the problem with the megaplex and garage is not only height but massing. Anything built on this corner needs to match the massing of the surrounding buildings and have setbacks to match the Historic High school and other civic buildings. kbb who claims to belong to the architectural preservation society should know better. also, the city is citing the zoning ordinance requirement for building to the property line as if it is the bible and not willing to concede on setbacks, at the same time they are allowing a height exceding the zoning height by 45%! The mass of these buildings will completely drown everything in the immediate neighborhood, and turn Oak Street into a canyon. You don’t need to wait and see, just imagine. Take a slow walk down Oak street and visualize the 6 story garage. I guarantee you that if they build it, kbb, you would hate it too, but it would be too late. The saddest part is that the so called Planning department knows and cares nothing about city planning and is solid in the pockets of developers and other real estate sharks, while those who do and are trying to do something about their town are marginalized and labeled crazies. sad!
Dear kbb, you are well meaning but deceived. Let me start by saying that there have been offers to operate the theater as exactly the 1-3 screen theater envisioned by citizens, showing first run and other films. The people making the offers were told to wait, until the City hammered out the sweetheart deal with the developer, and then it was all over. You can see the details on www.stopalamedamegaplex.com I suggest you educate yourself by reading the rest of the site too. Second, Conner (the developer) is not going to do anything in the old theater except install the stadium seating about which you are not thrilled, and the projection equipment (his primary business is selling theater equipment, get it? http://www.cinematecs.com/products.htm)) The City is going to foot the entire bill for the proposed work on the theater. Can you explain why they need Conner? He is not putting in a pennyâ€"in fact he is borrowing from the City (on very good terms) to build his multiplex. Oh, I knowâ€"because we’ve been told that a 3-screen theater would not be successful unless there are 7 more C-rated movies to choose from? Let’s talk about what successful means to who? The multiplex makes sense for Conner because it would increase his bottom line (more screens, more time movies play, bigger percentage for him). It doesn’t make sense to the City to have a multiplex builtâ€"more screens will not put more money into City’s coffers, unlesss the City was the operator (and neither will they bring the revitalization PSBA hopes forâ€"see Hayward, San Jose, etc. for spectacular failures) . There is no sales tax from movie tickets, so it doesn’t matter to the City how many screens are there really. The only sales tax comes from concessions. Granted, more screens, more popcorn sold, but can you really justify the subsidy of a begemoth multiplex just to get the sales tax on the popcorn?! the point is, kbb, that the City is helping a private developer make money by subsidizing his project with public bonds, and not expecting anything back, or rather expecting a net loss in the millions. They admitted this much at the City Council meeting on August 16. Remember Marie Gillmore going on and on how the City must invest the money in the old theater, she called it an albatross, in order to fulfil the desire of the people? This begs the very reasonable question, if that’s the case, why spend even more on a multiplex? Give the people what they wantâ€"the Theater restoredâ€"and send Conner to ruin somebody else’s town. One of the offers which I mentioned earlier was proposing to lease the theater and resore it over time at their own expense. They were apparently confident they would be successful. Don’t you think that if the theater is already partially restored, as the City proposes to do, it’d be even easier to find someone to complete it and run itâ€"especially if they got the very low lease the City is offering Conner? i guarantee you that if the original solicitation specified the amount of public subsidy of the project, including theater parking, the City propbably would have gotten a very different response. The game has changedâ€"public money is now being used to restore the theater, and the public should have the final say as to what else, if anything, they want to spend it on. One thing you gor right, kbb, is that the public is quite capable of ousting their reps for fiscal reasonsâ€"except that the reasons are not the hypothetical ones you list, but the ones specified in the contract with Conner. You can read that too at www.stopalamedamegaplex.com
The City may have put a lot of energy into finding the current developer but doesn’t look like they put much effort into finding anyone else. The list they sent the Request for Proposals is pitifulâ€"it almost looks like it was designed not to get a response. Two major developers accross the estuary in Oakland, one of them restoring the Fox, haven’t even heard of it! I simply don’t buy the notion that there aren’t other options. There have been proposals in the past, and the City blew them off. If you read www.alamedadailynews.com you will know that things can happen even now with the Theater if the monster project stops. Besides, if Kyle Conner is such a great guy why are we paying for everything, and giving him a grant to boot? Oh yeah, and why does he get to equip the theaters, basically selling his own service to himself? Who is he, Haliburton?! Heck, if the City gave me such a sweet deal I’d quit my day job and restore the Theater myself! As far as the visioning goes, I remember that too. People voted to restore the old theater, not for this bloated plan. I’d hate to see the disappointment of these folks if the project goes through. Half of a historic theater and a monster attachment looks more like a nightmare than a vision to me. I hope that the chance of tearing down the multiplex if it doesn’t work out is not the only thing helping people make up their minds.
the problem with the megaplex and garage is not only height but massing. Anything built on this corner needs to match the massing of the surrounding buildings and have setbacks to match the Historic High school and other civic buildings. kbb who claims to belong to the architectural preservation society should know better. also, the city is citing the zoning ordinance requirement for building to the property line as if it is the bible and not willing to concede on setbacks, at the same time they are allowing a height exceding the zoning height by 45%! The mass of these buildings will completely drown everything in the immediate neighborhood, and turn Oak Street into a canyon. You don’t need to wait and see, just imagine. Take a slow walk down Oak street and visualize the 6 story garage. I guarantee you that if they build it, kbb, you would hate it too, but it would be too late. The saddest part is that the so called Planning department knows and cares nothing about city planning and is solid in the pockets of developers and other real estate sharks, while those who do and are trying to do something about their town are marginalized and labeled crazies. sad!
Dear kbb, you are well meaning but deceived. Let me start by saying that there have been offers to operate the theater as exactly the 1-3 screen theater envisioned by citizens, showing first run and other films. The people making the offers were told to wait, until the City hammered out the sweetheart deal with the developer, and then it was all over. You can see the details on www.stopalamedamegaplex.com I suggest you educate yourself by reading the rest of the site too. Second, Conner (the developer) is not going to do anything in the old theater except install the stadium seating about which you are not thrilled, and the projection equipment (his primary business is selling theater equipment, get it? http://www.cinematecs.com/products.htm)) The City is going to foot the entire bill for the proposed work on the theater. Can you explain why they need Conner? He is not putting in a pennyâ€"in fact he is borrowing from the City (on very good terms) to build his multiplex. Oh, I knowâ€"because we’ve been told that a 3-screen theater would not be successful unless there are 7 more C-rated movies to choose from? Let’s talk about what successful means to who? The multiplex makes sense for Conner because it would increase his bottom line (more screens, more time movies play, bigger percentage for him). It doesn’t make sense to the City to have a multiplex builtâ€"more screens will not put more money into City’s coffers, unlesss the City was the operator (and neither will they bring the revitalization PSBA hopes forâ€"see Hayward, San Jose, etc. for spectacular failures) . There is no sales tax from movie tickets, so it doesn’t matter to the City how many screens are there really. The only sales tax comes from concessions. Granted, more screens, more popcorn sold, but can you really justify the subsidy of a begemoth multiplex just to get the sales tax on the popcorn?! the point is, kbb, that the City is helping a private developer make money by subsidizing his project with public bonds, and not expecting anything back, or rather expecting a net loss in the millions. They admitted this much at the City Council meeting on August 16. Remember Marie Gillmore going on and on how the City must invest the money in the old theater, she called it an albatross, in order to fulfil the desire of the people? This begs the very reasonable question, if that’s the case, why spend even more on a multiplex? Give the people what they wantâ€"the Theater restoredâ€"and send Conner to ruin somebody else’s town. One of the offers which I mentioned earlier was proposing to lease the theater and resore it over time at their own expense. They were apparently confident they would be successful. Don’t you think that if the theater is already partially restored, as the City proposes to do, it’d be even easier to find someone to complete it and run itâ€"especially if they got the very low lease the City is offering Conner? i guarantee you that if the original solicitation specified the amount of public subsidy of the project, including theater parking, the City propbably would have gotten a very different response. The game has changedâ€"public money is now being used to restore the theater, and the public should have the final say as to what else, if anything, they want to spend it on. One thing you gor right, kbb, is that the public is quite capable of ousting their reps for fiscal reasonsâ€"except that the reasons are not the hypothetical ones you list, but the ones specified in the contract with Conner. You can read that too at www.stopalamedamegaplex.com
The City may have put a lot of energy into finding the current developer but doesn’t look like they put much effort into finding anyone else. The list they sent the Request for Proposals is pitifulâ€"it almost looks like it was designed not to get a response. Two major developers accross the estuary in Oakland, one of them restoring the Fox, haven’t even heard of it! I simply don’t buy the notion that there aren’t other options. There have been proposals in the past, and the City blew them off. If you read www.alamedadailynews.com you will know that things can happen even now with the Theater if the monster project stops. Besides, if Kyle Conner is such a great guy why are we paying for everything, and giving him a grant to boot? Oh yeah, and why does he get to equip the theaters, basically selling his own service to himself? Who is he, Haliburton?! Heck, if the City gave me such a sweet deal I’d quit my day job and restore the Theater myself! As far as the visioning goes, I remember that too. People voted to restore the old theater, not for this bloated plan. I’d hate to see the disappointment of these folks if the project goes through. Half of a historic theater and a monster attachment looks more like a nightmare than a vision to me. I hope that the chance of tearing down the multiplex if it doesn’t work out is not the only thing helping people make up their minds.