How To Save The Capitol

It really is ridiculous. The finger-pointing as to who is at fault has to stop. No one wants to be the one to take the blame for killing the Capitol Theatre so why not try and save it instead.

Our Legal Technocrat is being silly in his statements. Is there another agenda that is being played out? (Oh yes, I heard about the need to get rid of Capitol employees through a bankruptcy to ensure that they do not become "City" employees).

Why isn't he standing up and demanding a solution rather than creating road-blocks? He has all the info he needs and has had it for a long time. If not, then a whole bunch of City Hall Administrators better be fired for incompetence. If there is something missing, an update should be easily obtainable. The Capitol's so-called statement of insolvency is hardly new. DUH...why do you think they came to Council in the first place.

I wonder if this statement by Tom Lynd, the Capitol's acting general manager, is real and if it is, the Mayor needs to explain to us why he has taken a "hands-off" approach:

• "The mayor refuses to talk face-to-face, or directly on the phone, or anything like that.
  
  In my 29 years of working for the city, I've never seen anything approaching this type of activity."

If so, what is the Mayor afraid of? He's a lawyer after all isn't he? (Mind you, he only had a relatively short time of professional experience after he was called to the Bar before he announced he was running for Mayor). It is hardly a good sign for him as a negotiator for us on the border issue if he cannot do a relatively simple deal on the Capitol.

I wonder, if he is working through an outside law firm, how much the legal fees are in relation to what the Capitol needs. I wonder if the Mayor will allow us to see the legal bills from his retained outside firm to see what was discussed and if insolvency was one of the matters that was subject to deliberation. If he did, then we would know something wouldn't we.

I am sorry but I do not understand what is going on. Is the objective to save the Capitol or to tear it down? It's not that big a deal. The cost is one tenth of one per cent of the cost of the East end arena, so far. It is about the cost of dinners (plus tip) before Council meetings. It is almost what the City will lose on the Mayor's postponed Francis/Murray session. It is a fraction of the Estrin/Schwartz legal and consulting fess. It's a quarter fo the cost of the Super Bowl sponsorship and the same as the WWE Wrestlemania partnership opportunity. It's a mere fraction of....well you get the message.

Can we get something done? Will the Mayor lead us. He did talk about the Arts in his inaugural didn't he. Here is what our Mayor said:

• Windsor will be a place that promotes and celebrates the arts and culture.


• Reports and surveys have shown that a critically-important factor in attracting the knowledge-based jobs and workers we need, is to have a thriving arts and cultural community.
  
  We have such a strong arts and culture foundation.
  
  That’s why I’m challenging the arts and culture groups in our city to work together, and build an integrated, strategic plan that will allow the arts to thrive in Windsor.


• I believe in a Windsor... that celebrates the arts and culture.

Wait a minute. It was a 19 page speech. There were pages about the unity of Council, there were pages about the economy, there were pages about a balanced fiscal plan, there were pages about Neighbourhood Action Plans, there were pages about tackling crime.

Did you notice, hardly anything about "the arts and culture." Just a few short lines as quoted above. Did you notice too, not a word about the City being involved or helping out. It is up to the arts groups to figure it out while the City builds arenas for a private sports team whose millionaires do not want to look "foolish" for making their investment! If it does not deal with "business," it seems the Mayor has little interest.

What if the Mayor does not care if the Capitol closes. After all, wasn't the Cleary given away too? Remember the Biz-X article that said that the Westmont Hospitality Group wanted to buy it!

The City needs an "Arts" champion. Someone with credibility who will stand up for the Arts community and deliver on what the Mayor talked about but on which he does not seem to deliver. I don't pretend to know a lot about what other cities do but I do know that in many of them Governments at all levels have made contributions.

So pretending that it is my task is to save the Capitol, what would I do:

• Probably let it go into a "friendly" bankruptcy to get rid of debts (I have a question whether the City has the right to take over the building based on the Capitol's Press Release)


• Rebuild it back to the almost 2,000 seats it had before since it is too small now to bring in acts that can help pay for its operation


• Try to ensure that the facility can be "adjusted" to differing sizes to meet the needs of small groups too or has space for small groups like the smaller theatres now


• Move the Windsor Symphony out of the Cleary to the new "Capitol Theatre and Symphony Hall"


• Force, that's right, force the University of Windsor to team up with St. Clair College and move their visual arts program to the Capitol. Presently, the Visual Arts School is right on Huron Church Road, which could free up Huron Church for improvements to infrastructure in that corridor


• Demand that the City help out as other municipalities do either in cash or in kind.


• Call in our Federal MPs Brian and Joe and tell them to find us Federal money for the Capitol NOW or face the wrath of voters for not doing anything for us


• Call in our Provincial MPPs and Cabinet Ministers Sandra and Dwight and tell them to find us Provincial money for the Capitol NOW or face the wrath of voters in October for not doing anything for us. Sorry, I know what they did before for Windsor but it's what have you done for us lately!


• Oganize the volunteers for the Capitol, the local Arts groups and the Symphony to work together to raise money and subscriptions for Capitol programs


• I would tell Gordon Orr of the Convention Bureau to stop MCing so much and stop going to the cinema with the Mayor's wife so he can do reviews of new movies on CKLW and start doing a better job to bring tourists here since we already know and do not need his report that "confirmed the fact that 2006 continued to be another difficult year for the tourism industry in Windsor-Essex."


• I would force, yes force, the Casino, the "new" arenas and whichever other destination sites are interested to partner and to bring as much talent to Windsor as possible to attract tourists and to work together to do so. They should be co-operating not competing to bring people here.


• I would retain an entertainment management firm who knew how to run a theatre


• Finally, using the persuasive abilities of our two Cabinet members, I would have the Ontario Heritage Trust take over the Capitol as it did, as an example, with the Elgin Theatre inToronto: "The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre is owned and operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust, a not-for-profit agency of the Ministry of Culture. The Trust led the Theatre Centre's 2½-year, $29-million restoration between 1987 and 1989."

Would that work...of course! Even if it does not, I would at least have tried to do something for my City. I would not just be asking for more Administration reports as an alternative to action.