Getting a Seat at Arts Center

I am a longtime subscriber to and supporter of the Ahmanson, Taper and Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. I have been excited by the prospect of having such a facility in Orange County.

As soon as I received the program schedules, I sent a check for each series, and in the case of the Opera Pacific, a donation of $100. Sometime later I received an acknowledgement of our subscription and contribution, which said I would have two seats in Series 3, Section OIC.

This notice also solicited an additional contribution, which I felt was in bad taste. Certainly there were a majority of subscribers who made no contribution for whom a second request would be indicated.

Now I receive a second communique informing me that my seats have been downgraded, apparently because I didn’t send more money.

This changes what was just bad public relations to blackmail.

Opera Pacific’s best prospects for support over the coming years are people like us who are and have been subscribers to the Los Angeles Performing Arts Center, and if they react as I have to Opera Pacific’s tactics, it may sorely handicap its efforts to convert these people to their facility. They are not used to such treatment.

JOHN P. DYE

Costa Mesa