Yesterday evening, I slipped over to the Capitol Theatre to check out the “Save the Capitol” rally. What a great job by the local arts community to rally the troops and mobilize within 24 hours to stage a rally to show support for the Capitol Theatre which is on the brink of bankruptcy. City council refused to grant them a $60,000 loan to keep them afloat.
No money for the arts, but they have $35,000 to spend on catered meals at City Hall (Toronto with 20 times the population of Windsor spent $20,000 last year on their catering budget, go figure!), $600,000 to spend on the crappy Peace Beacon on the riverfront, $65,000,000! on the new arena.
When I arrived on the scene the media was already present and reporting.
Local businessman Chris Edwards of the Walkerville Times was present. Surprisingly NO city councilors were present. Not even Ron Jones or Caroline Postma, the ward two councilors where the Capitol resides could bother to show up.
The lack of Council or any elected officials to show up to the rally, really spoke volumes about how this council prioritizes Downtown and the Arts Community.
The rally was well attended by both citizens young and old, as well as prominent city businessmen (I spied Chris Edwards as well as Larry Horowitz and others in the crowd.), as well as the media.
Hopefully this council will take some action and help make the city a better place to live. Highly unlikely. Too bad we can’t recall the McMansion Mayor.