The full article is here.
And here's an excerpt:
Organizers of the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon sent about $212,000 to the city and county Monday, reimbursing taxpayers for inappropriate discounts and payouts received over the past decade.
Race officials mailed refund checks for $173,000 to the county and about $39,000 to the city of San Diego Monday, the last of a series of payments.
In all, the Competitor Group has returned $344,176 in public funds since The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in February that the private business profited off the marathon while receiving thousands of dollars in discounted police services and county grants through an affiliated foundation.
I'm not sure if other cities are looking into Elite Racing's activities, but they should. And we, as consumers, should be careful where we spend our money. These races are often outrageously expensive, and we deserve to know where the fees go - particularly if a for-profit organizer claims it's doing this in the name of charity.
4 comments:
What it really points to is there needs to be more oversight - that's for sure.
You know - I grew up a pretty strident Conservative. Govt out of business. Free markets. All that stuff. Then we read about stuff like the original story. And wonder why people don't trust big business.
Kudos to the Competitor Group for taking the steps to make things right. Let's hope that these moves do not result in a competitive disadvantage to other groups that transact business like Elite did....
Earlier this year, some lady from OC e-mailed me at my Monterey Herald address, to ask if I could check out the RnR to see if I suspected any mismanagement. It was hard for me to tell, not knowing the particulars of that area ... but now all her concerns make perfect sense.
Big thumbs up to the Competitor Group to do the right thing with repayment - that's not something you see very often.
It got me to thinking, how often does this happens in other businesses and/or organizations? What does this mean for us, the people who spend their money at these events?
Wow, that is just down right rude! Amazing that it was uncovered. Good job and kudos to the Cometitor Group...that shows a lot of class.
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