|
Post by Kyle Mitchell on Oct 28, 2014 8:12:20 GMT -6
I was reading in the paper that the Mayor is communicating with Tim to try to save the Majestic.
That is great. I am glad that the Mayor seems to be making it his mission to save the place, particularly since I think he shares much responsibility for it being boarded up.
I hope that he is able to save it without an investment form tax payers. If it is his private investment, I think he would be much more apt to realize the problems that keep business from being able to succeed downtown and take some action to change it.
The article claims that Tim rebuilt the theatre twice. That is pretty funny. Maybe one of the times he shouldn't have used mortar that isn't lasting, cracked roof joists, deteriorating asbestos, or something on the roof to keep the water out. I wonder why he is only asking $267,000 for the building that he has rebuilt twice.
|
|
|
Post by Kyle Mitchell on Oct 28, 2014 12:28:04 GMT -6
I think thats awesome if the Mayor is even talking to try to save the Majestic. It is too bad that our community has not supported it so far. I have seen some people post that they didn't want to go due to 'environmental issues' inside. It could be, I never noticed, but I am fortunate to not have sensitivity to mold as much as asthma sufferers. The place certainly needs some expensive work done to be anywhere near a 'palace' that Kyle claims. That expensive work cannot reasonably be done without a good cash flow and that doesn't happen without patrons. We have no where to look but in the mirror for the Majestic not succeeding so far. If we buy tickets, maybe they will have the money to put back into the place. If not, who on Earth would sink that kind of money into the place? Not even dreamers with a passion. I HOPE it can re-open. I really do. I miss it. It is an asset to our community, but it could be a huge drain on finances if it re-opens and no one shows up at the movies. A large art deco theatre with a balcony and a marquee like the Majestic qualifies as a movie palace in my opinion. Because the owner neglected to take care of problems with it does not make it less of a palace in my opinion. Despite being in poor condition, I like to still remember it as unique experience from ages past. I honestly feel that if more people were willing to come to Streator, if we could cut down on the negative incidents that substantiate and perpetuate our rough reputation keeping them away, it could be more of a draw to our community and be successful. I don't think that the people of Streator are to blame for the lack of its success, it is our leaders who have to change how things are done here for us to have anything like the Majestic. However, they haven't been willing to even discuss solutions to these problems. I agree, there is no sense in throwing tax dollars at a failing business, particularly without correcting the underlying problems. I'm afraid it is likely done now though. RIP Majestic.
|
|
|
Post by dog on Oct 28, 2014 18:13:58 GMT -6
Is that right dog, are you such close buddies with greek that he speaks for you as to how you give back to your community? Do you share his disgust for what I did to try to show that I wasn't doing things only for my benefit, but wanted to try to help make our community better however I could? Does ridiculing and attacking people for how they generate charitable donations of food to help feed the hungry make you feel good? Do you think I should have handled donations Tim's way, soliciting $130,000 from the public to board the place up and try to sell it? I am proud that I was able to help generate such large donations, while operating such a struggling business. Go ahead and ridicule me to try to make yourselves feel better. It doesn't change anything for me. I personally dont know Greek, he may or may not know me. I think Greek knows me well enough by my online activities to make an accurate statement that I do give back to my community. Greek and I have had many disagreements on various topics but as a person, I have no regard or disregard for him, when I debate him. Nor do I have any regard or disregard for you either. I am neither his buddy, nor yours, nor am I either of you guys's enemy. On occasions it does strike a personal chord, unfortunately. I dont know the circumstances on the turkey-popcorn thing. My only concern is if you got turkeys from your customers and passed them off as a donation from you exclusively and not from the "customers of the Majestic." Personally I dont think you would do that, and I applaud your effort to get food to the needy during the holiday.
|
|
|
Post by dog on Oct 28, 2014 18:32:25 GMT -6
A large art deco theatre with a balcony and a marquee like the Majestic qualifies as a movie palace in my opinion. This comment reminds me of a scene in one of my favorite movies: Joe Dirt. Do you remember when Joe was talking to Kickin Wing and KW said all he liked was snakes and sparklers, so that is all he sold? Then Joe said "its not what you like, its what the consumer likes". From your perspective and experience, the Majestic is a very unique place to see a movie.Heck, I even agree with you, but one of your underlying problems with almost any of the topics that you discuss, is your unwillingness to even look at it from someone else's perspective or even to consider the notion that your opinion or perspective is just flat wrong. For instance, you might think that a movie palace should draw sell out crowds because it is a unique venue.But in reality, even though you are right that it is unique,others think other things such as more modern features are what makes other theaters. palaces, and that is where they will spend their money.
|
|
|
Post by dog on Oct 28, 2014 18:40:43 GMT -6
Start asking downtown business owners and I think you will find that there are quite a few of them who don't live in Streator and have no vote as to what happens here. I would bet that there are many who dont live in Streator, obviously Mr. Burke doesnt, nor do places like Walmart, Walgreens, Kroger,etc. You are right, they dont have an actual "vote" but they do have a say in what happens here. They have a vested interest in Streator, since their businesses are here. Are you suggesting that even though they chose to invest in Streator, they shouldnt have any say in regards to zoning issues, tax rates, etc. just because they dont live here?
|
|
|
Post by Kyle Mitchell on Oct 29, 2014 5:54:35 GMT -6
Is that right dog, are you such close buddies with greek that he speaks for you as to how you give back to your community? Do you share his disgust for what I did to try to show that I wasn't doing things only for my benefit, but wanted to try to help make our community better however I could? Does ridiculing and attacking people for how they generate charitable donations of food to help feed the hungry make you feel good? Do you think I should have handled donations Tim's way, soliciting $130,000 from the public to board the place up and try to sell it? I am proud that I was able to help generate such large donations, while operating such a struggling business. Go ahead and ridicule me to try to make yourselves feel better. It doesn't change anything for me. I personally dont know Greek, he may or may not know me. I think Greek knows me well enough by my online activities to make an accurate statement that I do give back to my community. Greek and I have had many disagreements on various topics but as a person, I have no regard or disregard for him, when I debate him. Nor do I have any regard or disregard for you either. I am neither his buddy, nor yours, nor am I either of you guys's enemy. On occasions it does strike a personal chord, unfortunately. I dont know the circumstances on the turkey-popcorn thing. My only concern is if you got turkeys from your customers and passed them off as a donation from you exclusively and not from the "customers of the Majestic." Personally I dont think you would do that, and I applaud your effort to get food to the needy during the holiday. I already knew that you weren't my buddy. That was obvious even before you attacked my education, trying to say that I just didn't understand the numbers when you were trying to make people think that the county is losing population at a faster rate than Streator Which was simply not true, correct? There was no turkey-popcorn thing. I offered people free movie passes for a frozen turkey donation and free popcorn for non-perishable food donations in an attempt to try to compensate people somewhat for their donations to try to generate even more food to feed hungry people. I never claimed any deduction for any of the charitable donations while I was at the Majestic. I told the people at the food pantry about how generous the people of Streator were. I say people instead of customers because they didn't even need to spend any money at my business to participate in our offer. greek seems to have some big problem with how I went about trying to give back to our community, criticizes me often for it and is now trying to associate you with the situation. I was simply asking if you share his views, not that I care if you approve of how I gave back to the community, but more to see if you approve of his attempts to associate you with his very vocal disapproval.
|
|
|
Post by Kyle Mitchell on Oct 29, 2014 5:56:07 GMT -6
A large art deco theatre with a balcony and a marquee like the Majestic qualifies as a movie palace in my opinion. This comment reminds me of a scene in one of my favorite movies: Joe Dirt. Do you remember when Joe was talking to Kickin Wing and KW said all he liked was snakes and sparklers, so that is all he sold? Then Joe said "its not what you like, its what the consumer likes". From your perspective and experience, the Majestic is a very unique place to see a movie.Heck, I even agree with you, but one of your underlying problems with almost any of the topics that you discuss, is your unwillingness to even look at it from someone else's perspective or even to consider the notion that your opinion or perspective is just flat wrong. For instance, you might think that a movie palace should draw sell out crowds because it is a unique venue.But in reality, even though you are right that it is unique,others think other things such as more modern features are what makes other theaters. palaces, and that is where they will spend their money. I looked at the other perspective. Just because I don't agree with it does not mean that I didn't consider it. There have been others on here who have commented on preferring the Majestic style theatre over the modern cracker boxes. Mr. Endres, a very successful person in the industry, was quoted in the paper saying that the majestic should be a tourist destination. There is a much more modern theatre here too. Many people came out to support the "Save the Majestic" campaign, but I didn't see very many people worrying about saving Northpoint. Our City didn"t make the Northpoint a centerpiece of it's Comprehensive Plan, like they did the Majestic. The newspaper didn't do near as many stories about the Northpoint being closed. I did considered the opinion that there is nothing special at all about the place to bring in customers, but just don't agree with it. Maybe you should tell the Mayor not to waste any of the City's resources on it, since you seem to think that it can never be successful because people prefer to go to a "modern" theatre.
|
|
|
Post by Kyle Mitchell on Oct 29, 2014 5:56:21 GMT -6
Start asking downtown business owners and I think you will find that there are quite a few of them who don't live in Streator and have no vote as to what happens here. I would bet that there are many who dont live in Streator, obviously Mr. Burke doesnt, nor do places like Walmart, Walgreens, Kroger,etc. You are right, they dont have an actual "vote" but they do have a say in what happens here. They have a vested interest in Streator, since their businesses are here. Are you suggesting that even though they chose to invest in Streator, they shouldnt have any say in regards to zoning issues, tax rates, etc. just because they dont live here? I was just responding to greek's comment. In addition to the examples you gave, I think there are a lot of people who live outside of City limits and operate small business in town everyday. It wasn't what I think should be, it was what is. Business owners who do not live in the City limits do not get to vote for our City leaders and therefor have no say in zoning issues, tax rates, outdoor merchandise display restrictions, sign restrictions, etc. With so few business owners being City of Streator voters, I don't feel that businesses are very well represented in our local government.
|
|
|
Post by dog on Oct 29, 2014 7:25:40 GMT -6
greek seems to have some big problem with how I went about trying to give back to our community, criticizes me often for it and is now trying to associate you with the situation. I was simply asking if you share his views, not that I care if you approve of how I gave back to the community, but more to see if you approve of his attempts to associate you with his very vocal disapproval. I don't think Greek was trying to associate me with his disapprovals: "Sniper, I'm certain most business owners in Streator have donated to the United Way, the Salvation Army, paid dues to Civic Organizations, donated to local sports teams, rang bells, delivered baskets, and donated time to coach, referee, etc. I know I have, I bet dog has." Greek was responding to Snipers comments about Greeks "business". All Greek has said that he donates to different organizations, and he "bets" I do too. I know I have donated, and I bet Greek has too. I asked you about the circumstances of your food drive, you explained it, that's good enough for me.
|
|
|
Post by dog on Oct 29, 2014 7:36:33 GMT -6
Maybe you should tell the Mayor not to waste any of the City's resources on it, since you seem to think that it can never be successful because people prefer to go to a "modern" theatre. I hope the city doesn't waste any taxpayer money on it, not because I think that the major reason it wouldn't be successful is because people would prefer a modern theater, but because of many other reasons that I have listed before all add up to having an unsuccessful business. You ran the business at the Majestic, how many people did you have to have per showing to break even? How many people did you actually have? How many people do you think you lost due to bar violence, due to not having certain movies, due to only having 2 screens to choose from, etc. I don't think I ever argued with you that issues from the bar didnt cost you a customer or two, but to focus on the city and suggest they are the sole reason for the demise of the Majestic is just not realistic.
|
|
|
Post by dog on Oct 29, 2014 7:42:55 GMT -6
With so few business owners being City of Streator voters, I don't feel that businesses are very well represented in our local government. Lets expand on this thought a little. When I read your post a couple posts ago, I got the impression that you were picking on out of town business owners. Now after reading this, it sounds like you think that since they don't have the voting capability to change things, they are not well represented and disadvantaged when it comes to running their business properly in Streator. Could you elaborate a little more on your thoughts concerning this?
|
|
|
Post by Kyle Mitchell on Oct 29, 2014 18:26:36 GMT -6
greek seems to have some big problem with how I went about trying to give back to our community, criticizes me often for it and is now trying to associate you with the situation. I was simply asking if you share his views, not that I care if you approve of how I gave back to the community, but more to see if you approve of his attempts to associate you with his very vocal disapproval. I don't think Greek was trying to associate me with his disapprovals: "Sniper, I'm certain most business owners in Streator have donated to the United Way, the Salvation Army, paid dues to Civic Organizations, donated to local sports teams, rang bells, delivered baskets, and donated time to coach, referee, etc. I know I have, I bet dog has." Greek was responding to Snipers comments about Greeks "business". All Greek has said that he donates to different organizations, and he "bets" I do too. I know I have donated, and I bet Greek has too. I asked you about the circumstances of your food drive, you explained it, that's good enough for me. Well, I just think it is a shame that anyone would attack someone for how they give to the community. Do you think seeing someone being ridiculed for trying to do good encourages more people to want to try to give back?
|
|
|
Post by Kyle Mitchell on Oct 29, 2014 18:28:18 GMT -6
Maybe you should tell the Mayor not to waste any of the City's resources on it, since you seem to think that it can never be successful because people prefer to go to a "modern" theatre. I hope the city doesn't waste any taxpayer money on it, not because I think that the major reason it wouldn't be successful is because people would prefer a modern theater, but because of many other reasons that I have listed before all add up to having an unsuccessful business. You ran the business at the Majestic, how many people did you have to have per showing to break even? How many people did you actually have? How many people do you think you lost due to bar violence, due to not having certain movies, due to only having 2 screens to choose from, etc. I don't think I ever argued with you that issues from the bar didnt cost you a customer or two, but to focus on the city and suggest they are the sole reason for the demise of the Majestic is just not realistic. A customer or two? Do you think I would be so worried about it if I thought it was just a customer or two? I wouldn't be able to tell you how many people the bar violence keeps away, but I am very confident that it is many. It would be interesting to see the results of an independent survey to see how people in Streator and also surrounding areas feel about bringing their families to downtown Streator particularly at night when a movie theatre is trying to do business. I have been attacked for merely asking that the problems keeping people away be corrected. We are talking about activities that are against our existing laws. What would be so wrong with cleaning these things up? Do you really not think that more people might be more willing to support a unique family business like the Majestic if the numbers were reduced?
|
|
|
Post by Kyle Mitchell on Oct 29, 2014 18:28:42 GMT -6
With so few business owners being City of Streator voters, I don't feel that businesses are very well represented in our local government. Lets expand on this thought a little. When I read your post a couple posts ago, I got the impression that you were picking on out of town business owners. Now after reading this, it sounds like you think that since they don't have the voting capability to change things, they are not well represented and disadvantaged when it comes to running their business properly in Streator. Could you elaborate a little more on your thoughts concerning this? What is there to elaborate on? Business owners who do not live in the City limits do not get to vote for the leaders who enact ordinances and policies that directly affect their business. I don't feel they are represented on local issues. That is just the way it is.
|
|
|
Post by OutlawwithaSnipeSniper on Oct 29, 2014 18:40:10 GMT -6
Well, I just think it is a shame that anyone would attack someone for how they give to the community. Do you think seeing someone being ridiculed for trying to do good encourages more people to want to try to give back? Bingo, Greek is trying to make you look bad, while hiding behind his "self quarantine" and talking about how he is such a concerned and active citizen. ANYONE who lifts a finger to help the citizenry of this place deserves our admiration.
|
|