Ritz Theater on road to recovery

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Although this summer the Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. NE, hit a “bump in the road,”—as one board member put it—it is now struggling to its feet with a new business model, new tenants, and a temporary reprieve from the bank.Ritz Theater Foundation chair Michael Rainville is one of five Ritz Theater Foundation board members—the others are Greg Handberg, Katie Guyer, David Warner and Kathy Cashman—who say they are working to keep the Ritz in business.The problems started several years ago, according to Rainville, when “the economy tanked,” and other local theaters such as the new Cowles Theater in downtown Minneapolis offered stiff competition. The Ritz Theater has been laden with debt since its inception, and losing bookings made things worse. The crisis culminated this summer, when Ballet of the Dolls’ creative director had health problems.“We had to cancel the last two shows of last season and put the theater dark in July and August,” Rainville said.According to the Ritz Theater’s website, the last show, “Fashion Ball: A Fashion History,” played March 21-22. Two later scheduled shows, “The House of Good Repute” and “Nina and Klaus” were cancelled.BackgroundThe 1920s-era Ritz Theater sat vacant in the Sheridan neighborhood for years, until a neighborhood-led effort got it reopened in 2006, after substantial redesign and a $1.2 million renovation. Continue Reading

Non-conforming use permits and the Schmidt self-storage facility

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Earlier this month, the Saint Paul Planning Commission engaged in a fascinating debate over a proposal on West 7th Street to build a self-storage facility next to the remodeled Schmidt brewery site. The issue was a discussion about whether or not to approve a non-conforming use reestablishment, and there were split votes in both the Zoning Committee (4 in favor, 2 against) and at the full Commission (9 in favor, 8 against; I was one of the ‘no’ votes). To me, the permit discussion revealed how zoning decisions can revolve around subjective considerations. In this case, a lot weighed on considerations of economic potential and predictions about the future of neighborhoods. Continue Reading

Corporate wolves and the sharing economy

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The new sharing economy masquerades as a people-to-people economy. That sounds friendlier than the corporate, profit-driven economy. Take a second look, though, and this new sharing economy turns out to be the old corporate wolf in a new internet fleece. Continue Reading

Don’t offer farmers and citizens to multinationals, stop TTIP and CETA

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From France, which gave us the Rights of Man, we hear the call for the Rights of Citizens from French farmers who yesterday staged a sit-in at Cargill’s headquarters in Paris protesting proposed new free trade agreements. The second largest farmers’ union in France, Confédération Paysanne, unfurled a banner that read, “Holland, Juncker, Obama: Don’t offer farmers and citizens to multinationals, Stop TTIP and CETA.” They occupied the Cargill trading floor all day, until they received an appointment with the Secretary of State for French Foreign Trade, Mr. Matthias Fekl. Continue Reading

The Trans Fat-cific Partnership – Clogging the artery of local democracy and sustainability

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The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is referred to as a “trade agreement” between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations but it is a Trojan horse for granting even more privileges and undeserved rights for multinational elite mega-firms. To state it bluntly, the TPP basically lets a cabal of foolish lawyers interfere with saving the planet. If the TPP is approved in its current form, it will basically pull the rug out from any efforts to cultivate sustainable local economies and food systems. That is why The Land Stewardship project is one of many groups who has been mobilizing to stop it from being approved by the US Congress. Similar to Trans Fats, the TPP is an artificially concocted health hazard that needs to be labeled, publically denounced, avoided, boycotted and then banned.On Thursday April 16th, 2015 leaders in the U.S. House and Senate leaders announced that they have reached a deal on legislation aimed at ramming the Trans Pacific Partnership through Congress. They intoduced a bill usually known as Fast Track but formally titled “The Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, TPA-2015”. It will come to a vote in coming weeks and must be stopped at all costs. Elite corporate interests are pushing hard for this fast track bill in order to limit the opportunity that public opposition has to stop overall approval of the TPP.  This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.SUING FOR PROFITS THAT THEY WOULD HAVE MADEThere is a most particularly problematic part of the TPP is a type of arbitration called the “investor state dispute settlement”. Continue Reading

Sharing like a capitalist

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The sharing economy has received lots of media adoration over the last couple of years. A closer look reveals a more troubling truth. There are various types of companies in this new economy, but the ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft provide a useful example. In a recent article, Avi Asher-Schapiro details the effects of this model on the workers. Continue Reading