THE $100,000 SWAG BAG
Move over Gucci, there’s a new trend in expensive bags.
How about a $100,000 canvas bag designed by an architecture firm paid by taxpayers?
For when you need a frisson of the common man (woman?) this canvas tote is just the thing—maybe for a school board meeting.
And if you are Houston billionaire Nancy Kinder, it comes already personalized with your name.
We’re talking about the canvas tote bag the architecture firm Gensler designed as part of its rebranding package for HSPVA. How do we know it cost $100,000 and taxpayers paid for it? Well, here’s the story.
In May 2016 HSPVA Friends engaged Gensler to design a branding package for HSPVA. It hardly counts as curriculum or education, but Friends’ executive director, Alene Coggin, wanted HISD to pay for the expensive package.
Emailing Scott Allen, principal of HSPVA, she noted, “My oil and gas donations are droopy.” Then she recapped their plan, “Friends will pay Gensler, but HSPVA will give us credit for $50,000 worth of other things. Basically we pay Gensler instead of giving you that money.”
Done!, says Allen. “We already purchased almost $50,000 of things this past spring….We agreed to move forward with this.” Then he refers to HISD’s spend-it-or-lose-it-by-July budget policy. Friends went on to engage Gensler and by August 2016 that marketing package was ready.
| 226_may_2016_funding_gensler_rebranding.pdf |
But by December 2016 Friends was facing the same $50,000 problem again. In October 2016 Friends had engineered the sale of HSPVA’s name to the billionaire couple Nancy and Richard Kinder, who wrote their own naming rights contract, presented it to HISD already signed, and told them to take it or leave it. The board folded after 6 days and voted to sell the 46-year-old name of the Houston arts icon. Under the Kinders' contract, HSPVA Friends was to absorb the cost of rebranding everything with the Kinder name.
| kinder_contract_exhibit_b.pdf |
Again Coggin wanted HISD to pay for it. Luckily Principal Allen responded with an email with the subject line "$$$$." Reassuring her, “I do have $50,000-$60,000 to move forward with the next phase of branding," Allen added, "I have to spend it by the first part of June.”
“Great!” replies Coggin. “Let’s do it.”
“I cannot pay them (Gensler) directly,” Allen cautions her. “Your plan sounds good.”
Coggin closes the deal with an eye to the future, “I don't think I'll ever have the ability to put that much into a project like this...We can talk about you spending more this year so that I can save for next year.” He responds, “I feel quite sure we will be losing teachers next year,” adding a sad emoticon.
“Great!” replies Coggin. “Let’s do it.”
“I cannot pay them (Gensler) directly,” Allen cautions her. “Your plan sounds good.”
Coggin closes the deal with an eye to the future, “I don't think I'll ever have the ability to put that much into a project like this...We can talk about you spending more this year so that I can save for next year.” He responds, “I feel quite sure we will be losing teachers next year,” adding a sad emoticon.
| 568-69_allen_and_coggin_paying_for_2017_rebranding.pdf |
By January 2017 Gensler had a new marketing package, including Kinder HSPVA tote bags.
It appears that HISD spent 100,000 education dollars on HSPVA Friends’ marketing and their contractual obligation.
Will a fancy new Kinder logo get us more diversity at HSPVA? Or does the billionaire name worsen its image as HISD’s school for the elite and privileged?
The Kinder swag bag that cost us $100,000! What a deal!
It appears that HISD spent 100,000 education dollars on HSPVA Friends’ marketing and their contractual obligation.
Will a fancy new Kinder logo get us more diversity at HSPVA? Or does the billionaire name worsen its image as HISD’s school for the elite and privileged?
The Kinder swag bag that cost us $100,000! What a deal!