Capitol Punishment

What the heck does this mean? I cannot understand the logic. What does one thing have to do with the other:

• “Doubt cast on Capitol's future as a theatre
  
  Because of a prolonged legal battle for ownership of the Capitol Theatre, Mayor Eddie Francis said Friday he can no longer guarantee the 89-year-old playhouse will be used as a theatre in the future.”

What does a lawsuit have to do with running a theatre? What has one got to do with the other? I just don’t understand the comment.

Of course, there was a solution to the Capitol Theatre issue that I was prepared to provide but the Mayor’s Office did not call me. I wonder why. Perhaps it was because our Mayor figured it out on his own given his extensive Corporate and Bankruptcy law experience. He must have rejected what I wanted to do out of hand.

Better to pay out legal fees and waste several years of time than to sit down and negotiate. I just do not understand the need for the threat.

It is not as if the Capitol is not being used. What I posted above are the bookings to date. They are not spectacularly impressive to be blunt but there is usage. After all, do you really expect any group to commit to a theatre not knowing what the result of the litigation will be. Groups already have gone through that exercise before when the Capitol was closed and they had to scramble for new locations.

The Mayor’s remarks seem to be nothing more than a way to discourage people from even considering the Capitol so that he can say in the future that there is no need for the theatre considering the lack of bookings. This theatre will run down just like the Cleary ran down over time.

Here’s what I do not understand however about the Mayor and Litigation. What he is saying out of one side of his mouth with respect to the Capitol bankruptcy litigation is NOT what he is saying out of the other side of his mouth with respect to the DRIC litigation. He does not seem uncomfortable at all about starting a lawsuit against the Senior Levels since it can be done in a timely fashion:

• “Toronto lawyer David Estrin — the city’s hired legal expert on border issues — says there are legal grounds to challenge DRIC through a judicial review.
  
  The legal process involves convincing a court to find a decision by a government official invalid or illegal, he said.
  
  Council approved proceeding with a judicial review during a closed-door meeting earlier this month. The process normally takes six to eight months, Estrin said.
  
  “It could be done shorter than that, particularly if both parties want it to happen earlier,” he said. “It’s not something necessarily that will delay ultimate decision making.”
  
  But once legal action is launched, delays are possible because of court schedules and requests by lawyers for more time. A judicial review could threaten plans by the provincial government to begin pre-construction work next fall.”

Funny, I did not see the Mayor make this comment concerning the DRIC litigation, a variation of what he said about the Capitol:

• Because of a prolonged legal battle over the DRIC Road, Mayor Eddie Francis said Friday he can no longer guarantee that the 25,000 jobs for the border project would be available in the future.”

Obviously, we are being set up for something. What it is we will find out soon enough. In the meantime, members of the Arts Community in the City and supporters of the Capitol Theatre are expected to react in a certain way that will feed into whatever it is that the Mayor wants to happen.

As Shakespeare should have said:

• All the world’s a stage
  And all the men and women merely players
  They have their exits and their entrances
  And our Mayor directs them all
  To accomplish what only he knows!