Jim Says: I can sometimes get sentimental about vintage buildings. But then I drive by the Schubert Theater and ask myself "What did public money do here that was worth doing?" Heck, every building on Hennepin Ave that seemed unuseable for commercial purposes seems to have become another "theater". Theaters usually have to raise money from private donors to even stay alive. And there's more and more causes competing for that money. Is it POSSIBLE we'll reach a place where we HAVE to let a theater building go? Not that I'm discouraging those who have a personal thing for the Hollywood from having bake sales and walks and whatever else to fund it. I guess the point I'm getting to is NOT to seek any public subsidy. Not when we're closing community libraries, as we seem to be. Oh, we'll probably get our glass cathedral downtown (it will sit on what is now a parking lot), and paying off those bonds will simply make other projects beyond reach.
Peter Says: I agree that we should rely on private investments to restore vintage buildings since our government, municipal, state and federal, is barely forking out any money to keep poor people alive. But in a more just and sane society we would not have to pick and choose like this. Vintage buildings, especially theaters and churches are a tourist draw, though I realize at this point, Minneapolis, due to the typical lack of foresight that has afflicted most American cities, has destroyed too much of its old architecture to get tourists that way. But I still think we could get tourists in the future if we invest more in local stage theater companies. Just recently, The Children's Theater won a Tony award for Best Regional Theater Company. Still, given revenue shortfalls and budget cuts to human services, the investments, at least for now, should come from the private sector. Though it makes me sick whenever I think of the millions of dollars that the city of Minneapolis poured into TARGET when times were less austere. Jim says: So, there will come a time when something has to PAY for itself to stay open. Lots of churches have closed down for their failure to do that. Maybe a theater has to have the same base of support to stay open. At least we can't dip into public funds to save dying churches (amazing that we have that ONE exception to the rule, isn't it?) I suppose it is the ubiquity of home video that makes it impossible for theaters to make money from movie tickets. Or just that movies made today aren't WORTH the ticket price it would take to make theaters viable. Peter says: As I've said on this list before, that's capitalism for you. 99.5% of American films made since 1975 have been awful. And our system of distribution generally allows for the most mediocre foreign films to be shown here. Shows you how the profit motive has dumbed down our entire culture. But don't forget that the automobile and its bastard child, shopping malls, are mainly responsible for the destruction of Minneapolis's downtown as well as all the lovely businesses that used to operate there. Again, our DFLers, like other politicians across the country, showed an amazing lack of foresight by destroying our mass transportation infrastructure at the behest of General Motors. Television has also had a hand in destroying not only our old movie theaters, but local culture as well. So please, Jim, don't underestimate the importance of preserving and strengthening our cultural institutions. (Though I agree that the glass cathedral passing as a library is yet another sorry example of DFL brain drain.) If cities like Minneapolis could find a way to boost more local cultural venues to resist the pernicious influence of television, cable, automobiles and shopping malls, then we might be able to avoid the dystopias outlined in such novels as <Brave New World> , <1984>, <Woman on the Edge of Time> and <Handmaiden's Tale>.----Peter Schmitz, CARAG TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
