Capitol Theatre Rally

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• Regardless of whether the Capitol is in the Red or Black it should be funded and enormously promoted by this outstanding city. I don't believe the value the City of Windsor enjoys from the Capitol comes from revenue. At least not it's most precious value. I was so impressed last night when I saw what seemed to be fully a quarter of the participants were children and maybe more if you added the young adults. This sort of outpouring came from something they experienced at this venue and with such little time to get the word out was an overwhelming number. Investing in buildings and programs such as the events that have drawn these young people to last nights event will encourage them to study, grow culturally and ultimately stay in Windsor. That will mean far more for the economy and future revenue to our great city than making the Capitol a profit center. I'm sure it can be and minds far better than mine I'm sure will do so given the opportunity but I personally would rather see my tax dollars(by the way I'm older and my children are grown) support anything that will encourage growth and diversity in our youth as the Capitol so clearly does. I am a supporter by buying tickets and giving my time to the arts that go on there but unless I'm really lucky fifty years from now I'll be gone and yet part of my legacy will still be in those young folks that were there last night when they are sending their children and grandchildren to such outstanding venues. Pay it Forward

• Great stuff guys, keep the comments coming.

  Elaine, culture and arts are valued it seems by very few, the mayor included.

  If you wait long enough, maybe he can fund a study about the state of the Arts in Windsor.

  While I know that this has little to do with the Capitol staff, it dissapointed me to no end to have to drive out to Lakeshore to see some of the Windsor Film Festival films during the 2006 festival. IMO The Capitol as well as the Walkerville/Tivoli should be the main venues to show the films at. The Capitol combined with the Palace could create a nice dense walkable festival area. But that is only one of the many uses.

  Kudos to you and the other organizers for rallying up the troops on such short notice.

• Dear Mr. Francis, (open letter to Mayor Francis)
  I want to add my thoughts to the many concerned e-mails you have received regarding saving the Capitol. I think the case has been convincingly made for doing whatever it takes to save this valuable asset. Today's Windsor Star which features a front page story about how you and your council spent $35,000 on take out food last year, also reports a study by Media Company Corporate Knights stating that Windsor comes second to last out of 23 Canadian cities in sustainability. "We don't seem to be capitalizing on our strengths," is a quote from the article that pretty much sums up the Capitol situation. Here we have a world class venue for the arts, a major contributor to the quality of life of our city, and were letting it die for the sake of a few bucks. We have money to build an over budget peace beacon, spend a half a million dollars to study Riverside drive but when it comes to the cultural heart of our city "were not in the business of writing blank cheques."

  This is your legacy Mr. Francis. This is how you will be remembered. Will you be the Mayor who saves the Capitol Theatre for the good of all Windsor, or will it be on your watch, that one of Windsors last cultural flames is allowed to flicker and die.

  Howard Weeks

• Well it's good to hear the "Save the Capitol" gang at leasts understands WHY it's in trouble. Several have openly acknowledged mismanagement and I think the suggestion to clean house and put some responsible and accountable individuals at the helm is a must if any money comes from the city. Furthermore, they could stand to move more toward the mainstream and embrace the "blue collar" nature of our town when planning events. Take a page from WSO's book. They once suffered a bad image for scheduling performances of obscure works that may be known and critically acclaimed by the inner circles among classical music buffs, but the general public wanted to hear Beethoven, Wagner, and Mozart. So that's what they gave them. If memory serves these are changes Susan Haig brought when she took the helm, correct me if I'm wrong. But one can't "buy" culture. Money won't make Windsor more cultural. The venue can only appeal to what the public wants .... or fade away.

• I have a suggestion. Why not show old movies at the Capitol? I remember going to the Capitol to see first run movies like Raiders of The Lost Ark and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in the 80's. Why couldn't we revive the tradition by showing cult classics like The Night of The Living Dead or Son of The Blob? We could even have customers dress up like zombies or vampires and invite The Ghoul to emcee. Think about all the publicity.

• Just got this from Ed Agnew, one of the people responsible for government funding of the Capitol over the years:
  "Our board has deferred signing of Bankruptcy papers intil Monday afternoon. I will let you know if I find out anything."
  I also heard from Norma Coleman today, Eddie's right hand woman at the mayor's office, who said that council is not going to let the Capitol close but that she couldn't give me any specifics until the lawyers had finished meeting.
  So, things are looking up - i think!!

• Thanks for the update Elaine, Keep us posted.

• That's a cool idea George. Palace used to do something like that in the '80s. Would be neat to see old B-blicks and classics somewhere in town.

• Couldn't agree more. There needs to be events at the Capitlol to draw the "average" Windsorite in. They shoud be able to figure out how to run a moive night, once a month or something, at minimal cost to the theatre while making a profit. Pick a night when the theatre would be dark anyway.

  I'm hoping Capitol Theatre v. 3.0 is a better version than the last one :)

• The offer is off the table for the Capital Theatre. The City of Windsor says the theatre has dragged its feet in making a decision about a 65 thousand dollar loan and administration now calls them insolvent.

  The city of windsor " DRAGGED " it's feet for 10 years or more deciding on where to build that stupid arena not to mention putting all those folks downtown out of their homes from land that sat vacant for years. Yet the mayor and his so-called lawyers can say the Capital Theatre is insolvent ?? I hope eddie francis realizes the public got him elected and the public can also get him out at the next election !!!!!