I am always hearing about how business struggles in Davis, but perhaps the business community ought to look inward rather than outward for culprits.
On Tuesday, Mayor Joe Krovoza will be delivering the State of the City Address at the Davis Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon. In order to promote the most media coverage possible for an upbeat meeting like this one is expected to be, typically organizations will provide reporters with complementary tickets, because they want the publicity and reporters are going sit down at a table taking notes and in the process not eat the food.
For this Chamber event, knowing that the Holidays just ended, the recent departure of two key Chamber staff, and interviews for staff replacements were keeping things hopping, I waited until a few days before Tuesday’s State of the City event to follow up on the status of Press tickets. So, yesterday I sent Chamber Executive Director, Kemble Pope, a simple text message question in the middle of the day.
“Will Media be able to attend the chamber state of the city to cover the event, free of charge?” I asked.
He quickly responded, “No, David, the community luncheons operate at a loss for the Chamber. Everyone buys a ticket, including The Enterprise.”
I wanted to clarify that I was not asking for a free meal, rather just access to cover the event, “Even if I’m not eating?” I asked. I was appalled at the response I received.
He said, “We can’t make a distinction and we have to pay for the venue.”
Then he continued, “Please play by the rules and please stop texting me on non-business days. I don’t find that being “on” 24/7 is healthy and I prefer to constrict Chamber work to M-F, 9am-5pm.”
I was completely taken aback by this terse reply from what is, in effect, a public relations organization. It was easy to question whether “relations” with the public wasn’t wanted, the press wasn’t wanted, or I wasn’t wanted, or possibly all three weren’t wanted. However, respecting Kemble’s request to honor his personal time, I didn’t respond to his text, so I don’t know the answer to that question, and can only go with my best guess.
At the heart of this personal interchange is a core issue. Media provides free coverage for many, many events a year. Unfortunately, news media everywhere is operating under financial circumstances that are significantly constrained.  The Davis Enterprise is a for profit business. They have dozens of employees, and they have a budget that presumably goes seven or eight digits, but that staff and that budget are both significantly smaller than they were just a few years ago, and suffering continued financial pressure to get smaller. The Vanguard is a small non-profit, we operate on zero margin.
It is easy to make the argument that none of the three Davis Media organizations (DMA with its restricted budget being the third) can afford to pay out $20 to $30 apiece for hundreds of these kinds of events a year. That’s why organizations like the Chamber that want media coverage typically will give media members a media pass to cover the event. We are not there to eat or socialize. We are there to write about what the Mayor says. So, based on my Saturday exchange with Kemble, it seems reasonable to wonder about the Chamber’s policy with regards to media coverage.
I understand the need for days off or personal time. To deal with that Kemble Pope had at his disposal a very simple time management solution — on your days off don’t answer business-related text messages, emails, or voice calls. I get emails and texts and even calls all of the time on my day off. If there is no urgency, I will wait to respond until I “am back on the clock” again. If Mr. Pope defines himself as a 9-5 M-F employee, then respond to any Saturday texts received on Monday morning.
But, based on my observations over the years, Kemble Pope is not a 9-to-5 employee. He is the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. He is expected to attend meetings at night, meetings and workshops on the weekend and attend all sorts of events. If he cannot answer media questions for two minutes on a weekend, then maybe he needs to find a job that is less intrusive than Chamber Director.
It is hard to imagine that the employers of the Chamber Executive Director, the people in the business community, work from 9-5 M-F. Some of them would probably be appalled to hear that the Director of the Davis Chamber has that view of the position. Some probably will wonder if that is truly his business practice and if so, will wonder if he is really all in to the idea of economic development.
On the other hand, if Mr. Pope is on vacation or having personal time, the simple solution is to set an auto reply message that he is presently unavailable or wait until a convenient time to respond to a text, or turn off his phone.
The bottom-line on all this is that if Mr. Pope thinks that as a matter of policy he can simply dismiss members of the media, and in the process send the message that the public in general isn’t wanted at Chamber events, and that no one will say anything about the appearance of such a policy, then perhaps he is again in the wrong profession.
In closing, I thought about waiting until after 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning to publish this piece of news, but the nature of the media business is that news happens when it happens. As noted earlier, Mr. Pope has the option of coming to the news on his own time, or having the news come to him. The choice is his.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Why not ask the mayor for a copy of his speech?
I thought you were going to write about how much earlier Target opened on the day before Christmas than a store selling the same kind of a certain product downtown. Instead you rant that you got dissed by the executive director of the Chamber. Of course to my recollection you haven’t historically been nice to that guy so it shouldn’t surprise you when he doesn’t want to be nice to you. Anyway its good to hear you are up to zero margin it sure beats a negative one.
“Of course to my recollection you haven’t historically been nice to that guy so it shouldn’t surprise you when he doesn’t want to be nice to you.”
there’s something called professionalism here that is missing from kemble. there’s also the strange comment about 9 to 5 that doesn’t seem to gibe with his job description. isn’t the executive director of the chamber a pr guy? pr isn’t a 9 to 5 job.
Toad and DP, the questions and acute humor contained in your collective commnts crystalize one of the key issues for me. Toad illuminates the power of personal antipathy in our daily lives and DP illuminates how some job descriptions call for squeezing all that antipathy out of the things that we do to successfully complete the short term and long term expectations of the job.
I should make the disclaimer at this point that Kemble and I have had our differences here on the Vanguard, but I offered him an olive branch and we scheduled a glass of wine together to mend fences. At the last minute he cancelled that wine sharing, and we have yet to reschedule, but bygones appear to be bygones on that score.
With that said, both PT Barnum and Mae West vie for the old saw about there never being too much publicity. If those two titans of publicity are right, then the Chamber’s policy regarding the media seems a bit strange.
I get the financial burden thing, but this seems like more of a personal beef between you and Kemble than one of citywide import. My advice: pull the article — it’s not worthy of the Vanguard imprimatur.
i think david (and others) have gotten tired of the abusive conduct of the chamber’s executive director.
Jim, I am not sure I understand your use of the term “worthy.” Can you help me understand why you feel that way?
DP, one thing that I have learned in my tenure on the Editorial Board of the Vanguard is that David is very good at checking his personal feelings at the door. Jeff Reisig may not feel that way and Bobby Weist may not feel that way, but after that the list gets pretty short. Some of the most active posters on the Vanguard excoroated David for his coverage of the 2011-2013 Water issues. To his credit they are still here on the Vanguard and in the end, the fact that both sides of the issue criticized David for favoring the other side says that he walked the line down the middle pretty successfully.
Questioning the wisdom of the Chamber’s policy of charging press reps to attend its events, and questioning whether or not that policy is uniformly applied, is reasonable fodder for editorial discussion given the Chamber’s standing in the community. But all the stuff about testy text messages comes across as personal animosity, bilateral or otherwise, and it unfavorably colors the editorial content. That would more appropriately be dealt with via private communication with Kemble’s supervisor (presumably the Chamber board or subcommittee thereof).
Not to dis David — I know that his job is hard and financially challenging. But any content that feeds the notion that the Vanguard is a one-man soapbox works against its overall value in the community.
Thanks for the response Jim. It is interesting, I’ve become so accustomed to David’s writing style where he regularly tries to quote the statements verbatim (easy in this case because they were text messages), that I didn’t see his recitation of those statements as “testy” just Joe Friday “facts.” Now that you have pointed out the testiness, I do see it a bit. Mostly I just see David being David and kemble being Kemble as they conduct a dialogue.
i just think david tried a number of times, and finally gave up.
P.S. Unrelated, but I note that comments on the Bill Dodd article seem to be disabled. Not sure how the existing comments got there, but I can’t see a comment box or Reply button on the page.
Fixed
I don’t like the term, but I believe his reaction would fit what some call “a douche.”
Are you talking about David’s or Kemble Pope’s reaction?
Sounds like there is some personal friction between David and Kemble. I suspect as a Chamber member he would respond to me after hours.
But I think there is a reasoonable point to be made to exect the Chamber President to be nice to members of the media. And in turn, I would expect members of the media to fairly and respectfully report on the Chambeer.
Last point is that I think the headline for this article is missleading. I don’t think the friction between David and Kemble has anything to do with why Davis business struggles.
I wholeheartedly agree with your final paragraph Frankly. The question is, is this article about Kemble’s behavior, or is it about the Chamber’s policy with respect to embracing the media?
i think the title refers to kemble’s consideration of his position as a 9 to 5 position.
Interesting . . . and I read the title as referring to the Chamber’s policy of viewing the media as a revenue source and keeping the media at arm’s length where possible. Chocolate and vanilla.
hadn’t considered that angle. either way, not an effective business strategy.
Maybe the title should “one of the reasons why business’ struggle in Davis”.
Speaking in general, effective Chamber Executive Director’s should be able to keep personal feelings about issues and people separate from professional ones.
So does DMA have to pay $20 to $30 per staff if they were interested in videoing the mayor’s speech?
Do you know if DMA will be there?
Good question wdf. Very good question.
Because I’m hoping so. And if DMA hadn’t planned to be there, then the Davis CoC should go out of its way to make it happen, including waiving any entry fee, if necessary. It seems like a state of the city speech is a standard point of public duty that all Davis citizens might like to reference if they wanted, and having the raw footage of the speech available for broadcast or online in a timely manner is a matter of transparency and accountability in the spirit of C-SPAN.
Otherwise it might be more like the President giving the State of the Union address only to paying members at a luncheon of the National Business Club.
I would think it would compromise a legitimate journalist to take a gift from an organization that is being covered. No?
I don’t see how allowing members of the press, if they are not taking a paid seat, eating, or drinking can be construed as a gift.
Jack, what “gift” would that be? Just as is done at each Council meeting where the Media sits at it’s own table and takes notes on their computers, I would expect any Media in attendance will be doing the same at the Chamber event. Do you think the Media is given a “gift” by the City at every Council meeting?
It seems to me it might benefit the Chamber to have their significant meetings publicized, that it might increase their membership. Seems like this is penny-wise and pound foolish.
In thinking more about this piece and the point about “why Davis business struggles”, I do agree that there is a certain bit of smug business elitism that radiates from some Davis merchants. It is subtle. I think it is what happens when a business is protected from competition like our downtown merchants enjoy.
Really? Which Davis merchants radiate smug elitism?
Some of the art stores. Some of the boutique stores. Hibbert at times feels like you don’t belong unless you are a contractor… hours of business included. Some of the book stores… which by the way got a lot more friendly when Borders moved to town.
I’ve had nothing but great service from Hibbert over the years (and I’m not a contractor) and they have also been very helpful to my wife (who is defiantly not a contractor) .
I recently had a $5 off any purchase over $20 from another local hardware store that expired at the end of the year and I bought some roof patch for the shed and some silicon caulk. The other store didn’t have the wall mounted shovel holder I was looking for so I drove over to Hibbert and noticed that I would have saved money if I bought the roof patch and caulk at their “regular price” vs. using my coupon at the other store.
Ok, I just bought two tickets for the Davis Vanguard to attend the Chamber luncheon. My contribution to community comity.
a very nice and generous gesture.
Kudos Don. Well done.
Thank you, Don, we need more of that comity stuff. Is your business a chamber member? Is The Vanguard? Or the Enterprise?
I haven’t been a member for several years; i don’t know if the Vanguard is. Davis Enterprise has been a member of the Chamber for many, many years.
So if I start a blog in Davis I can expect to be allowed for free into meetings and other events?
If you grow it to the level and quality of the Vanguard, maybe.
Well maybe Kemble Pope doesn’t feel the Vanguard has reached that quality level either.
When I read the headline I thought this was going to be about why businesses are struggling in Davis, to me it came off as more of a sour grapes attack on Mr. Pope.
you obviously believe it has. you have praised david and the vanguard for their work on a number of occasions even as you disagree with him on the issues. i think i saw that this site is getting 5000 to 9000 unique visitors a day and has topped 30,000 page views. that would seem to legitimize it.
Interesting point G.I. Do you think that is indeed Kemble’s assessment of the Vanguard, and if it is, is it an opinion that is broadly shared in the Davis community?
A low bar.
David:
From your own reporting above I would have to say that the person who has acted unprofessionally is you. I don’t understand why you would not have made this request a couple of weeks ago with a call or email to the Chamber office when the event was announced. You chose to leave it to the last minute, and then chose to send your non-urgent request to the Executive Director’s personal cell phone during non-business hours. The fact that his job responsibilities sometimes requires him to attend events after hours is not a justification for your acting as if he should be available to you whenever you desire. Besides, just because you know someone’s cell phone number does not mean you should use that number for business purposes during their personal time.
Kemble would have been completely justified if he had ignored you, but instead it sounds like he answered your questions, and then ask you not to contact him again via his cell phone after hours. That sounds like a perfectly reasonable response to your unprofessional behavior.
As to your belief that you should have free access to the meeting. The Chamber is a private membership organization and the meeting is intended for the benefit of the organization’s members. As such they get to decide if they want to invite the media or not, and as long as they respond to all media requests with the same standard, then you really have nothing to complain about.
“I don’t understand why you would not have made this request a couple of weeks ago with a call or email to the Chamber office when the event was announced.”
you didn’t think maybe it was a little chaotic with the website issues and the holidays? when was the last time the chamber offices were even open? i think we’re talking about a two minute exchange that kemble could have ignored or politely declined.
“That sounds like a perfectly reasonable response to your unprofessional behavior.”
which behavior are we talking about.
“As to your belief that you should have free access to the meeting. ”
it’s not clear that he has that belief, though it does seem to be standard question for media access purposes. the chamber wants the attention but is not willing to give the attention makers access, that’s a bit odd to me. our press person at the ag’s office is on call 24-7, that’s effecitvely what kemble is, the chamber’s mouthpiece.