The Dunkin’ Donuts Center needs to get busy.
A check of The Dunk’s calendar of events reveals that over 31 days in October, the building is booked just five nights. There are two concerts on the schedule – a group called O.A.R. played last week and Bruce Springsteen is doing a solo show on Oct. 21 – and three Providence Bruins games. November is busier, but even with P-Bruins hockey and Providence College basketball games on tap, The Dunk is booked for just 11 nights throughout the month.
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Is there any wonder why it isn’t turning a profit?
Last we heard, city and state officials were in a logjam in attempting to resolve the details now holding up the transfer of ownership of the building. In question, apparently, is the value of equipment in the building. We hope the two sides will reach a resolution quickly so that a major renovation of it can get under way.
By taking over control of The Dunk, the Convention Center Authority can better market it in conjunction with the convention center and hopefully put an end to the financial bleeding that has been plaguing the facility for years.
But that being said, we worry that a protracted discussion between the two sides could hold up the transfer in ownership of the building. We wonder if in the meantime the facility is being marketed as aggressively as possible? And we worry that while The Dunk lingers in a state of ownership limbo, concerts, sporting events and other shows could be finding other venues at which to perform.
Five nights in October is simply not enough. City and state officials must resolve this ownership matter quickly. At the same time, efforts to fill the building must be increased – because an empty facility isn’t producing revenue for the city, the state or anyone else.
Continue to reduce workers’ comp rates
Talk to small-business owners about workers’ comp costs and they tend to grudgingly acknowledge that, yes, the system has been greatly improved over the years.
Legislative reform efforts have gone a long way to fix what was a badly broken system back in the 1980s and 1990s. But they will also tell you that their workers’ compensation bills remain alarmingly expensive and that workers’ compensation is among the biggest obstacles they face.
We would hope that whenever an opportunity to relieve those costs presents itself, those with the authority to do so, take advantage of that opportunity.
For example, the National Council on Compensation Insurance, is now recommending to the state Department of Business Regulation that workers’ comp rates here be reduced by 2.3 percent, effective in January.
We urge the DBR, the attorney general’s office and the insurance carriers to support the proposed reduction.
