The great economic collapse of 2008 was caused by the irrational behavior of the Board Members of corporations.
This defect in the management of the vital components of American vehicles of business caused the loss of millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in capital.
While AIG nearly collapsed and went bankrupt, the Board of Directors doled out huge bonuses to the neglegent executives. The CEO who oversaw the crash of Lehman Brothers walked away with a payout of nearly $150 million dollars from his Board, and the Board at Fannie Mae required their executives receive six digit increases in pay even as the company went under water.
Today, in 2011, the Board of Governors at Le Petit Theatre is trying to make history with their own brand of self-congratulatory self-destruction.
As Le Petit stands today, it is the oldest, continuously operating theater in the United States. Sitting on one of the most historically significant pieces of land in the fabled French Quarter, Le Petit offers an irreplaceable slice of New Orleans culture.
The Board of Governors, in what started as a back room sneak deal to sell out the famous old theatre, are currently trying to gut this historic monument and replace it with yet another restaurant. And not just any restaurant, but another Dickie Brennan Group restaurant of which there are already more than a dozen in New Orleans itself.
While this underhanded deal is designed to destroy much of the integrity of Le Petit Theatre in the name of financial profit, one cannot underestimate the benefit for the Brennan Group in its pursuit of dominance of the traditionally variegated New Orleans restaurant tradition.
Like the stock holders steamrolled by the ignorant and greedy Boards of the American corporations, the season ticket holders at Le Petit are being systematically ground out of the decision making process. 16 of the 19 Board Governors are themselves not season ticket holders for the shows at La Petit. This means that they are not Members, merely Board Governors.
For this reason the Board of Governors aggressively attempted to make this shady Brennan deal behind the backs of the actual Members. Now that the Members, the season ticket holders, have become aware, the Board has set out to eliminate more than 60 of these members on technicalities and at the same time give dozens and dozens of ‘honorary memberships’ to personal friends and acquaintances all in an attempt to contaminate the vote.
The Board is behaving as though they will push this deal through with or without the approval of the more than 300 season ticket holders. This might be the most dramatic and damning piece of evidence available.
In some cases one might argue that the lazy, stupid and uninspired sheep require governing in order to make the right decisions; however it is unlikely that the season ticket holding Members of Le Petit Theatre fall directly into this category.
As the pro-Brennan Restaurant propaganda begins to pile up like so much waste coming back out of the dump, the Le Petit Board of Governors continues to use grandiose language and lofty nonsense alongside tricks and underhanded dealings in order to push this deal through.
We must then stop for a moment and ask ourselves a few questions:
Why is the Board intensly determined to have a Dickie Brennan Restaurant veritably replace its old and distinguished theatre?
Is it possible that the members of a theatre going community are too stupid, too short sighted, too limited in perspective to see what is best for Le Petit Theatre and must be tricked and brow-beaten into making the right decision?
Could this be yet another experience of a Board running using its position stupidly in poisonous self-interest and debilitating power grabbing nonsense?
Can New Orleans afford to stand by as a mini-Wall Street meltdown vulgarly and destructively smashes down in our own beloved French Quarter, taking in its wake the oldest theatre in the United States?
While the Newspapers and Media twist and turn to the delight of the powerful restauranteurs and self-serving Board of Governors, they let loose with attacks on the very theatre going community which has preserved this theatre through the century. If those who are very close to the situation argue that there are other means by which this theatre can be preserved, one must give them the opportunity to be heard instead of trampling them into what appears to be a nasty, self-interested deal of profit for an ambitious and greedy few.
While the Newspapers and Media twist and turn to the delight of the powerful restauranteurs and self-serving Board of Governors, they let loose with attacks on the very theatre going community which has preserved this theatre through the century. If those who are very close to the situation argue that there are other means by which this theatre can be preserved, one must give them the opportunity to be heard instead of trampling them into what appears to be a nasty, self-interested deal of profit for an ambitious and greedy few.
