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Don't blame Waldorf Hotel's owner for the closure of its tenants' venue
"The mean condo developers have brutally destroyed the Waldorf, WAHH!"
No.
Stop.
Take a deep breath. Now another. Find some inner calm and let's talk about the demise of Waldorf Productions like grown-ups.
Look, I'm not here to mount a white-knighted defence of gentrification and condo developments; hell, I'm drowning in debt and harbour no delusions of ever owning property.
But let's stop ignoring the fact that a venue is a business.
No one is entitled to a venue. Businesses are under no obligation to provide people with free space.
Fact: Waldorf Productions couldn't pay its rent for a while. They asked their landlord if it would be okay if they could temporarily avoid paying rent.
Fact: When I don't pay my rent, I get evicted.
So why is this scenario any different?
Real estate is expensive, but people bemoaning the lack of venues and dynamic arts spaces in Vancouver need to start pooling their money to become owners instead of tenants.
When promoters don't have permanent spaces, they're at the mercy and whim of landlords who, at the end of the day, are there to make money. They want their fucking rent.
Why did Waldorf Productions sign a 15-year lease for space in a building surrounded by development properties? That whole stretch of East Hastings Street is being prepped by developers for condos. Was there really a reasonable expectation that a former motel lodge on a dirty stretch of Hastings would still be there in 15 years?
Richard's on Richards met with a similar fate but, let's be honest: the building was a falling down wreck with mysterious leaks coming through the bathrooms' ceilings. Am I glad the venue was replaced by condo towers? Not particularly. Do I harbour an unyielding belief that the end of Richard's on Richards was an unsurvivable tragedy? Not in the slightest.
If you build it, they will come. The clever minds at Waldorf Productions proved that handily. Yes, it's sad that their business failed. But the fiscal reasons their business failed are just as important as the always-changing nature of a major metropolitan city.
People are calling the Waldorf the lifeblood of Vancouver, but that's a tad melodramatic. How many venues have closed in this city over the years? How many will open in the future? Do we cling so desperately to closing venues because they are truly amazing places or out of nostalgia, a desperate longing for a past that is not longer here?
Culture is not static; it is a continually evolving entity. Some of the most challenging, thoughtful, creative, and meaningful art comes in the face of adversity, in the wake of destruction and change. Nothing is permanent; three years ago, the Waldorf as a reputable venue didn't even exist. And now people are wringing their hands as if the big bad wolf has come in, blown houses down, and eaten their pets.
The closures of the W2 Media Café and the Waldorf clearly show that there is a serious disconnect between culture and business in Vancouver. I see a lot of people with great ideas overextending themselves and their resources—and inevitably failing in their pursuits. It's shitty, but the fact of the matter is that you can't get something for nothing.
I'm seeing a lot of people desperate to create community and putting in untold hours into fostering that. So why are these endeavours failing? You can't keep falling back and blaming the corporate boogeymen or ineffectual politicians or the economy. Eventually you have to take a serious look at what you are doing—or not doing.
People make community, not production companies. Over 4,500 people have signed a petition asking the city not to rezone the Waldorf property, great. Now what are those thousands actually going to do?
This isn't simply a battle between developers and the poor, helpless arts community. This is a struggle to marry creativity with the business sense to capitalize upon and effectively market those ideas. This is a gulf between artists’ good intentions and their ability to flourish in a money-driven culture.
So the Waldorf closed. What I want to hear is: what is the community going to do next?
More on the Waldorf
- Vancouver issues 120-day protection order for Waldorf Hotel
- Union president hopes Waldorf Productions can reach a deal with owner
- Waldorf Hotel operator seeks meeting with purchaser as city evaluates heritage value
- Waldorf Hotel owner and leaseholder differ over recent history of site
- Cory Monteith of Glee urges followers to sign Waldorf petition
- Don't blame Waldorf Hotel's owner for the closure of its tenants' venue
- Waldorf makes international music news
- Fearless lunacy characterized the Waldorf
- Waldorf Hotel operator pulls plug; owner's lawyer says it will be business as usual
Are you nuts?!
What is this, the 1620s? Who's the prime minister? Attlia the Hun?
The only venue that should be denied is the venue the Georgia Straight gave for your crazy rant.
Oh right, it is the 1620s, and Thomas Hobbes lives in our midst, writing op-eds for Vancouver's most popular weekly:
http://www.straight.com/article-399635/vancouver/vancouver-hockey-riot-s...
But what you're forgetting here is that the amount of capital that artists are able to mobilize versus the amount that developers and landowners are able to is also a "serious disconnect" ie. artist do not have access to the funds that developers do. Even if artists 'pooled' their resources, they would not be able to afford the lengthy and expensive process of rezoning a site or to have a building put into the heritage register.
And why is this scenario any different than you not being able to pay your rent? Because our politicians--who I voted for based on their promises--created a policy document that stated support for these very types of spaces. (https://votevision.ca/sites/all/files/platform-VV-2011-creative-web.pdf). They stated that making cultural spaces was a "city priority" and that they would, "Identify “creative zones” in which by-laws and zoning requirements are used to
encourage and protect creative activity." None of which seems to have happened at this point. Quite the contrary, it seems that cultural spaces (The Red Gate, W2, the Waldorf) are dropping like flies under this current government....
In this case, we need to see real leadership from our elected politicians. Vision Vancouver came out with a policy and they need to stick to it. If they really supported arts as a priority they would step in and help those without the power of capital to preserve important venues. Vancouver wants to see itself as a vibrant, "world city", but sits by as the things that make an interesting city get quashed. We'll only continue to be a seaside outdoor Disneyland until we are ready to support and fight for cultural spaces that make the city unique and dynamic.
The Waldorf is not just any motel - it is a historic East Van icon and the developer should have known this.
By the way, except for the interior renovations, the Waldorf building is a complete dump and eyesore, just like all of the buildings around it.
The Waldorf is private property. If the owners and the venue operators can't make a deal to mutual benefit, that's how it goes.
The answer lies in much higher use of land ALREADY owned by the government. There is ample space in ample buildings that now sit idle or grossly underused.
Consider the old Salvation Army / Buddhist Temple at Hastings and Gore, built in 1947. It is owned by Coastal Health. They use its 22,000 sq ft to store used filing cabinets and old dental chairs. It has a full kitchen, a 600-seat auditorium, two gymnasia, a dozen office and meeting spaces, and great public transit.
The arts uses to which it could be put are stupendous.
It's one of a dozen such properties. Those who complain about the Waldorf (also built in 1947) need to get their act together, organize an artists co-op, and acquire it.
The DTES is coming back from its long oblivion, artists already roam those streets like pigeons, and the Temple would be a great place to make and see and experience art of every sort.
Those complaining about the Waldorf need to get organized and acquire the Temple -- and a dozen other sites like it.
"Don't mourn. Organize."
I would rather have a mildly run down hotel occupying that space than yet another unaffordable condo hi-rise sitting there.
Oh well.
To clarify, however, the W2 community-owned model (still being restructured) is different than the Waldorf's private business deal.
W2 was an outcome of the Woodsquat and City and developer commitments to the community and was chosen from a democratic selection process. W2 is not a market player like the Waldorf so your comparison is not accurate. It may be that in 2-3 years Waldorf becomes reconfigured as an amenity re-emerging from a rezoning at its current location, but that's when the comparisons could start.
Woodward's community amenity was a commitment from the City to enable a $400M development and ensure community space as a community benefit. Since W2's approval back in 2006 by the community selection process, City staff and Council, it has been a struggle to get that commitment fully realised.
The NPA wanted the civic-owned space leased out as commercial real estate, then COPE/Vision was elected and community space was allowed if the community groups paid millions to complete construction... W2 survived that obstacle too. No one had bothered to finance any community-access amenity from the massive redevelopment despite all the great storytelling.
Two years late on construction, finally opening in Sept 2011, W2 then faced regular hostility from the Woodward's property management company who do not want the poor DTES residents in W2's community-access spaces which are operated as a community centre (free public bathrooms, lounge, meeting rooms etc).
Expected to pay $85,000 for strata fees to the City for this property mngt company (while little to no servicing of its ground and basement spaces takes place), W2 refused to pay these fees and communicated this fact to the City in February 2012. Rather than resolve negotiations over these fees and W2's "sustainability," the City's Legal Dept served an eviction notice for Feb 28 - a surprise to City Council and W2 alike.
W2 is not dead - and while the property mngt changed the locks - W2 is alive and well and waiting to get back in and deliver its exciting mix of innovative inclusive programming. More info here: www.creativetechnology.org or w2belongs2me@gmail.com
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