IAVM has always been more than an association. We are a family. When one of our members or member venues experiences something devastating, we all pull together as a community to help.

With the events of Hurricane Harvey unfolding over the past week, several members of our IAVM family in Southeast Texas and Louisiana have been hit with devastating floods and tornados. As we tend to do in this industry, our member venues have opened their doors to help evacuees in need of shelter. Members themselves have also offered services and assistance, as the number of those in need of assistance grows.

We understand that those of you in the effected area are focused on the guests in your facilities and cleaning up, because that is what we in this industry do…”just keep going on with the show.” However, we want to remind you that we are here for you, your staff members, and your immediate families. We want to encourage our members who need assistance, as well as those who would like to offer assistance, to post on IAVM’s internal discussion board platform, VenueNet.  While this tool is always helpful for information sharing among our members, it is an especially valuable resource in times of crisis.

We hope you will utilize VenueNet to let us help you in whatever way you need, or to simply keep in touch to let us know that you are OK. Our thoughts and prayers are with each of you.

Doug Booher, CFE | IAVM Chair of the Board

Kerry Painter, CFE, CEM, CMP | IAVM Region 6 Director

Gonzaga University has continued their long-standing relationship with Daktronics by asking the company to manufacture and install 10 new LED displays for multiple sports facilities on campus in Spokane, Washington. Video displays will be installed for basketball, volleyball, baseball and soccer this fall.

“We’re continually working to provide the best game-day experience possible for our sports facilities and installing new Daktronics displays on campus is an important step in achieving our goals,” said Rob Kavon, Gonzaga University’s associate director of athletics for facilities and event operations. “The new centerhung in McCarthey Athletic Center is going to be amazing, and we can’t wait for it to bring a first-rate, exciting atmosphere to our fans and student-athletes this year.”

McCarthey Athletic Center will be receiving seven displays, including a 5-display centerhung configuration featuring 1,230 square feet of LED displays to impact and improve Bulldogs basketball and other special events held within the venue.

In the centerhung configuration, two large sideline-facing displays will measure 12.5 feet high by 21 feet wide, two end-facing displays will measure 12.5 feet high by 12.5 feet wide and a narrow ring display circling the bottom of the configuration will measure 3 feet high by 64.5 feet wide. A new custom hoist will hold the centerhung in place over the court.

“We’re thrilled to extend our long-standing partnership with Gonzaga University for these LED video projects,” said Greg Schmidt, Daktronics sales representative. “The university was looking for a solution to bring a ‘WOW’ factor to their facilities as well as ensuring their fan experiences exceeded expectations. We’re honored to be selected to help achieve their goals as this state-of-the-art technology will make the ideas for their facilities a reality.”

At the adjacent Martin Centre, Daktronics will install a new 6.5-foot-high by 12-foot-wide video display featuring 6-millimeter line spacing as well as two new fixed-digit scoreboards to provide additional statistics for volleyball.

Also on campus, Gonzaga Soccer at Luger Field will receive a new video display measuring 8.5 feet high by 16 feet wide as well as a fixed-digit scoreboard for additional soccer statistics. Gonzaga Baseball at Washington Trust Field & Patterson Baseball Complex will receive a new outdoor video display measuring 12 feet high by 36 feet wide. Both outdoor displays will feature 13HD pixel layouts for excellent image clarity and contrast while providing wide angle visibility for fans.

As Hurricane Harvey has finally left the Gulf Coast and headed north and east, many Texas residents have found refuge in shelters set up across the state.

The George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston began immediately welcoming all people into the facility with an expected capacity of 5,000. That number was quickly overwhelmed and nearly doubled within three days after the convention center began taking in people.

Houston First provided a release on Tuesday and will be updating information later today about the status of the convention center as a mega-shelter. In part, the release shared the following:

•At the moment, Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center is serving as an emergency shelter for thousands who have been left homeless. The Convention Center is fully functional and the convention campus, Avenida Houston, sustained no damage. At this point it’s too early to say how long the facility will be used in that capacity.
•According to the most recent reports, surrounding hotels in downtown Houston sustained no damage and are fully operational.
•Both airports are expected to be operational by the end of the week.
•Many of the facilities in Houston’s Theatre District have sustained damage. Evaluations are currently underway to determine the extent of the damage, and its impact on future operations.

Meanwhile, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas set up preparations for up to 5,000 more displaced residents. That number was low until several buses arrived overnight to the facility while other people arrived on flights at Dallas Love Field. It is now estimated that the venue is home to about 1,000 people, a number that Mayor Mike Rawlings said will very likely rise. In addition, another 200 displaced residents arrived late last night at in Fort Worth at the Fort Worth Independent School District’s Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center.

The Dallas shelter is expected to remain open for several weeks.

The hurricane has also played havoc on the sports schedule. The Houston Texans were to host the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night. That game was originally moved to AT&T Stadium in Arlington before being canceled so the Texans could return home. A baseball series between the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers scheduled for Houston’s Minute Maid Park was moved to a neutral site in Tampa during the week. Finally, the AdvoCare Texas Kickoff college game between LSU and Brigham Young University scheduled for Houston’s NRG Stadium will take place Saturday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

Henderson Engineers named renowned industry expert Paul Villotti, P.E. as its new Director of Life Safety. Villotti is widely-recognized as one of the leading experts in fire protection and life safety. He began work with Henderson at its headquarters in Kansas City.

“We are thrilled to have Paul join our fire and life safety group,” President and CEO Rich Smith said. “His contributions to the industry are unparalleled — he has literally impacted codes and standards that are used every day nationwide. Just like Paul, we are committed to changing the industry for the better.”

Villotti will be part of Henderson’s fire and life safety team, which includes 39 fire protection engineers, code consultants, former firefighters, and life safety specialists. He previously spent 30 years with Kansas City-based FP&C Consultants, Inc., where he retired as vice president earlier this year.

“I am excited to be at Henderson Engineers,” Villotti said. “After three months, I realized how much I miss working. I am happy to return to what I love the most — mentoring and training the next generation of fire and life safety experts and providing counsel to clients. I like being a resource to the industry and joining Henderson will allow me to continue to serve in that capacity on an ever greater scale.”

With more than 35 years of experience, Villotti has spent his career helping venue managers, operators, and facility owners resolve building and fire code issues, obtain building permits, coordinate with fire marshals, and resolve code issues by providing technical justification for code equivalencies and variances. He possesses intimate knowledge of code requirements and is passionate about sharing the fundamental safety principles behind the rules. A lifetime avid learner, Villotti is known for wanting to understand all facets of a project so he can provide the best counsel while also adhering to the owner’s overall vision.

“Paul’s reputation in the industry speaks for itself,” Senior Vice President Darrell Stein said. “His experience and knowledge of fire fundamentals is unsurpassed and he has proven time and again to be a valuable asset to the teams he’s worked with. His commitment to his work and training others is second to none. I’ve always had the highest level of respect for Paul and come away from our interactions having learned something new every time.”

A registered Professional Engineer in 23 states and the Province of Alberta, Canada, Villotti has broad experience in all types of assembly venues. He is a member of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), and IAVM, of which he said he would like to be more actively involved in his new position. Villotti is a Certified Firefighter II in Colorado. Villotti has taught code classes for the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and IAVM facility managers. He is a 1980 graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Fire Protection and Safety Engineering.

While volunteers worked feverishly behind him to set up 5,000 cots and provide each bed with blankets, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings stood on the bare concrete of an air-conditioned parking garage at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, addressing a throng of media about the city’s opening its arms as a mega-shelter for those able to leave the path of destruction along the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm that made landfall last Friday night and has lingered in the coast area since then, dumping record amounts of rain throughout southeast Texas.

“We are getting ready to be the neighbors of south Texans that we know we can be,” the mayor said to begin his remarks on how the

city would prepare to accept thousands of displaced residents. That 5,000 number, the mayor admitted, could climb into the tens of thousands and cause other shelters in the area to be looked at for any overflow population.

But that is for a future day. This day was about Houston’s neighbors up I-45 in Dallas coming to the aid of a population that has experienced flooding never seen before. Houston, in fact, set daily record rainfall amounts on Saturday and Sunday and is expected to take on an amount of rain before the week is over that normally falls over the course of one year.

With search and rescue operations in full swing in Houston, nearby Dickinson and in many other cities, and with the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston already sitting at 4,500 residents and nearing its own 5,000 capacity, others are stepping up in the most humanitarian way.

Our job is to be ready when and if individuals need to come to the Dallas area to reboot their lives and get back on their feet,” Rawlings said. “My heart goes out to all the people impacted by this devastation.”

Rawlings said that he has been in contact with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner to assure his counterpart that Dallas is ready to help.

“Houston has a convention center, recreation centers, churches,” Rawlings said. “That area is still 6.5 million people, though. The numbers get pretty staggering.”

Rawlings has also spoken with the mayors of Austin and Fort Worth and said that Austin has been told to prepare for up to 7,000 people.

Kay Bailey Hutchison becomes the fourth shelter to open in Dallas along with three recreation centers. Rawlings said that 47 local firefighters have been dispatched to south Texas to help in the rescue and have been manning some of the boats that have been so prevalent on television coverage.

“Wal-Mart is setting up a pharmacy for us here in the convention center and there will be a medical facility on the other side. We can triage if necessary and send individuals along to hospitals in the area,” he said.

Rawlings said that it is impossible to predict how many people will end up in Dallas.

“We will know more about that over the next few days,” he said. “Interstate 45 is flooded in Houston and it is still raining there. We don’t know when 45 will free up. They have 250 buses ready to move. It could be 48 hours before they can even begin moving people from there. We are preparing, though. We may have tens of thousands upon thousands upon thousands of individuals. If that happens we will be looking at other partners in the county to help.”

Rocky Vaz of the Dallas Office of Emergency Management said that preparations have been made for those bringing their pets.

“The SPCA is getting a base ready just like we’re getting a shelter ready,” he said. “This will likely be on the fourth floor of the old Reunion Arena parking garage.”

Rawlings said that the city and the venue are concerned on the short-term and being ready to immediately help people when they arrive. He added that his team will convene in a couple of weeks to look at any long-term decisions that need to be made.

“Our hope is to stage individuals as they arrive,” he said. “We might put them in one of the rec centers and move them here. Right now there are 200 empty beds between the three shelters.”

With many discussing whether a mandatory evacuation should have been made for the city of Houston, the mayor had his own opinion.

“Thank God there was not a lot of people on the roads when the floods hit,” he said. “There would likely be many more deaths than have occurred so far.”