Rhode Island Comic Con Oversold, Overcrowded

New submitter RobertJ1729 writes The Rhode Island Comic Con (RICC) is in the middle of a complete meltdown as hundreds are turned away at the door or denied reentry due to the event organizers selling far more tickets than the venue can accomodate. The Providence Journal reports that "According to Providence Fire Chief David Soscia, too many people were being let in at a time and the organizers were not correctly counting them. That led to over-congested areas in the building which has a maximum capacity of 17,000 people." Meanwhile the Rhode Island Comic Con Facebook page is being flooded with comments from angry attendees describing chaos both inside and out of the convention center. RICC initially posted, "Hello RICC fans! WE ARE NOT OVERSOLD!," and promised to honor tomorrow tickets sold for today. That post generated several hundred angry comments before eventually being deleted (though it survives in part on RICC's twitter feed). Commenters are alleging that RICC is deleting negative Facebook comments. Users are tweeting at #ricomicconfail2014 to vent their frustration.

Comments

Re:Oversold?

[Anonymous Coward]

You are doubting, but that's a good thing. No need to lie about it

Follow the ticket links on their page and you'll end up here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/rhode-island-comic-con-sunday-providence-rhode-island-11-02-2014/event/01004B9BF599505C?artistid=1743904&majorcatid=10005&minorcatid=105&tm_link=artist_msg-0_01004B9BF599505C

That ticket is for Sunday. All the Saturday tickets end in dead ends, but it's Sunday now so I don't know if they turned them off or if they expired due to the date. The main site also still lists a few packages for sale. If the tickets mention that only a certain number of people can be at the convention at the same time and that having a ticket does not mean you will get in, then fine. If not, then they really screwed up and should have never sold more than the capacity amount of tickets.

First hand report

[Okian Warrior]

I was *at* the con when this went down, was in the rotunda where the marshal/police were, and listened in on all the conversations. The fire marshal is completely to blame for this, he's an idiot.

To reduce the number of people, the fire marshal ordered anyone leaving the con could not reenter for any reason, and decided that going to the ground floor constituted leaving the con... despite having con functions on the ground floor.

Volunteers and con workers who went to the ground floor to connect with the main desk couldn't get back in, vendors who went to their cars couldn't get back to their stalls, program participants (celebrities with scheduled appearances) couldn't make their appointments, people who had paid $$$ for a photo-op with the celebs couldn't make their appointments, and so on.

I innocently went down the escalator to check out the [ground floor] kids area and was marooned. No jacket, no cell phone, and no car keys to get into my vehicle and it was 'friggin cold outside. I saw one woman who couldn't get back in to her special-needs child, I saw one man who came down for wheelchair and couldn't bring it back up.

A better solution would have been to stop letting new people in, while letting the steady stream of outgoers reduce the number. There was no fire, no emergency, no need to be a complete prick to people who were already at the con.

This was the fire marshal being ignorant and inflexible. He's an idiot.

Re:First hand report

[jtownatpunk.net]

A better solution would have been to NOT SELL TICKETS TO MORE PEOPLE THAN YOUR VENUE CAN ACCOMMODATE.

I know it's a wild and crazy idea but it just might be crazy enough to work.

Re:First hand report

[jklovanc]

A better solution would have been to stop letting new people in, while letting the steady stream of outgoers reduce the number.

What a wonderful comment from someone who has never dealt with liability issues. Had there been a fire when there were too many people in the building then the fire marshal and the state would have been liable. Your solution may have taken hours to get to the legal levels. The fire marshal's decision was the quickest way to get the numbers down without emptying the building.

This was the fire marshal being ignorant and inflexible. He's an idiot.

The fire marshal was doing his job and doing it correctly. He even compromised. He could have shut the whole thing down, removed everyone from the building and had them all re-enter and be counted properly.

Blame the organizers who did not follow the law and count the number of people coming in to ensure that the building capacity was not exceeded.

Re:First hand report

[hidden]

You know fire occupancy exists for a reason right? Fire marshals are strict because when fire code is ignored, people die
If the con had more people in that room/floor/whatever than fire occupacy allowed, the blame is 100% on them, not the marshal.

Re:First hand report

[Registered Coward v2]

I was *at* the con when this went down, was in the rotunda where the marshal/police were, and listened in on all the conversations. The fire marshal is completely to blame for this, he's an idiot.

It sounds like the organizers didn't properly keep track of occupancy levels and overloaded some floors, resulting in the fire marshall stepping in to fix the situation. The real idiots are the organizers who failed to be sure they could properly control the crowds; especially since they knew the number of tickets sold and could gauge expected attendance and plan accordingly.

To reduce the number of people, the fire marshal ordered anyone leaving the con could not reenter for any reason, and decided that going to the ground floor constituted leaving the con... despite having con functions on the ground floor.

As long as the ground floor and the building were not at capacity that is a perfectly reasonable response.

I innocently went down the escalator to check out the [ground floor] kids area and was marooned. No jacket, no cell phone, and no car keys to get into my vehicle and it was 'friggin cold outside.

Next time, don't leave your stuff somewhere when you wander away. Simple solution.

A better solution would have been to stop letting new people in, while letting the steady stream of outgoers reduce the number.

They were doing just that; except they were not letting anyone in. Letting people go in and out does nothing to solve the overcrowding problem. By not letting people who left the upper floors back in, they addressed the occupancy issue. Once the occupancy levels were within the legal limits and under control, then they can let people in.

There was no fire, no emergency, no need to be a complete prick to people who were already at the con.

This was the fire marshal being ignorant and inflexible. He's an idiot.

The fire marshall's job is to minimize the potential for loss of life due to overcrowding, inadequate exits, etc. before a fire breaks out. Fires are pretty inflexible themselves and don't really care if they inconvenience someone.

Responsibility for this lies with the organizers. The knew what the advance sales were, what previous attendee patterns were and the venue capacity; they could have put plans in place to deal with the crowds and maybe even work with the venue and fire marshall to be sure there were no issues. They may have done that but clearly were not properly prepared based on what happened.

Re:tipping point

[smooth wombat]

While you're joking, the official name on legal documents is "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations".

Providence is actually the "mainland" while Rhodes Island is, well, an island.

Re:tipping point

[TubeSteak]

Rhode Island is neither a road nor an island. Discuss.

The original Rhode Island settlers (kicked out of Massachusetts because of their religious beliefs) settled on an island that is now called Aquidneck Island.