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Nucci: Walsh shows resolve on casino issue

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 20 April 2014 | 00.48

Just in case anyone is still wondering what kind of a mayor Marty Walsh will be, he just sent the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and its Chairman Stephen Crosby a very clear answer. He'll be a mayor who won't back down, and Boston is not going to be a city to be trifled with or dismissed.

So now is the time to see a similarly strong stance from those who would be our next governor. Our current governor is taking the position that the process is playing out just fine, and he has shown zero interest in getting involved.

And while the gubernatorial candidates have made broad statements about gambling in general, they too have walked away from the all-important licensing process. It's easier to just say, "Not my job — call the Gaming Commission."

The process of awarding a casino license in Greater Boston has been amended and twisted into a mysterious patchwork mess created by a gaming panel that has apparently been making it up as they go along. Nobody even knows the rules anymore.

Walsh believes that Boston should be considered a host community to either casino, and he wants his position dealt with seriously. At Suffolk Downs it seems abundantly clear that the casino complex straddles both Boston and Revere. The Everett project may also be using Boston land. Both projects should then require an opportunity for Boston voters to have their say at the polls.

But the commission has seemed annoyed by, and somewhat dismissive of, Boston's stance. Big mistake. The city has now asked Crosby to step aside, charging him with setting up a process which "stack(s) the deck" against the city, and creating "a cloud over the proceedings."

Hello! Get the message? This will not be a "nice-to-see-you; see-you-later" exercise. Not if Marty Walsh can help it.

Yet from the gubernatorial candidates, there is the deafening sound of crickets on this issue. This is not a casino complex that will be in some out-of-the-way location deep in the woods. This is an urban mega-project. Boston is the capital city and economic engine of the commonwealth.

Do the candidates think the decision on an urban casino, with all its burdens and negative impacts, should rest only with Steve Crosby and the other four commission members?

Which casino makes more sense, the Wynn or the Suffolk Downs plan?

Should Boston get a say on these projects, both of which throw huge burdens on the city?

There should be no ducking behind "the process."

So who will it be? Which candidate wants to weigh in first? Mayor Walsh is stepping up. Who's ready to take a stand? We're all ears.


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Providence, RI, sues firms over stock trades

Providence, R.I., is suing dozens of Wall Street banks and other financial companies over high-frequency trading.

The federal complaint was filed Friday in New York on behalf of city investment funds that traded stocks in the U.S. since April 18, 2009.

It claims that stock exchanges, investment banks and others defrauded the city, which managed funds on behalf of active and retired city employees, by manipulating market data in favor of split-second stock-trading firms.

The lawsuit comes amid heightened government scrutiny into whether advantages in computer hardware and placement enable some to get millisecond timing advances on trades.

The lawsuit asserts that the defendants routinely engaged in "manipulative, self-dealing and deceptive conduct," including brokerage firms providing details of their clients' offers on stocks to high-speed trading firms, which would then trade against them.

The complaint also focused on the practice of high-speed trading itself. The city claims that the high-frequency trading firms named in the lawsuit reaped illicit profits by learning about changes in the price of a stock trading in one exchange and then picking off orders for the stock in another exchange before the exchanges were able to update their own bids and offers.

In the five-year period covered in the lawsuit, Providence asserts its investors made trades involving 26 million shares for a total value of about $611 million.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages, plus interest, to be determined at trial, in addition to restitution for investors, among other penalties.

Among the defendants named in the lawsuit are the Nasdaq Stock Market and the New York Stock Exchange; major banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup; and trading firms including Chopper Trading and Jump Trading.

Representatives of JPMorgan, Goldman and Citigroup each declined to comment on the lawsuit.

An email to Jump Trading was not immediately returned.

Calls to Chopper Trading went unanswered late Friday.


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From Clinton to Obama, many parallels

WASHINGTON — Thousands of pages of documents from President Bill Clinton's White House affirm a longtime adage: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

As Clinton prepared for an August 1994 news conference in which he hoped to build public support for his struggling — and ultimately unsuccessful — health care overhaul, he told his advisers: "A lot of them want to know they can keep their own plan if they like it." Later that fall, Clinton's Democrats were routed in midterm elections and lost control of Congress.

Nearly two decades later, President Barack Obama sought to reassure Americans about his own plan, which won approval in Congress in 2010, by telling them, "If you like your plan you can keep it." A spate of private policy cancellations forced Obama to recant his pledge that all Americans who liked their plans could simply keep them.

More than 8 million people have signed up for health insurance under the "Obamacare" law; how the overhaul is perceived could become a deciding point for the fate of Obama's fellow Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections.

About 7,500 pages of records released Friday through the National Archives and the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark., show the parallels between the Clinton era and the White House under Obama. The documents may also offer a glimpse into a future as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who led her husband's health care task force, considers another presidential campaign in 2016.

One undated memo written after the 1994 elections offers advice on how Mrs. Clinton could soften her image. An unnamed aide told the first lady, "It's no surprise that some Americans can't handle smart, tough, independent women," and encouraged Clinton to pick issues and events accentuating her personal side, not wonky interests, and recommended she do more listening.

As Clinton planned to attend the 1995 U.N. women's conference in Beijing, the aide wrote, "It is crucial that we dispel notions (sure to be perpetuated by the Religious Right) that you are part of some feminist cabal meeting in China to plot a takeover of the world." The conference was where Clinton famously declared that "women's rights are human rights."

The documents show the challenges the president faced in winning support for his health care bill. In 1993, Clinton's advisers estimated that passing the health care bill would require a delicate balance of Democratic and Republican support, needing at least eight moderate Republicans in the Senate and 15 to 20 in the House to win approval.

A strategy memo argued the plan would require support from enough conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans without alienating too many liberal Democrats. But the bill never cleared a House committee.

"The complexity of our bill undermines our chances for success but without complexity, success is impossible," the unsigned memo said.

It identified several lawmakers as "swing votes," including Republican Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, who became the GOP presidential nominee against Clinton in 1996, and several House members still serving, including Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich., Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Frank Pallone, D-N.J.

After Republicans swept to victory in the 1994 elections, in part because of the failed health care overhaul, the mood at the White House was sour. "We got slaughtered," wrote communications aide David Dreyer in November 1994. "Event of historic proportions. Worse bloodbath since 1922 in the Harding administration, but even he didn't lose control of both chambers."

Obama also had a blunt reaction after Republicans won control of the House in the 2010 elections, in part because of fallout from passage of the new health care law. He described the defeat as "a shellacking."

More recently, Obama has tried to win support in Congress for his plan to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, pointing to it as a way to pull families out of poverty.

The Clinton administration also had internal debates over the minimum wage, which the president signed into law in 1996, boosting the rate from $4.25 an hour to $5.15 an hour by September 1997.

In a 1998 memo from aide Phil Caplan, it became clear there was internal disagreement with a plan from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., to raise the minimum wage even further, to $7.25 an hour. That proposal had "no support among your advisers," Caplan told Clinton in his memo.

Instead, the economic team argued for an increase to $6.15 an hour by 2002. Others, including advisers Rahm Emanuel — now Chicago's mayor — and Sylvia Mathews Burwell — recently nominated Health and Human Services secretary — urged that the rate be increased to $5.55 in 1999 and the issue revisited in 2000.

Clinton deputy chief of staff John Podesta, now a counselor to Obama, "is opposed and feels this won't attract Democratic support," Caplan told Clinton.

Another record shows how Clinton's team considered ways of addressing the lingering Monica Lewinsky scandal, which some Republicans have cited as Mrs. Clinton considers a presidential campaign. In December 1998, Clinton adviser Benjamin Barber wrote to speechwriter Michael Waldman about the upcoming State of the Union address.

"Will the State of the Union try to grapple with the sordid history of the impeachment and what it has done to American politics and the American political process? Or will it be future-oriented and programmatic, as if nothing had happened?" Barber asked Waldman.

"I'm torn," concluded Barber, who was not part of the administration but often advised the White House.

"If he opts to try again to wrestle with the issue directly, then I do have a suggestion: which is to speak forcefully to the real issue," Barber said in his memo to Waldman. That issue: "His credibility and trustworthiness." But Clinton did not take up the subject in the speech. He made passing reference to the "clash of controversy" obscuring American's "new dawn."

An email from Lewinsky was listed in a batch of documents regarding Gen. Wesley Clark but redacted for privacy reasons. The email from Lewinsky to White House official Ashley Raines, dated Oct. 22, 1997, was in regard to a medical report. The report prepared by Kenneth Starr, the independent prosecutor in the Clinton case, lists Raines as a Lewinsky friend.

Other records depict internal White House tensions between Clinton and Vice President Al Gore in the years before Gore ran for the presidency himself.

In a 1997 memo, Ron Klain, Gore's chief of staff, urged a White House presidential speechwriter to include a passage about a victim of the Oklahoma City bombing who was kicked out of his office during the 1996 government shutdown. Gore had promoted the reference.

"I am trying to knock down the idea that the Clinton White House's support for Gore is based on legacy notions and build up the idea that it is based on respect, relationships and in-the-foxhole camaraderie," Klain wrote. He added: "This anecdote rebuts the charge that Gore lacks a Clinton-type feel for political rhetoric."

Adding that Gore had been tireless in promoting environment, science and technology issues, Klain added: "Gore was Mr. Faithful in pushing these concerns."

___

Associated Press writers Alicia A. Caldwell, Philip Elliott, Charles Babington, Alan Fram, Bradley Klapper, Eileen Sullivan, Erica Werner, Stephen Braun, Stephen Ohlemacher, Jack Gillum and Richard Lardner contributed to this report.

___

Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas


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US senator: Metro-North fined $552,000 past decade

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Metro-North, the nation's second-largest commuter railroad, has been fined $552,000 over the past decade for safety violations and defects, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Friday.

The Connecticut Democrat announced the fines for 139 violations since 2004 in his latest bid to draw attention to what he describes as a need to restore safety and reliability to the railroad.

Defects and violations are commonly found during inspections and audits, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration said, and Metro-North said it has been implementing significant measures to improve safety. The railroad had two derailments last year, one in New York City that left four passengers dead and one in Bridgeport that injured dozens. It carried more than 83.4 million riders between New York City and its suburbs last year.

"While not every reported defect is a serious safety threat, the magnitude of violations is deeply troubling," Blumenthal said. "The pertinence and practical importance of these defects is staggeringly clear."

The derailments are under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Metro-North has made tremendous strides in improving its safety culture, spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said. The railroad did a thorough inspection of its tracks and other infrastructure, tightened safeguards on when tracks are put back into service and is implementing other improvements such as anonymous reporting of near-accidents, she said.

"Metro-North Railroad is working every day with the Federal Railroad Administration and National Transportation Safety Board to correct the safety issues raised by the recent tragic accidents and the subsequent federal review and recommendations," Anders said. "We share Senator Blumenthal's objective, which is ensuring the safety of our customers, employees and the public at large."

While Metro-North was fined $552,000, the railroad ultimately paid about $239,000 after settlement negotiations required by federal law, according to figures provided by Blumenthal.

Blumenthal sought the data after a story this month by Hearst Connecticut Media, which reported that federal inspectors over the last decade found more than 7,100 defects and deficiencies in Metro-North Railroad. Inspections during 2013 uncovered five times as many issues per 100 miles of track as similar inspections of other commuter railroads, Kevin Thompson, an FRA spokesman, told the newspaper.

"While that is a significant concern for us, it doesn't mean the railroad is unsafe to ride," Thompson said.

Anders told the newspaper that thousands of defects over 10 years is not unusual in the industry.

Of the 139 violations, 60 involved accident reporting; 11 were alcohol and drug violations; 27, passenger equipment safety standards; 14, railroad operating practices; 3, roadway worker protection; and 5, track safety standards, Blumenthal said, citing FRA data.

He criticized the agency for not imposing steeper fines or stepping up its enforcement until last year despite a spike in violations five years earlier.

Thompson said civil penalties are one of several enforcement tools designed to promote full compliance with federal safety regulations.

"When we identify a defect or a violation, we act on them and require the offending railroad to rectify its problems," Thompson said. "As a data-driven agency, our inspection and audit data help to inform how, when and where we deploy our limited resources and this approach is largely responsible for the 50 percent reduction in train accidents across the country over the last decade."

He said it's not unusual for inspections and audits to find defects and violations and said accident reporting violations can involve mistakes in paperwork related to minor incidents. More than 40 percent of the violations involved accident reporting.


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Plane spotted in Iran is registered to Utah bank

SALT LAKE CITY — An airplane that mysteriously ended up in Iran is registered to a Utah bank under an arrangement for aviation ownership that has prompted two warnings from a government watchdog in the past year.

The Bombardier CL-600 became the subject of international intrigue after the New York Times revealed its presence in Iran at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, along with a picture of the jet, its tail number and a small American flag affixed to the side.

Government officials are not saying how and why the plane traveled to Iran.

Except for some approved activities by the U.S. Department of Treasury, federal regulations generally prohibit economic activity between the U.S. and Iran, according to the U.S. Department of State.

Aviation records show the plane is registered to the Bank of Utah through an arrangement in which the bank serves as a trustee for aircraft owners.

Scott Parkinson, senior vice president for marketing and communication with the Ogden-based bank, said the financial institution is aware of the plane in Iran but is not investigating at this point.

"As far as the legality of that, flying into that country, that's really between the beneficiary and the Department of State, and maybe the FAA," Parkinson said. "Not us."

But the practice has drawn scrutiny from the federal government recently.

A government watchdog warned last June and again in January that non-U.S. citizens have registered 5,600 planes with the Federal Aviation Administration through trustees, concealing the owners' identities.

Under FAA regulations, this can be done by the owner creating an agreement to transfer the plane's title to a trustee that is a U.S. citizen. The trustee then registers the plane. The agreements provide little information on the identity of the owner or who uses the plane, according to a memorandum by the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General.

In 47 registrations closely examined by the inspector general, the non-U.S. citizen who created the trust had complete authority to remove the trustee, and thus control over the plane.

Just five trustees accounted for 3,283 of the planes registered on behalf of non-U.S. citizens, the memorandum said. One trustee required the inspector general to obtain a subpoena before complying with a request for information.

Parkinson stressed that his bank performs due diligence that is required by regulators in terms of aircraft ownership. "Our trust agreements are very clearly outlined that we don't allow any illegal activity, obviously, with these assets."

"It's a piece of business that we've carved out, very legitimate piece of business, that our corporate trust people specialize in and have the talent for," he said.

FAA regulations don't require trustees to identify aircraft owners or operators as a condition of registration. The FAA recently updated its policies to require trustees to produce this information, but only within 48 hours of an FAA request, the memorandum said.

The FAA has at times experienced problems identifying owners and operators of U.S. registered planes involved in accidents or incidents, the memo said.

"We found several cases in which aircraft were operating or registered under questionable and possibly illegal circumstances and the FAA did not have sufficient information to conduct its safety oversight," the memorandum said.

Another plane tied to the Utah bank was in the news recently. A plane from Mexico that went off the runway, flipped over and burst into flames at the Aspen airport was also registered to the bank.

___

Associated Press Writer John Lowy in Washington contributed to this report.


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Mayor ups ante on Crosby

It's nothing personal, just hardball politics — that's how several Boston city councilors viewed Mayor Martin J. Walsh's decision to call out state gaming czar Stephen Crosby this week, pressuring him to step down from deliberations over who gets the eastern Massachusetts casino license.

"I'm not aware of any bad blood between Walsh and Crosby, but having worked with (the city law department), they always felt the Gaming Commission has not been fair to the city of Boston," said Councilor Sal LaMattina of East Boston. "I've told the commissioner himself that I'm frustrated with how the commission has treated Boston, and not allowing us to be a host community."

City Councilor Michael Flaherty said he was not aware of any prior dust-ups between the mayor, a former state rep, and Crosby when both men served on Beacon Hill. Crosby was secretary of administration and finance under governors Paul Cellucci and Jane M. Swift.

"Marty, as the CEO of the city, has a responsibility to fight for the best deal for Boston, particularly for the impacted communities of East Boston or Charlestown, and the City Council supports his efforts," Flaherty said.

Boston is demanding host community status to proposed casinos on its borders in Revere and Everett, and has rebuffed offers from the commission to hold a hearing to decide the matter. Walsh has called for votes in East Boston and Charlestown on the Mohegan Sun-Suffolk Downs and Wynn Resorts projects because of the impacts Boston would face despite the gaming parlors not being within city limits.

In a letter to the commission Thursday calling on Crosby to remove himself from the greater Boston casino vote, a city lawyer accused the chairman of making "prejudicial" statements critical of the city for asserting its host status. It also cited a lawsuit against Crosby by Caesars Entertainment that claims he favored the Wynn casino proposal that would be built on property in Everett owned in part by Crosby's former business partner.

"I think emotions are running high, probably higher than is warranted. The chairman is a good man. The mayor is a good man. And we want a good solution," Gov. Deval Patrick said yesterday. "I wish there was, frankly, kind of a cooling-off period, and there are days when I wish that they would start over."

Elaine Driscoll, spokeswoman for the Gaming Commission, said Crosby has no plans of recusing himself. "At this point, the chairman will be continuing with his participation," she told the Herald, declining to discuss the matter further.


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CarSmart: Jeep shines Ć¢€¨in all seasons

So the snow is gone for the season — we hope — but that doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy all the exceptional year-round on- and off-road features of the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Diesel.

Long popular with New England automotive writers as a top winter vehicle, the Grand Cherokee features the Quadra-Trac II 4-wheel-drive system with the Selec-terrain system linked to the Quadra-lift air suspension. That means you can use just about any combination of traction, height and engaged wheels to conquer any terrain you encounter, or you can leave it in auto mode.

Jeep has long been one of the leaders of off-roading and the Grand Cherokee is the king of the brand. Our dual-tone, leather-clad, 
contrast-stitched seats comfortably put me in a commanding driver's position with all controls at my fingertips. The Bluetooth integrated voice command system ran the Uconnect infotainment system well.

But the intriguing part of this vehicle was the impressive 3.0-liter V-6 ECO diesel powerplant. This engine, mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission, easily powered this SUV through a classic dose of New England weather. What really stuck out was its good fuel mileage. Rated at 21 miles per gallon around town and a nifty 28 on the highway, I easily averaged 26 mpg — making running the more expensive diesel fuel worth it. The acceleration is smooth and powerful and the only time you hear the familiar diesel growl is when you pop the hood. And guess what? No plumes of blue smoke belching down the road.

The truck handles very well and is managed by electronic stability control. Body-roll for this full-sized vehicle is minimal, but as always, respect that it is a truck. The ride was quiet, solid and compliant with excellent sightlines. You really feel in command of the truck and have a good sense of its dimensions. Storage with the seats down is very good and the power liftgate is standard.

The Overland also tricks out with a full array of safety features, such as front and rear cameras, and with the Advanced Technology Package you bump up to adaptive cruise control, collision and lane-drift warning and blind-spot monitoring.

Absolutely add the Off-Road package to get the 18-inch tires, skid plates and the limited-slip rear differential to complete the powerful array of trail-driving features.

This rugged machine dresses up nicely. Attention to detail, fit and finish are much improved at this level. The plastics and leather blend nicely and the soft touch surfaces are well-placed. The combination of brushed aluminum and wood trim creates a modern look but holds some of Jeep's woodsy heritage. The large sunroof gave the car an airy feel and the tint managed the heat and glare well.

This big, handsome rig starts at $46,195, and fitted out with the upgrade packages runs $54,780. You'll find this a very competitive price in a powerful field of competitors such as the Mercedes ML350, Range Rover, Infiniti QX 80 and Lexus LX570.


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Finish line to see tight security

The parties will go on this year along the Boston Marathon route, but attendees can expect tighter security at some of the more popular bashes in the wake of last year's bombings — especially those near the race's Boylston Street finish line.

Hosts have hired security contingents and are requiring RSVPs and names on lists for entry to parties that in year's past maintained more of a drop-in, open-house policy.

A "significant" show of security, including city and state police, will be at 
Forum on Boylston Street, outside of which the first bomb exploded last year in the middle of the Joe 
Andruzzi Foundation's marathon fundraising party.

The restaurant will host the foundation's party again this year.

"There's going to be a significant presence there as opposed to years past," 
Forum spokeswoman Nicole Russo said. "Forum will have their own security on hand, but they also have been working with city and state authorities, and they will have a presence as well."

Marlo Marketing/Communications, whose office overlooks Boylston Street, hired a security team for the first time for its seventh annual party that typically attracts up to 200 over the course of the day.

"We've never done security before, we've never even done a formal RSVP," owner Marlo Fogelman said. "This year we asked for an RSVP, and have security guards at the front door. I (will have) people down there who will be checking names as well. It's just going to give us some control and a sense of safety with who's in the office."

The two-level office of the firm — one of many Boylston Street businesses that were shut down for more than a week following the bombings — is right next to Forum, and shrapnel from the first bomb hit its windows.

"Nothing incredibly damaging ... pictures were off walls, and our sign fell off. Tons of dust and smoke and debris came in," said Fogelman, who never gave a thought to not hosting the party again this year.

"(The security) was just something I wanted to do for the safety of our guests and the safety of everybody."

Meanwhile, the Charlesmark Hotel, which will be holding its 14th annual marathon party on its Boylston Street patio, plans no extra security this year beyond its usual door people and management staff.

"Business as usual for us," said operating partner Mark Hagopian, who felt the blast of the first bomb last year and captured the immediate chaos on video. "We're open to the public, and we're calling it a marathon celebration party, same as we do every year."


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Home Smart: Woodwork, stairs elevate house

This 1910 Mediterranean-style beige stucco house in West Roxbury has lots of original woodwork and a large, nicely landscaped yard on a corner lot.

The current owners of 251 West Roxbury Parkway have replaced the home's windows, its terra cotta tile roof and copper gutters, as well as rewired the house since buying it in 2003.

The home's entry foyer has a crystal chandelier, built-in wooden seats on either side, a decorative brick fireplace and a dark wood bridal staircase. A large, sunny living room to the left has nine windows, and a bright formal dining room to the right has six windows and a chandelier. Both rooms have restored hardwood floors, and dark-stained paneled wainscoting, crown molding, baseboards and window moldings.

The kitchen was rehabbed about 10 years ago with antique white cabinets, light granite counters and high-end Fisher Paykel and Sub-Zero appliances.

The showpiece bridal staircase, with a center stained-glass window and side-paneled wainscoting, leads up to three second-floor bedrooms with hardwood floors. At the top of the landing is a built-in linen closet and a stairway up to a large storage attic.

The master bedroom has a chandelier, two closets, and an en-suite bathroom redone in 2003 that features Carrara marble floors and a marble-lined walk-in shower.

There are two other bedrooms, one larger and one nursery-sized, and a full bathroom with tile floors and white subway tile that has not been renovated.

The home's basement — which adds an additional 800 square feet of living space — has just been refinished, and features a carpeted living room with two closets, a carpeted bedroom and a new full bathroom with a white tile floor and Fiberglas shower. There's also a laundry room with a Maytag washer and dryer, and the gas-fired boiler was replaced last year. There is no central air conditioning.

The 15,425-square-foot lot includes lots of large trees, grass and shrubs, as well as a perennial garden, a fountain, a flagstone patio with a trellis and an irrigation system. In one corner of the back yard is a storage shed and the other has a two-car garage.

  • Address: 251 West Roxbury Parkway, West Roxbury
  • Bedrooms: Four
  • Bathrooms: Three full, one half
  • List price: $929,000
  • Square feet: 2,416 (plus 800-square-foot finished basement)
  • Price per square foot: $385
  • Annual taxes: $7,052
  • Location: About a mile to retail, restaurants, services and supermarket on Centre Street, West Roxbury's main commercial district.
  • Built In: 1910; major updates from 2003; new boiler 2013; basement refinished 2014
  • Broker: Susan Michaelidis of Century 21 Carole White 
Associates at 617-212-2630

Pros:

  • Lots of original woodwork including paneled wainscoting and bridal staircase
  • Just refinished basement with family room, bedroom, full bathroom
  • Large yard with trellis, patio, garden, fountain
  • Chandeliers in foyer, dining room, master bedroom included

Cons:

  • On busy corner of two parkways
  • No central air conditioning

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Coachella's young audience a marketers paradise

INDIO, Calif. — When it first started in 1999, Coachella was a couple of stages and a dance tent. Tickets were $65. A few dusty stands sold hot dogs and Cokes. It was the end of grunge and the start of a new millennium, and it was all about the music. All for one weekend.

Now, tickets start at $375. Gourmet menus and VIP packages abound. And dozens of companies have hopped on the Coachella bandwagon, turning the music festival — now two back-to-back weekends — into a marketing hotspot. Adidas, Details magazine, Harper's Bazaar and Lacoste are just some of the brands that host offsite festival events for stylish celebrity guests.

Rolling Stone executive editor Nathan Brackett said the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has become a destination for fans and brands because organizers consistently deliver compelling lineups of diverse and unconventional musical acts. A reunited OutKast headlines this year's festival, and other acts include Arcade Fire, Lorde, Haim, Lana Del Rey and Muse.

"They made great, cool choices and now they're enjoying the fruits of that," he said.

The Coachella crowd may be there to listen to music under the hot desert sun, but the retailers are there for the celebs and the crowd, which is young, hip and with money to spend.

"Music is a marketing platform for many lifestyle brands," said marketing expert Tom Julian, a director of merchandising and retail consulting firm The Doneger Group. "The festival circuit becomes as important as an ad campaign or social-media campaign. ... It just gets back to: This is where the millennial is, and this is a way to connect."

The idea is to transfer Coachella's cool factor to the brand itself, and translate that into sales: Festival fashion becomes synonymous with spring style for young consumers, right at the start of vacation season. Coachella's casual, summery look provides a sweet spot for fashion brands, said Megan Reynolds, senior shopping editor for Harper's Bazaar, which held its second annual event at this year's festival.

"It's so important not only because it's the only (event) of its kind — fashion is usually so focused on being dressed up all the time," she said. "It's kicking off this whole season."

For women, the look is super-short denim cutoffs, ankle boots, bikini top and/or sheer, macrame blouse, and floral headband. For guys, it's board shorts and an Abercrombie-and-Fitch body.

Celebrities embrace the dress code. De-facto Coachella mascot Vanessa Hudgens rocked the uniform perfectly in a shot on Instagram on Coachella's opening weekend. Katy Perry paired jean shorts with a mesh crop top at Bazaar's off-site pool party. Selena Gomez threw a crochet white dress over her bikini-and-shorts combo. Julianne Hough and Sarah Hyland also followed the rules.

Kellan Lutz and Joe Jonas sported buff biceps in drapey tank tops. Steven Tyler wore a sheer shirt at the Lacoste party, where Emma Roberts paired an alligator-logo top with the requisite denim shorts.

Brands set up shop at the posh Palm Springs hotels nearby where the beautiful people stay, then offer parties, merchandise and festival access to celebrities in exchange for publicity and the attention of a coveted Twitter audience. Social media gives the festival a reach far beyond music fans and readers of celebrity magazines.

"People have Instagram accounts just for Coachella fashion," Reynolds said.

The brands have followed the stars, Reynolds said.

"It really started as a place (stars) just wanted to go. It was like a more digestible version of Burning Man: You could be at a festival that wasn't totally marketed and had underground appeal," she said. "Now it's not like that, but people still really like it. ... It's evolved into just a fun place to be. We like the audience there, and a lot of the fashion industry is coming on board. It's taken on its own ambiance for the weekend."

Other festival sponsors, including Heineken and Fruttare, host "houses" on the concert grounds where all 100,000 attendees are invited to cool off, hear tunes and sample products (Representatives for festival promoter Goldenvoice declined to be interviewed for this story).

H&M, a festival sponsor for the last five years, also held its second annual Coachella after-party last weekend, drawing such stars as Jared Leto, Robert Pattinson, Kate Bosworth and Fergie. Company spokeswoman Marybeth Schmitt described the festival as "the ideal venue" to launch new H&M lines — it announced its collaboration with designer Alexander Wang last weekend.

"It is extremely exciting for us to be able to reach a significant number of our target consumers," she said in a statement. "The music culture has always been a source of inspiration for our collections — music is the perfect complement to fashion."

___

Online:

http://www.coachella.com

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen at www.twitter.com/APSandy .


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