Sands Event Center operator says 5 percent amusement tax is 'ultimately too much for our business to handle.'
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Sunday, November 11, 2012
Mayor John Callahan’s proposed 5 percent tax on ticketed events and shows is “ultimately too much for our business to handle,” a spokesman for the Sands Bethlehem Event Center said in a prepared news release issued Saturday. “One incentive behind bringing our business to the city of Bethlehem was the lack of a city wide amusement tax,” said Jerry Deifer of the Vision Entertainment Group, which operates the center partners with the Sands in its ownership. Callahan announced the new tax proposal during his budget address on Friday. The 5 percent “first responders fee” is estimated to bring in $600,000 in new revenue, which the city would devote exclusively to the police and fire departments. The Sands would be among the most heavily …
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Sands Bethlehem Event Center
77 Sands Blvd, Bethlehem, PA
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Live Nation will bring, promote about 200 musical, comedy shows a year.
A new 3,000-seat event center will open at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem by May 2012, with shows that will be booked by the world’s largest concert promotion company, Live Nation. A three-way partnership among the Sands, Live Nation and the Vision Entertainment Group of Allentown was announced during a media event at the Sands Hotel this afternoon. The center will bring between 180 and 225 live shows a year with the same type of big name acts that are booked to appear at venues like The Tower Theater in Upper Darby and The Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City, said Gerald R. Deifer Jr., a partner with the Vision Entertainment Group. In the next month, The Borgata event center is staging shows by Blondie, Bruce Hornsby, Adele and Whoopi …
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Sands Casino
77 Sands Blvd, Bethlehem, PA
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Patriot2
9:41 am on Saturday, November 17, 2012
The Main Street money is not part of the annual budget and not the problem here. The problem is pension and healthcare costs and Obamacare is magnifying that part of the problem. I do agree that it is a waste of money to replace all the sidewalks on Main Street. There needs to be some leveling of the slate in certain areas and the area coming off the 378 ramp needs attention as it is a mudhole… more ›