... a sink hole is a piece of land, that has a hidden cavity lying beneath it... and when conditions present themselves, like a really bad rainy season.. the land above the cavity "sinks" or creates a cavity that is difficult to refill.

The corporate sponsorship and franchise deals that the Town Council has now incorporated into their budget, is just such a sink hole in the ever run-a-way budget the town has created. Granted, the money is handy, but the expectation as steady income flow has been an extremely bad decision in a series of bad decisions the local government has gotten the tax payers of Ocean City into.

For many years the Ocean City population has had a conservative base, but in the last 10 years has become more liberal and with that opinion of government, spending has increased and revenues decreased even as the town has continued to grow in unprecedented building boom. Unfortunately, the town government has failed to realized that the tourism industry is just like the agriculture industry, and any good farmer never puts his eggs in one basket, and any good farmer puts away for a rainy day.

The Ocean City, Maryland has attracted tourism and an influx of residents for many years because of it's relatively inexpensive taxation, and generally inexpensive cost of living. BUT this has changed as franchise fees and hidden taxation has incrementally increased.

Raining on the spending parade for the budget of the City Town Council and local govenment, was The Omnibus Reconciliation Act that was introduced in this year's budget for the State of Maryland. It included a provision to remove the $2.5 million increase to the state's tourism board. All across America we are trying to but a damper on government run-a-way spending, and enlight of the State of Maryland's BILLIOM dollar deficit, and recent current economic climate... knuckling down and putting the finger on spending is something the town of Ocean City must appreciate.

Lead the Cat to water.. and she will drink. Feed the Cat caviar... she gets fat and sloppy.

More notes and updates to this Ocean City "No Coke - Pepsi," Saga coming in the future.


Previous Notes: December 30,2001
Fantasma……… sounds like one of our crew we used to call "Fantasy Boy."
A pretty boy he was/is…. could always get the woman… but seems just could never produce, or hold up his end of the bargin. But one wonders… how the deal was struck with Fantasy Boy, and who struck the original deals that lead to an $750,000 lawsuit against the Ocean City Government. Back in September 1968, the town once again squeaked by on the deal they backed out of for a mere $65,000 . But we guess… it was a good thing… because in the end, the town did it's typical best as a back door government, and played both sides against the middle… fattening the budget with more booty. Getting the deal with Coke, and Pepsi still mounted promotional advertising deals to keep competing.

But are they ill-be-gotten gains?

Basically what happened is a promotional company called Fantasma from Florida was supposed to produce income in the form of advertising or other promotional schemes for Ocean City, Maryland in an exclusive contract for two years.. After not producing any results, the town wished to get out of the deal with Fantasma. But what we are surmising is that town was approached by Coke and figured they could strike a deal without having to pay royalties to Fantasma. Fantasma sued for breach of contract and that the deal with Coke had by passed an agreement Fantasma had negotiated with Pepsi cola Bottling Co. of Salisbury so the city could enter into a similar arrangement with Coke. In episodes resembling the Nixon Tapes of the 1960's…. closed meetings, tapes of the closed meetings, and documents therein were summoned.

But WHY?? Why else MONEY… Five years ago much ado at the time of this adventure in Ocean City Politics was bantered about in the press… Cries of unfair business dealings with Coke excluding Pepsi Cola for fair bidding of the exclusive contracts.

Well here we are again… five years later… and the town of Ocean City, Maryland will be making a Zombie out of sugar, water, and food coloring. Resurrecting the bidding process but this time all above ground, and not the underground back door politics that originally brought the controversy between, Coke, Pepsi, and Fantasma.
Gone this time is slicky boy Tommie Perlozzo… but we're sure it will play out for all of us to enjoy in the papers….

But if we were Coke and Pepsi, and in relation to the poor economy predicted, the poor weather and economy of last year… well, we think the Soda Kings, have got OC by soda fountain… giving Ocean City new meaning to the term "Soda Jerk."

Can you believe anybody would give the Isle of Fenwick $1,000,000 for a five year exclusive right to say "No Pepsi.... CoKe.." ? Did I miss the Rolling Stones Concert...? was Brittany Spears here last week? Whoopsss.. sorry about that Brittany... I forgot you endorse Pepsi.. except for that time you got caught slamming a coke down your throat last year. Exclusive rights would/did mean that Coca Cola would be served as the only softdrink at the softball tournaments in North OC on Sundays... at Sprngfest and Sunfest et cetera.

Let me see here.... $1,000,000 per town that is a resort town... every five years... or $200,000 per resort town per year.... I started counting the number of coastal towns in America.. but couldn't analyze which towns were as prestigious as Ocean City... so I picked the population of Ocean City Maryland... which is estimated at 10,000, which I thought was fair enough. So now we get the figure of $20 per person advertising budget for soda pop in Ocean City Maryland. OK... well maybe not extravagant or outlandish... I'd like to find those 10,000 people in Ocean City on any day in November, December, January, February, and March.... and ask them how they have been enriched by the $1,000,000 over 5 years... or even better... because Ocean City never had this income payment before.... without it... would the taxes have increased $20 per person per year. For a family of four... that would mean that their taxes ONLY for Ocean City would have increased $80 per year. Whhhaaaatttttt...... this doesn't make sense! Look at it this way... the $1,000,000 went to pay for something... Some how or another, you are paying for that $1,000,000... not Coke. Coke will write off on their taxes that "expense" and incorporated that payment into the price of the product. So you see... the money paid to Ocean City just didn't come out of thin air... and beautify downtown Ocean City... it was transferred here from some other fund, Federal or State taxes, or the price of the can of Coke. Nobody's taxes have decreased. The only way to decrease taxes is to spend less in the Government. What the teachers in our schools need to do, and the tourism bureau of Ocean City Maryland should promote... is drink water. Save your money and come to Ocean City. You'll live longer. And make the $1,000,000 payment directly to the residents of Ocean City, to spend as they wish. Shouldn't every resident get the transfer of funds... it's OUR town isn't it? The residents could always donate the money directly to the town... and then they could get the tax write off. I'd donate to OC.... wouldn't you?

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