HomeMy WebLinkAbout19960612_Alexander letter to SettleTo: Allen Settle From: Will Alexander 12 June 1996
Subject: Performing Arts Center naming
I would like to suggest a way of getting the City Council out of the
"dog in the manger" position on the PAC naming question.
The first, and simplest, would be to bounce the bail. The council
might declare its good intentions of helping the PAC open on time by
declaring that the City is prepared to endorse a million dollar loan of an
approved financial institution to the PAC which carries the condition that
the no name of any living individual be added to the title of the PAC.
The second is more complicated. I have been considering placing
some of my money in a mutual fund. In particular I have been looking at
the California tax-exempt portfolio of the Parnassus Income Fund. Money
put in the Parnassus Income Fund can be withdrawn almost like from a
bank, seven days is the longest possible wait. I presume that the City
probably averages a million dollars in its current account.
The City might offer to deposit an average of a million dollars in the
Fund provided that the Fund will loan a million dollars to the PAC on the
condition that no name of any living individual be added to the title of the
PAC. I am presuming that the City would put its money in the Parnassus
balanced portfolio (not the tax-exempt portfolio) which has returned 229/0
over the last five years.
There is a publicity benefit for Parnassus (or any other mutual fund).
The people who are upset about the naming of the PAC are likely to be
people who have given money for the PAC (and are also people who have
other monies to put in money accounts), and would be grateful to the
financial institution who served as the white knight in this transaction.