Congrats! That’ll Be 10 K
A few weeks ago, residents of Riverside, San Jose and Ventura were understandably proud when Partners for Livable Communities named each to a widely publicized list of the nation’s “Most Livable Communities.” What an honor! Something that fiscally troubled municipalities can tout proudly for years to would-be residents and businesses basically without cost. Or not.
It turns out that each of the award-winning most-livable communities paid $10,000 to the so-called nonprofit Partners for Livable Communities. Hmmm. That $300,000 ($10,000 times 30 winners) certainly would make the life of Partners more livable. But it fails the ethical smog test.
Partners denies selling the awards, claiming that the money -- some of it from tax funds, by the way -- helps publicize the awards and communities’ accomplishments on a website and elsewhere.
Americans do love their lists. Lists look democratic, everything ranked by numbers, not nobility. As a result, lists are a public relations staple. Top 10 lists worked wonders for David Letterman, Dick Clark, ESPN’s SportsCenter and the FBI. Ranked lists are easy to compile, distribute, publicize, consume, chew over on radio and TV and forget without regret. They help sell magazines, fill TV talk time and newspaper features pages. No one really examines methodology. The media, readers and viewers seize such simple stories with local angles -- best vacation spa, swankest hotel, safest city, most neighborly. Now add to that list: Most Gullible.
A city councilman views one favorable USA Today article that mentioned the award as worth far more than the $10,000 that Riverside paid to Partners for Livable Communities. This resembles those television barkers hawking products for a low, low price, without noting an extra $10.95 for shipping and handling. Unless you’ve hired Donald Trump to mail bricks, shipping and handling is a disguised price boost.
Atlantic City does not charge Miss America contestants $50,000 for hairdressing. How many millions could Forbes charge to list -- or unlist -- the world’s wealthiest people? The Pulitzers, Oscars and Emmys don’t accept tips from award recipients. (The sharp-elbowed jockeying by studios is another matter.) Picture Denzel Washington receiving his Oscar then, amid flashbulbs, handing back another prepared envelope with a check from his studio to cover, uh, publicity costs. Or what if the honorary degrees handed out at graduations these days to people like Tom Brokaw, Bono or Bill Cosby were contingent on significant, shall we say, financial offerings from the honoree? So let’s start a new list: Most Dubious Award Practices. Start with: Charging for Awards. And we won’t bill recipients for the dishonor.