Security at Dragon*Con 2011

[m-cubicle.livejournal.com]

EDIT: With the great response this post is getting, let's try and make something happen here. Send Dragon*con security any ideas you may have in ways to improve security for the 2011 show. Go to the contact security form through the D*Con web page. Get as many people as you can to do the same. Pass the word along. Select "security" from the drop down menu. The hotels and Dragon*con MUST agree to start checking badges or room keys at the hotel entrances  to keep the non-con goers out.  Why should we pay and others not?!

dragoncon.org/dc_contact.php

Since it doesn't seem like anyone has addressed this issue for D*Con 2011 recently, I will go ahead and put it on the table.

As I'm sure many others noticed, last year there were several security concerns during the convention. I remember reading all the different posts of women being accosted and "felt up" by individuals who had no badge and nothing to do with the convention itself. Letters were mailed to the hotel and complaints filed. Since then, it has all gone quiet.... Has anything been done by the hotel or Dragon*Con to alleviate this problem? Or, are the powers that be just hoping we would all forget about it and just deal for next year?

I have noticed every year the convention getting more and more filled with people who have come to the hotels thinking they would be getting a free "freaks on parade" show. Individuals include: Football fans, nearby college students, and random people off the street hoping to get a free good time at the expense of those who paid to be there. It's not the same convention it was 5 years ago, the con is changing and not for the good.

Before I go dumping more hard earned money on a convention that is already getting ridiculously priced, are any of these issues going to be addressed? What is to keep random grabby pervs away from my girlfriend or friends? With everything getting expensive these days, I need some re-assurances that this will be a safe convention and the money will be well spent. I wonder what the ratio is of people who just wander in off the streets is, to those who actually paid for a badge?

Comments

[m-cubicle.livejournal.com]

My girlfriend and in the same boat with you and your husband. Dragon*Con is losing touch with their guests and getting greedy with money. I seriously think they could care less about the people and more about the cha-ching of the cash register.

[veracity]

I don't think it's the con, really. I mean, it's not the billion dollar industry that the hotels are. While the hotels proclaim to enjoy the con - the revenue, at least - they don't necessarily agree with what goes on. The hotels will have to be open-minded enough to take serious consideration into the unsafe environment created. Because I don't know about anyone else, but when I go on vacation I look at former stays in the same company. If I remember something unfavorably, I'll stop spending money there and go to the next place.

Right now, the country is becoming somewhat...unsafe to be a woman in case something does happen. It's harder to protect oneself afterwards in the legal sense. I'm giving 2011 a chance for the hotels to show me they're paying close enough attention to the serious repercussions. (And that includes any sort of violence, not simply female assaults.) If they don't...well, I might DCTV but I can live without it. And the convenience for the sake of feeling secure in the fact my money's as good as the next person's when it comes to my safety. I can hope a MARTA like I did in 2006 and bring my own food/drinks.

[ronofthedead.livejournal.com]

You do realize that Dragoncon is a non-profit,right? The only one who gets paid is the 2 or 3 people who staff the Dragoncon office during the year. I think Dragoncon is suffering growig pains. I have worked as volunteer staff
( I had to quit for health reasons) and do not believe that one person who works for the con in a leadership capicity puts proceeds above our safety.

[cuppaco.livejournal.com]

Just because it is run by volunteers does not make it a non-profit. Dragon-con is run by a private for-profit corporation.

[ronofthedead.livejournal.com]

Your right. I was wrong. I just always assumed that it was a non-profit due to the fact that almost nobody receives a paycheck.

[trybutez.livejournal.com]

I think it was, originally,(most cons are) But sometime ago they "incorporated". There's some interesting history to the con for those who dig it up...