Timeline

This timeline is a work in progress. It will be refined and expanded as we continue our research. It currently focuses primarily on 2009 - 2010, although even this period is not yet complete, and the timeline leading up to the present situation should go back at least 12 to 15 years. We will also be adding Gala Premieres, concerts, and a wide variety of special events to the timeline, many with photo gallerys, video, and articles as The Senator, The People's Theatre site evolves. We have recently been given full access to Mr. Kiefaber's records and video and photo archives, and our research project is ongoing.

The Friends of the Senator are seeking volunteers and advisors with video editing skills, and access to a variety of videotape decks in a variety of formats.

June, 1999 - The National Trust for Historic Preservation highlights the plight of the long-term merchants of the West Side, who are being abused and involuntarily displaced by the BDC, to raze hundreds of unique and irreplaceable historic structures. The Trust designates Baltimore's West Side to its annual "11 Most Endangered" list, after local preservation groups and influential individuals rallied around the urgent cliffhanger. National Main Street Director Kennedy Smith and The Senator's preservationist owner Tom Kiefaber, fellow board members of The League of Historic American Theatres, teamed up and made a critical difference.

The BDC's culture of indifference in dealing with Baltimore's backbone of independent businesses was institutionalized under the reign of M. J. Brodie, as intolerance for openness, transparency and public accountability. Opposition to the BDC's West Side plan by the preservation community was a giant step toward understanding that historic preservation is the very key to Baltimore's economic redevelopment in its historic districts, as one of the oldest cities in America. Yet to date, the BDC has steadfastly resisted allowing a single member of the preservation community to serve on their board, despite the requests of Preservation Maryland, The National Trust, and Baltimore Heritage.

February 18, 2001 - A New York Times article, "In Baltimore's West Side, Preservation Story Unfolds," notes that Tom Kiefaber's actions were instrumental in saving the historic buildings in the West Side's Superblock: "But it was a 10-minute film, 'Baltimore's West Side Story,' that played an important role in turning the tide in favor of preservation explaining what would be lost if the plan went ahead. In January 2000, the film was shown before the feature film at the Senator Theater, the only remaining Art Deco movie theater in the city." This was little known in Baltimore, except by a few preservationists and officials at the BDC. The Superblock project has stymied the BDC and remained in court battles to this day. Kiefaber received threatening phone calls when he ran it.

2001 - The National Trust for Historic Preservation names "Historic American Movie Theatres" to its "11 Most Endangered" list, with The Senator featured as the poster child for endangered theatres.

September 24, 2002 - In a Baltimore Sun article about Tom Kiefaber's $1.2 Million loan from First Mariner Bank, Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank states "No city funds will be part of the financing deal."

Baltimore City made a $600,000 guarantee on the loan, but in the event of default, the bank would have to take all of Tom Kiefaber's other collateral, including The Senator and his family home, before the City's loan guarantee could be touched. The loan is over-collateralized. Deputy Mayor Frank correctly stated that "No city funds will be part of the financing deal," because the $600,000 was not a loan and was not money given to The Senator. It was simply money the City would be liable for if Kiefaber defaulted on the loan and the loan could not be paid back by foreclosing on The Senator, his house, and his other property first.

January 1, 2003 - The BDC's Executive Vice President Andrew Frank states the BDC got involved in guaranteeing Kiefaber's loan from First Mariner Bank "because of the city's $2.9 million investment in Belvedere Square, across York Road from the Senator in North Baltimore."

February 6, 2007 - In a Baltimore Sun article, Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank falsely states that the $180,000 grant the City gave The Senator in 1999 was a loan that Tom Kiefaber did not repay. He later retracts this and admits it was a grant.

The article also states, in relation to the upcoming foreclosure auction on The Senator:

"Frank said it is unlikely that if the bank fails to cover its loan at the auction, the city will be liable for its share of the loan guarantee, $600,000, given the other collateral available.

"I'm confident that it will not be the full amount, and I'm hopeful that it won't be a significant amount," Frank said.

February 13, 2007 - Tom Kiefaber receives an email from Baltimore Sun reporter John Woestendiek, which states "Tom, Just to let you know, Andrew Frank, in my interview with him today, cleared up the loan versus grant issue, re the $180,000. He said he wrongly called it a loan when he was being interviewed by Nick Madigan, and that it was indeed a grant."

February 15, 2007 - The Baltimore Sun prints a retraction of Andrew Frank's claim that the $180,000 was a loan that Kiefaber didn't repay: "A front-page article in the Feb. 6 editions of The Sun about The Senator Theatre incorrectly characterized a 1999 transaction between theater owner Tom Kiefaber and Baltimore City as a $180,000 loan. A city spokesman confirmed that it was a grant."

February 21, 2007 - A scheduled foreclosure auction on The Senator is canceled, after individuals from around the world raise $120K to pay off the past due balance on The Senator's mortgage. In this nail-biting cliffhanger, the fundraising goal is reached only hours before the scheduled foreclosure auction.

When the foreclosure auction was initially scheduled, then owner Tom Kiefaber was told by his lender that "the city" had ordered his cash contingency funds to be used to pay down the principal on the theatre's mortgage, instead of applying the cash contingency funds to make monthly payments on the mortgage, as Mr. Kiefaber had asked. This action left him with less overall debt, but no funds to make ongoing monthly payments. As Kiefaber stated in his subsequent remarks to the CHAP commission on March 5, 2007, "Prior to the situation becoming so highly charged and then descending towards an auction sale, BDC representatives had been overtly undermining my credibility and skills and began advocating to our lender to freeze my contingency cash account at the bank. The cash fund was $150K, which was more than sufficient to cure the existing default and pre-pay our commercial loan up through late summer."

March 5, 2007 - Baltimore City CHAP Commission votes to impose exterior landmark controls on The Senator, even though it's already on the National Register of Historic Places. The meeting date, which was chosen and announced prior to the scheduled and averted foreclosure auction, is timed to coincide closely with that auction. Robert C. "Bob" Embry is the CHAP Commissioner reportedly pushing forward these controls.

The controls are passed over the objections of then Senator owner Tom Kiefaber, who states in his remarks to the commission "Why is it that this particular subset of city government known as the CHAP commission appears to be genuinely concerned about the preservation of The Senator Theatre, when other factions of city government have acted overtly behind the scenes to trigger the very crisis that has led to this hearing to consider placing municipal controls on my historic movie house?...My reticence to simply acquiesce to this CHAP commission action without better understanding the ramifications is directly related to my mistrust of what has taken place under the auspices of city government."

April 17, 2008 - Friends of The Senator hosts a Town Hall Meeting at The Senator, co-sponsored by several community groups. Architectural drawings by prestigious architectural firm Ziger/Snead are unveiled. They include a cafe on the north side of the building and additional screening rooms behind the theatre, along Rosebank Avenue. There is discussion among the community about a future multi-purpose programming model for the theatre, to include music, movies, education, and community events. The proposals are part of a series of ongoing roundtable discussions with the community.

Summer-Fall, 2008 - Global economic meltdown.

December 18, 2008 - Friends of The Senator hosts a Town Hall Meeting at The Senator that includes a presentation by historic theatre redevelopment expert John Lind of Venuetech, Inc. Lind makes it clear that without conversion to a non-profit, The Senator is doomed. Lind lays out the basic process for this conversion. He notes that every 70-80 years, theatres like this need major restoration, and that this transition is a crucial stage in The Senator's evolution. At this stage, the community is working toward a shared vision of The Senator's non-profit, multi-purpose future. (Video: Part 1, Part 2)

January 22, 2009 - Community groups including Friends of The Senator call for The Senator to remain in operation as it transitions to become the region's premiere, community owned non-profit Arts & Entertainment Venue. They warn that due to the global economic crisis, there is an immediate danger that The Senator may need to close. The community calls for Mayor Dixon to come to the table with the community and with Senator management to determine how to keep The Senator open during its transition to a non-profit multi-purpose model.

January 26, 2009 - Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank makes an "offer" then Senator owner Tom Kiefaber can't refuse. It's an offer for Baltimore City to buy out The Senator's mortgage, and Kiefaber can't refuse it because city officials privately threaten that the city will sell the Kiefaber family home and his throw his family out on the street. Frank releases news of the more benign public offer to the press, before he sends the letter to Kiefaber. The letter starts off a series of personal attacks on Kiefaber by city and BDC officials, whose response to the community's pleas for the Mayor to come to the table is now instead clearly a plan to take over the theatre. As part of the offer, the city convenes a "steering committee" that Frank says will examine whether or not The Senator can become a non-profit.

January 28, 2009 - A Baltimore Sun article, "Baltimore Offers $320,000 to Keep Senator Open as a Nonprofit" reports on Deputy Mayor Frank's "offer" to Kiefaber in a confusing manner. The article falsely states "city officials are offering $320,000 to keep it open - provided the 70-year-old movie house is turned into a nonprofit business" and "Under the terms of the plan, the city would turn over the $320,000 only after Kiefaber deeded the theater to a nonprofit corporation." The article seems to imply that $320,000 would be given to Kiefaber.

In reality, the offer from Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank is for the City to buy out The Senator's mortgage from First Mariner Bank and acquire the theatre's mortgage. The actual terms of the offer letter are not reported in the article, but the offer letter itself states "the City of Baltimore has been in discussions with First Mariner Bank to purchase the portion of the Senator Theater (sic) debt, $320,000, which is not secured by the City's $600,000 loan guaranty." Conditions of the offer include that the city's "steering committee" determines that the theatre can become a nonprofit and that "The Senator Theater (sic) would be deeded to the non-profit corporation before the City purchases the aforementioned portion of the debt." In retrospect, the former condition seems to have been preordained not to be fulfilled; the latter condition was probably impossible. How could Kiefaber deed The Senator to any other entity before the theatre's mortgage was paid off?

The article goes on to state "Frank said the city aid, in the form of a no-interest loan, would come from existing funds, money already earmarked for economic and community development." This confusing facet of the offer seems to indicate that the City would become Kiefaber's lender, leaving him responsible for the loan, but only after he had already signed the theatre over to another entity.

The article then misleadingly states "This wouldn't be the first time city coffers have been used to stave off The Senator's debts. In 2002, the city agreed to guarantee half of a $1.2 Million loan from 1^st Mariner Bank." This statement is misleading because the loan guarantee did not reduce the amount of the theatre's debt or "stave off" the debt in any way.

The article implies that Kiefaber's family home in Baltimore County would be released as part of the deal, without noting that there is a State lien on the home that the City has no power to release. (As of today, both the City and State liens remain on Kiefaber's family home.)

January 31, 2009 - In an email to Laura Perkins, 4th District Councilman Bill Henry confirms that Senator owner Tom Kiefaber and representatives of the Govanstowne Business Association and the Belvedere Improvement Association will not be on the steering committe, but claims that he will represent their interests on the committee. "The rest of the committee is a mix of prospective funders, current and former state and local officials, and community-based non-profit execs," he says.

Henry also hints that The Senator may ultimately not become a non-profit: "I'm not even certain yet that conveyance to a non-profit is the permanent solution."

By this time, the secretive steering committee is already meeting, in possible violation of the Maryland Open Meetings Act. Although the Act allows for exceptions to open meetings rules when proprietary financial data is involved, the only proprietary financial data the committee should have been discussing was Tom Kiefaber's, and he made clear that he would welcome open discussion of his financial data, since it was already being discussed erroneously in the press.

If there was any other proprietary financial data being discussed, whose would it be? Possibly the financial data of those who hoped to take over The Senator, although the city did not own it yet? Was this committee making decisions about The Senator's future based on financial offers from other private parties that have not been disclosed, before Baltimore City even owned the theatre?

February 12, 2009 - Laura Perkins, one of the founding members of Friends of The Senator, alarmed that the city's steering committee does not include key stakeholders from the community and is not availing itself of the expertise of then-Senator owner Tom Kiefaber, meets with 4^th District City Councilman Bill Henry in a private meeting. Henry notes that key city officials do not like Kiefaber and do not want to work with him, and proposes that anyone who is concerned about The Senator's future must band together and help the city to separate Tom Kiefaber from the theatre his family built and that he has operated to nationwide acclaim over a 20 year period. Henry's account of the grudges against Kiefaber in downtown power circles corroborate what Perkins has learned from Kiefaber and his associates, except for Henry's shifting of blame to Kiefaber. Perkins points out to Henry that Kiefaber has an impressive award-winning track record. Henry dismisses all the awards and positive national press as "old theatre nuts." Henry also discusses the city's intent to get control of The Senator, so that nobody else can get it. He says he is worried about a church taking it over.

February 27, 2009 - In a Daily Record article, the BDC's Kim Clark says the city is ready to help The Senator, but only without Tom Kiefaber. Clark's defaming comments about Kiefaber escalate the situation and set off months of media attacks on Kiefaber, which serve to distract from any useful discussion of The Senator's future that could otherwise be taking place. Kiefaber is powerless to defend himself against the attacks, since he is working desperately behind the scenes to save his family home. City officials have warned him they will take it if he doesn't comply with their plans.

February 28, 2009 - Ellen Janes of the Federal Reserve Bank, the head of the city's steering committee, hints in an email to an associate of Tom Kiefaber's that the steering committee will decide The Senator cannot be a non-profit and adds "At any rate, if the [Senator Community] Trust wishes an active role, they shd begin raising the several hundred thousand $ reqd to bid at auction--there are likely to be excellent and well-financed bidders there and its my guess that is likely to be where we are in a few short weeks..."

March 16, 2009 - For the first time in 70 years, The Senator stops running first-run movies exclusively. The local media occasionally persists to this day in reporting that the theatre has closed, in spite of a wide-ranging ongoing schedule of events at the theatre.

On this date, the Senator Community Trust, a fledgling non-profit that at the time said it wanted to raise money to purchase the theatre, but has since given up on that goal, was given permission to hold a community meeting at The Senator. The meeting was moderated by Marc Steiner of WYPR.

During the Q&A portion of the meeting, Ann Costlow, the owner of the restaurant Sofi's Crepes, next door to the Charles Theater, made a point to belittle Tom Kiefaber by saying that if her business was in trouble, she wouldn't expect help from the taxpayers. Costlow has since been a partner in Charles Theater owner Buzz Cusack's plan to take over The Senator at great expense to the city taxpayers. Costlow wants to open another crepe restaurant in the original Ladies Lounge/Restroom suite of The Senator, after major demolition of defining features of the original interior is done, at least partly at taxpayer expense.

March, 2009 - The city's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) schedules for April 14^th a meeting on a proposed landmark designation on The Senator's interior. The proposal would clearly tie up any future owner's renovations in potential red tape. The proposal is scheduled for within a few days of a foreclosure auction on the theatre set for April 20^th. The CHAP commissioner pushing for this interior landmark designation is reportedly Robert C. "Bob" Embry, President of the Abell Foundation. James "Buzz" Cusack, owner of the Charles Theater, is also a CHAP commissioner.

March 21, 2009 - James "Buzz" Cusack, operator of the Charles Theater, recuses himself from CHAP decisions regarding The Senator, after his clear conflict of interest is raised by Friends of The Senator leaders. (Cusack has previously expressed interest in being the next operator of The Senator.)

March 22, 2009 - In a Baltimore Sun article, Cusack again expresses interest in being the next operator of The Senator.

March 28, 2009 - Ellen Janes of the Federal Reserve Bank, the head of the city's steering committee on The Senator, approaches Tom Kiefaber in the crowded Saigon Remembered restaurant, where he is having dinner with FOTS members Laura Perkins and Gayle Grove, and an old friend of Kiefaber's who is not involved with the theatre. Janes confronts Kiefaber "in an unsolicited recitation of the risks he would face by not immediately accepting the city's latest approach toward acquiring The Senator debt free," according to an account written by one of Kiefaber's associates the next day. According to the written account, Janes also noted "it was not in Tom's best interests to pursue any other options within his rights, including [his] counsel's intention to pursue Chapter 11 as a means of buying time to structure a viable acquisition in the best interests of the community and integrity and legacy of The Senator. She went on to outright disparage a third-party consultant who specializes in troubled asset restructuring and is flawless in their approval by the courts in these types of proceedings. Ms. Janes apparently alluded that Tom would lose everything if he continued conversations with other parties and didn't accept the city's latest approach - and that the only way the state would work with him on their position is through an immediate embrace of the city's prescribed course of action."

March 31, 2009 - In a letter dated this date, the steering committee's recommendation falsely states that The Senator cannot be a non-profit without ongoing city subsidy, and recommends the City put The Senator through a foreclosure auction.

The recommendation from the steering committee says that The Senator cannot become a non-profit, because the committee has concluded it would require too much ongoing city subsidy. It recommends sending The Senator to auction to clear the debt. It ignores many facts, such as the reality that most successful historic theatres have a non-profit component, and that an auction would not be the only possible way of clearing the debt.

The recommendation also warns against keeping the theatre as a first-run single-screen movie theatre, noting correctly that industry consensus is that this business model is no longer economically viable.

Note many of the names who are either on the steering committee, or to whom the steering committee is grateful for their help: Ellen Janes, Bill Henry, Kimberly Clark, Buzz Cusack, Bob Embry, the Abell Foundation. The letter is addressed to then Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank. All of these people pop up in other roles over time in this story. In the context of the steering committee, they were clearly discussing Tom Kiefaber's financial data and his private property, and the disposition of his private property, as well as how the city could get control of his private property, in closed door meetings without his input.

April 1, 2009 - With Tom Kiefaber as a guest on Dan Rodricks' Midday show on WYPR, Rodricks and Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank ambush Kiefaber on the air and ask him to comment on the steering committee's letter, of which he has not been given a copy.

During the show, then Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank asserts that the steering committee has recommended that the city acquire the theatre and keep it as a first-run movie theatre. (The steering committee actually sent mixed signals on that, acknowledging that it was industry consensus that a first-run for-profit single-screen business model was no longer economically viable.) Frank notes that the City intends to keep The Senator a first run movie theatre (MP3 audio), and also notes that the City has already had talks with private parties interested in operating The Senator as a first-run movie theatre (MP3 audio).

April, 2009 - The League of Historic American Theatres (LHAT), a prestigious Baltimore-based organization of historic theatre professionals, reaches out to the BDC on multiple occasions and offers to meet with them and offer the expertise of LHAT's board members in planning The Senator's future. LHAT's offer is repeatedly refused by the BDC.

April 14, 2009 - CHAP cancels its hearing on the interior landmark designation on The Senator. The hearing is rescheduled for May 12^th.

April 15, 2009 - The 1^st Mariner Bank Foreclosure auction on The Senator is canceled, because the City is buying out The Senator's mortgage, and is planning its own foreclosure auction, expected at that time to be held in May.

May 12, 2009 - CHAP passes its controversial interior controls on The Senator, over the objections of then owner Tom Kiefaber and Friends of The Senator leaders. Kiefaber testifies that, although he has always fought for preservation of The Senator and is in principle aligned with the legislation's goals, the timing of the action shortly before a foreclosure auction is problematic, because it sends a signal to potential bidders that if they are not wired in with the downtown power structure, they will encounter red tape. He expresses alarm that this will suppress interest in the auction, and asserts that two separate private investors have already abruptly ended negotiations with him due to CHAP's actions. He also points out that the original Ladies' restroom is not protected by the proposed legislation. (Video: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8)

May 13, 2009 - The City Board of Estimates approves funds for the city to buy out The Senator's mortgage. The city plans to hold their own foreclosure auction on the theatre. City officials and local media were quick to claim that the city now owned The Senator, although this was not true at the time.

It's important to note that up until this point, Kiefaber did not owe Baltimore City a single dime from taxpayer-funded loans.

Up to this point, Kiefaber was indebted to First Mariner Bank, not Baltimore City. The City had previously placed a $600K loan guarantee on the First Mariner loan, but the City was never going to become liable for that money, because the loan was overcollateralized, and First Mariner would have had to foreclose on and sell The Senator, Kiefaber's family home, and another residential property on Orkney Road first.

The City bought out the First Mariner Bank mortgage, because they wanted to be able to foreclose on The Senator themselves.

May 20, 2009 - State Senator Joan Carter Conway holds a raucous public meeting at The Senator to discuss the current situation, with members of the community and city and BDC officials present. At the meeting, Kim Clark of the BDC calls the recent CHAP action "unnecessary and ill-timed." (Video) When asked why she had defamed Tom Kiefaber in a February Daily Record article, Clark claims to have been misquoted.

Community members in the audience accuse city officials of having a hidden agenda with regard to the theatre. When pressed, officials state the city's foreclosure auction on The Senator will happen in about 60 days, and they commit to widely publicizing the auction.

4^th District Councilman Bill Henry does not attend the meeting, citing a conflict, but is seen after the meeting at neighboring restaurant Zen West.

May 28, 2009 - The City's foreclosure auction on The Senator is scheduled for July 21, 2009 (later moved to July 22, 2009). City and BDC officials publicly state that the winning bidder will need $1 million to buy the theatre.

June, 2009 - When charges are made that the city is gambling with The Senator's future, Councilman Bill Henry claims the city will control the outcome of the public foreclosure auction on The Senator Theatre.

June 26, 2009 - Gayle Grove, long-time manager at The Senator, emails the BDC's Kim Clark to ask for the list of places where the city will advertise the auction of The Senator. Clark responds "The auction will be advertised in the Sun, Daily Record, Wall Street Journal and on every historic theatre group website that we could find and the National Trust website."

July 7, 2009 - After finding only the promised Daily Record advertisement of the auction and not finding one in the Wall Street Journal, Gayle Grove emails Kim Clark again to ask again for a list of places the auction will be advertised. Clark responds with a list of 9 places, many of them web sites (including a Facebook page), or email newsletters.

Ms. Grove contacts several of the places where the ads are supposed to have been placed, only to be told "I'm also unable to find a listing for the Senator Theater auction on our website" and "The ad for the Senator auction was not posted on our site as we do not accept advertising in that format" by two of them. Other "advertisements" are not paid advertisements, but notices sent out by request to email lists.

July 7, 2009 - An open letter to Councilman Bill Henry, sent out by Senator owner Tom Kiefaber on The Senator's listserv, states in part "In that context, you have also gone as far as to publicly reference Buzz Cusack's avowed interest in owning the theatre, perhaps with a BDC encouraged purchase of the iconic landmark Senator Theatre and its adjacent cafe space, subsidized by the city and the seizure of my residential Orkney Road property." At the same time, the theatre's marquee reads "THE CITY'S AUCTION OF THE SENATOR IS RUSSIAN ROULETTE OR A RIGGED SHAM."

At the same time, volunteers gather to paint The Senator's sidewalk blocks. (Video)

July 10, 2009 - Theatre Historical Society of America visits Senator Theatre during their annual conclave and awards Tom Kiefaber their prestigious "Creating Theatre History" award. (Video)

July 20, 2009 - The BDC issues its second draft of the RFP on The Senator, even though the city does not yet own the theatre. The RFP is drafted without consulting historic theatre planning and redevelopment professionals.

July 22, 2009 - Bill Henry's prediction that the city will control the outcome of the foreclosure auction on The Senator comes true when, after only one other bid from an undisclosed bidder, the city buys the theatre at auction for $810,000. The price is well below the $1 million that Henry and Kim Clark at the BDC had previously publicly stated would be the minimum bid. After the auction, potential bidders who did not bid cited the city's confusing actions prior to the auction as the reason they did not bid. (Video)

July 23, 2009 - In a Baltimore Sun article, "City Takes Over Ownership of Senator," James "Buzz" Cusack indicates he is interested in running the theatre. Interesting quotes from the article:

"Frank pledged that the city's efforts to find an owner or operator would be "a wide-open transparent process" that would "rebuild trust with the community and other stakeholders."...

Baltimore Comptroller Joan M. Pratt was also disappointed by the result, but for different reasons. She warned that the city should have "cut its losses" and sold the theater for $800,000 to the sole bidder.

"They should have let them have it," Pratt said. "We know that the city does not have funds to operate, maintain and retrofit a movie theater. The city of Baltimore should not be in the business of owning movie theaters." ...

Cusack, of the Charles Theatre, predicted that the next owner will have to pour money into the building, fixing a leaky roof, replacing seating and stucco on the exterior. "By the time you renovated it, you'd have the same [financial] problems Tom had," Cusack said, who added that $800,000 was well above what he could have afforded to pay....

Baltimore became financially involved with the theater in 2002 when the city guaranteed half of a $1.2 million loan extended to Kiefaber by 1st Mariner Bank. Kiefaber defaulted on that loan this year. Faced with losing the $600,000 that the city guaranteed, Dixon decided instead to purchase the mortgage for $950,000. City officials said they would not sell the theater for less than that."

This last quote is interesting for all kinds of reasons. First, it is incorrect, in that the city was never in danger of losing their $600,000 loan guarantee. The loan on The Senator was over-collateralized, and Tom Kiefaber's other property, including a residential property on Orkney Road and his family home, would have had to be foreclosed upon and sold before the bank could touch the city's loan guarantee.

The article also incorrectly states "Kiefaber had initially supported the city's decision to take over the Senator's mortgage in a deal that allowed him to keep his Baltimore County house, which had been offered as collateral for the theater mortgage." This is wrong, because the city forced Kiefaber to sign an agreement that would only release the lien on his Baltimore County home if the theatre sold for over $1 Million, or if he turned over his Orkney Road residential property to them. The theatre did not sell for over $1 Million, because city officials took various actions to confuse potential bidders and talk down the value of the theatre. To date, the City has not released the lien on his Baltimore County house. Even if the City did release the lien on his Baltimore County house, there is also a State lien on the house, so he would be likely to lose the property anyway.

The amount of the loan guarantee became part of the total $950,000 the city used to acquire the theatre. Note also that Mayor Dixon said the city would not sell the theatre for less than $950,000.

September 21, 2009 - The BDC issues the RFP on The Senator, which was formulated without consulting historic theatre planning and redevelopment professionals. The League of Historic American Theatres had previously offered to help on multiple occasions, but the BDC refused.

September 23, 2009 - The Baltimore Messenger publishes an article about the RFP that has been issued for The Senator by the BDC. In the article, Councilman Bill Henry comments that language allowing other uses besides as an entertainment venue is "in case someone operating the movie theater wanted to do another type of business as well, like run a restaurant." The next paragraph of the article goes on to say:

"Operating the theater as a restaurant too is conceivable. For example, James "Buzz" Cusack, owner of the Charles Theatre and an adjoining restaurant, said this summer he would consider running a theater and a restaurant in the Senator building."

Later in the article, Henry speculates on someone who owns another theatre being able to make The Senator work as a single-screen:

"Henry said he thinks it would make sense for other movie theaters in the city, such as the Landmark Harbor East or Horizon Cinema's Rotunda Theater, to operate the site."

"The economics of a single-screen theater might not work with current movie theaters, but if you own another theater, it's not a single screen anymore," he said.

October 5, 2009 - On the day of The Senator's 70^th anniversary, the BDC holds a pre-proposal meeting at The Senator, for parties interested in responding to the RFP to have their questions answered. BDC officials state that all written questions must be submitted by the next day.

October 14, 2009 - BDC releases answers to questions posed at the pre-proposal meeting and the next day.

November 20, 2009 - Deadline for proposals to be submitted to the BDC.

November 23, 2009 - BDC issues press release indicating that 4 proposals have been submitted for future use of The Senator.

December 17, 2009 - CHAP's proposed interior controls on The Senator are passed through the city's planning commission. They are still not law, however, as they have yet to be passed by the city council. Former Senator owner Tom Kiefaber and FOTS representative Laura Perkins raise the issue of why the original Ladies' and Men's Lounges and Restrooms are not protected by the proposed rules.

January 5, 2010 - BDC holds public meeting at The Senator, during which the 4 proposals are briefly summarized by their development teams. By now it is obvious that only 2 of the proposals are at all serious. Towson University/WTMD and James "Buzz" Cusack, the operator of the Charles Theater, emerge at the top contenders. It is also obvious, at least to anyone who has studied the fate of historic single-screen theatres across the nation and successful historic theatre redevelopment projects in other cities, that only the TU/WTMD proposal, which would result in non-profit ownership of The Senator, is actually viable. This latter point is not, however, realized by the general public.

January 6, 2010 - First meeting of the BDC's Senator Theatre advisory panel, which includes community leaders and representatives of theatre advocacy groups, but does not include any expert in historic theatre redevelopment or film exhibition, and includes only one representative of the local business community. The panel rejects two of the proposals, leaving only TU/WTMD and Charles Theater owner Buzz Cusack as the contenders.

The Senator Theatre advisory panel meetings are closed-door meetings held at the BDC in possible violation of the Maryland Open Meetings Act. The excuse given for the closed door meetings is that proprietary financial data will be discussed, but the panel members are not financial experts, and very little of the information discussed is proprietary financial data. Any legitimate proprietary financial data could have been redacted. Previous court rulings held that the BDC is a public agency and is therefore subject to both the Maryland Open Meetings Act and the Maryland Public Information Act.

January 26, 2010 - Local media find out and reports that the number of proposals is down to two.

January 29, 2010 - After FOTS persistently requests that the BDC consult historic theatre redevelopment experts, the BDC belatedly sends a short questionnaire to League of Historic American Theatres board members by email. They get two responses. One of them, from John Bell, Executive Director of the Tampa Theatre, is shared with most of the advisory panel. When taken in context with the details of the proposals on the table, it makes clear that the proposal from James "Buzz" Cusack, operator of the Charles Theater, is not viable. The second response from an LHAT board member is reportedly so scathing that it is ordered to be suppressed by officials at the highest levels of the BDC. It is not given to the advisory panel.

February 9, 2010 - Laura Perkins, FOTS representative on the BDC's advisory panel, learns from another advisory panel member that the expert opinion from John Bell was sent to the rest of the advisory panel on February 8^th, but was not sent to her. She informs the BDC that the inadvertent oversight has been rectified, and that she now has John Bell's answers to the questionnaire.

February 16, 2010 - At the second advisory panel meeting, Laura Perkins, FOTS representative, resigns in protest from the panel with a written statement she has prepared ahead of time. She informs the Mayor of her decision, due to the BDC's repeated refusals to actively consult historic theatre redevelopment and film exhibition experts and follow their guidance.

By this point, it has become clear to Perkins that the advisory panel is a sham process, set up to give the BDC cover for a decision that has already been made. Perkins writes in notes taken at the meeting that it is clear within 10 minutes of the meeting's start that Brodie, adaptive reuse consultant Marty Azola, who was brought in by the BDC just for this meeting, and others in the meeting who work for the city are setting up heavy-handed excuses to hand the theatre to Buzz Cusack. Perkins writes that when she saw the obvious fix, she almost walked out of the meeting after these first 10 minutes, but stayed to listen to what else was said.

In the following days, two other advisory panel members write letters of concern about the process to the Mayor. These include Karen Colizzi Noonan, President of the Theatre Historical Society of America, and Rick Swanson, then president of the Govanstowne Business Association.

February 24, 2010 - FOTS President Tom Harris writes to the Mayor, calling for historic theatre redevelopment experts and film exhibition experts to guide the RFP process on The Senator.

February 27, 2010 - Karen Colizzi Noonan, President of the Theatre Historical Society of America, writes to the Mayor, calling for guidance of the RFP process by historic theatre and preservation experts.

March 10, 2010 - Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank resigns. Frank initiated the city's mishandling of the redevelopment process for The Senator when he responded to the community's call for a collaborative process with a heavy-handed attack on Tom Kiefaber and began the process of the city's hostile takeover of The Senator in January, 2009.

March 11, 2010 - A letter from Baltimore Heritage Executive Director Johns Hopkins asks Mayor Rawlings-Blake to ensure that historic theatre redevelopment experts be consulted on the BDC's Senator RFP process, and that a preservation expert be appointed to the BDC's board.

March 18, 2010 - A letter from theatre history expert and author Bob Headley to Mayor Rawlings-Blake, asking her to ensure that theatre preservation experts are consulted and to add a preservation expert to the BDC's board.

March 19, 2010 - A letter from Preservation Maryland to Mayor Rawlings-Blake, asking her to require that historic theatre preservation experts be consulted on the BDC's Senator RFP process.

March 26, 2010 - A letter from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to Mayor Rawlings-Blake, asking her to require that preservation experts, historic theatre redevelopment experts, and film exhibition experts be consulted on the BDC's Senator RFP process.

Late March, 2010 - Abell Foundation President Robert C. "Bob" Embry and BDC President M.J. Brodie allegedly go to Towson University for a closed-door meeting with Towson University President Robert L. Caret. FOTS members hear about the meeting ahead of time through multiple sources, and privately predict among themselves that this meeting signals the end of the Towson University/WTMD RFP. The meeting seems to be confirmed by multiple sources after it allegedly occurs.*

* Robert C. Embry has since denied that he was at such a meeting.

April 1, 2010 - Towson University withdraws its proposal for the future of The Senator, citing financial concerns. Sources close to the University indicate that the University had the money for the proposal. This leaves James "Buzz" Cusack's heavily flawed proposal as the only one left on the table.

April 3, 2010 - Laura Perkins writes to Assistant Deputy Mayor Kaliope Parthemos to request a meeting between FOTS and the Mayor. Perkins expresses concern that the remaining proposal left on the table is unacceptable, and that the BDC withheld from the advisory panel one of the expert opinions they solicited from a LHAT board member.

April 9, 2010 - FOTS President Tom Harris follows up on the request by Perkins for a meeting with the Mayor, by submitting a meeting request through City Hall's web site.

April 13, 2010 - Baltimore City forces Tom Kiefaber to sign a month to month license agreement for his interim operation of The Senator. The lessor is DHCD.

April 14, 2010 - Leading art restoration expert John Canning of Canning Studios visits The Senator to examine the outer lobby mural and give an expert opinion on its condition and necessary restoration. Canning Studios is an art restoration company that has extensive experience with historic theatres, including Radio City Music Hall, and other historic buildings. FOTS has called for a professional estimate due to Buzz Cusack's assertion that all the mural needs is to have some glue squirted in behind some parts of it, so it can be stuck back to the wall.

Mr. Canning's expertise is obvious when, within the first 5 minutes of looking at the mural, he notes a commercial varnish has been applied at some point many years ago to the green areas of the mural, making it shiny and distorting the canvas. Canning also notes that these green portions may have been overpainted at some point, making the outlines of the figures too stark. Mr. Canning also guesses immediately that the mural was stuck to the wall originally with an old-fashioned wheat paste, which he confirms on further inspection. Canning's discussion of the various types of adhesive that were used in the period includes information about a lead-based adhesive (not used at The Senator). He tells FOTS that we're lucky the lead-based adhesive wasn't used, because it would have made the canvas mural very difficult to remove for proper cleaning and restoration. It is obvious from this discussion of adhesives that using the wrong type of glue to stick the mural back to the wall could permanently damage the mural.

April 21, 2010 - Written estimate from John Canning of Canning Studios prices restoration of The Senator's outer lobby mural at $83,000.

April 22, 2010 - The BDC recommends James "Buzz" Cusack's proposal, which includes interior demolition of original features of The Senator at taxpayer expense, which film exhibition and historic theatre redevelopment professionals have said will not be economically viable, and which asks for more public subsidy from city taxpayers than Tom Kiefaber ever received or ever even requested.

Cusack's request for public subsidy totals approximately $1.7 Million, depending on how you estimate the market value of a 15 year lease on The Senator, which Cusack is requesting for $1 a year, in addition to $700,000 of other public financing. The original portions of the building to be demolished include parts of the walls of the outer lobby and the Ladies' and Men's lounges and restrooms. These same parts of the interior are apparently not protected by the CHAP interior landmark designation proposed in May 2009, while Cusack was a commissioner on the CHAP board.

April 23, 2010 - Laura Perkins of FOTS writes an email to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake imploring her not to accept Cusack's proposal, and stating that the BDC refused expert input from LHAT, ignored an expert opinion from John Bell, suppressed another expert opinion from a LHAT board member, and that Cusack is now asking for more public subsidy from city taxpayers than Tom Kiefaber ever received.

FOTS President Tom Harris also sends an email to the Mayor, asking her to make sure she has all the information before making a decision on the Cusack proposal. In his email, Harris notes that Cusack is asking for $700K in public subsidy, his proposal is not a viable, sustainable solution, and he plans interior demolition as part of his proposed "restoration."

April 26, 2010 - In a Facebook message to Laura Perkins, Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank admits that the $180,000 the city gave The Senator in 1999 was a grant. He has previously characterized it to the press as a loan that Tom Kiefaber did not repay.

In the message to Perkins, Frank also says "In total, the City provided $800,000 to The Senator, including a small grant made during the Schmoke administration." He continues to insist that the $600,000 loan guarantee was "actual money," in spite of having told the press on previous occasions that there was no city financing involved in Kiefaber's loan and that there was too much collateral on the loan for the city to ever become liable for the full amount. The message is basically an admission by Frank that, apart from the $600K loan guarantee (for which the city never became liable), all the City ever gave The Senator under Kiefaber's ownership was $200,000 total.

April 30, 2010 - The Mayor's office finally responds to Tom Harris' request for a meeting, offering 30 minutes on May 6^th for a meeting between the Mayor, her staff, FOTS, and a BDC representative. Harris responds to ask that the BDC not be included in the meeting.

May 4, 2010 - Meeting is confirmed between FOTS and the Mayor's office. The Mayor's office insists on having a BDC representative present.

May 5, 2010 - In an email to FOTS President Tom Harris, Rick Swanson, former President of the Govanstowne Business Association, who participated on the BDC's Senator advisory panel, states "My perception of the BDC operation of the 'Senator Advisory Panel' was that it was set up from the beginning to 'approve' of the Cusack proposal."

May 6, 2010 - FOTS members Tom Harris, Laura Perkins, and Djuann Ray meet with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Deputy Mayor Kaliope Parthemos, outgoing Special Assistant Babila Lima, newly hired Special Assistant Kumasi Vines, and the BDC's Kim Clark. FOTS request that the Mayor's staff contact Fran Holden from LHAT and historic theatre planner Janis Barlow. Deputy Mayor Parthemos commits to making those calls. FOTS tell the Mayor there is a vibrant future for The Senator as a multi-purpose entertainment venue, but that the current proposal on the table, the Cusack proposal, is deeply flawed. It is clear, however, that the Mayor and her staff have been mislead by the BDC on the proposal. They claim the process was open and transparent and that Cusack is an "expert."

May 11, 2010 - FOTS sends a four page letter to Deputy Mayor Parthemos, refuting some of the erroneous points that the Mayor, her staff, and Kim Clark had made in their meeting on May 6^th. This is accompanied by a two page critique of Cusack's plan and his "expertise," as well as the expert opinion the BDC solicited from Tampa Theatre Executive Director John Bell. The main points made in the FOTS letter include stating that the result of the BDC's process may have been decided over a year before, that the BDC refused input from LHAT in April 2009, that they hid a second expert opinion from an LHAT board member, and that BDC President Brodie and Abell Foundation President Robert C. Embry had a secret closed-door meeting with Towson University President Robert L. Caret only days before TU withdrew their superior proposal for The Senator's future.

May 12, 2010 - Fran Holden, Executive Director of LHAT, tells Tom Kiefaber that she received a call from Deputy Mayor Parthemos. Parthemos indicated during the call that the Mayor was leaning toward recommending Cusack's plan. Holden was very neutral during the call and did not try to talk her out of it, but did confirm to Parthemos that LHAT had offered their assistance to the city on several prior occasions.

May 13, 2010 - FOTS President Tom Harris writes by email to City Council President Bernard "Jack" Young and Comptroller Joan Pratt to inform them that statements they made in an Investigative Voice article regarding the Cusack proposal for The Senator are incorrect. Specifically, Harris informs them that Cusack's proposal is to rent the theatre, not buy it, that his proposal would not leave the theatre on the tax rolls, and that in addition to a $600K loan, he is asking for a $100K grant. Harris offers to share with them the same information FOTS shared with Deputy Mayor Parthemos, and requests a meeting with Young and Pratt.

May 16, 2010 - Deputy Mayor Parthemos informs FOTS President Tom Harris via email that the Mayor is probably going to accept the Cusack proposal. She states in her letter that she has spoken to the "experts" (plural). FOTS have reason to doubt that she actually spoke to historic theatre planner Janis Barlow, as requested.

May 17, 2010 - Tom Kiefaber confirms with Janis Barlow that in fact, she has not spoken with Deputy Mayor Parthemos. Kiefaber contacts Parthemos by phone to request that the Mayor's office hold off on any decision until they better understand the ramifications, and he requests a meeting with the Mayor's office. He has not received a response to date.

Laura Perkins sends a follow-up email to City Council President Young and Comptroller Pratt, reiterating the FOTS request for a meeting, and forwarding them the letter that FOTS sent to Deputy Mayor Parthemos on May 11^th. Perkins also forwards the letter to the Baltimore City Board of Ethics, requesting a meeting with them.

May 18, 2010 - Laura Perkins, Managing Director of Friends of The Senator, writes to Deputy Mayor Kaliope Parthemos to warn her that she believes the BDC is asking the Mayor to help them commit a federal crime, by taking the private property of one individual and using it to financially benefit another individual, at taxpayer expense.

May 19, 2010 - Laura Perkins follows up on her letter to Deputy Mayor Parthemos with a second letter. The second letter praises Tom Kiefaber's expertise and asks the Mayor's office to consult with him. It also reiterates Perkins's belief that the BDC is in the process of committing a federal crime by taking Mr. Kiefaber's private property and using it to financially benefit Buzz Cusack. Perkins gets no response to either letter.

May 24, 2010 - Tom Kiefaber follows up on his request to meet with the Mayor and her staff, to which he has still not received a response.

June 7, 2010 - Tom Kiefaber emails a third request to meet with the Mayor and her staff. He has still not received a response.

June 8, 2010 - Historic Theatre Planner Janis Barlow confirms by email that she has still not received a call from the Mayor's office to discuss The Senator, in spite of the promise Deputy Mayor Parthemos made on May 6^th to call her.

June 11, 2010 - The BDC announces to the media that the Mayor has approved Cusack's proposal, in spite of the fact that the Mayor has not made any public announcement. On the same day, City Solicitor Lawrence Jenkins mails a registered letter to Tom Kiefaber's home. The letter is an eviction notice from "the City," instructing Mr. Kiefaber to vacate The Senator Theatre by midnight on Sunday, June 27th. The letter does not come from, nor is it copied to, the DHCD office on Fayette Street, which is the Lessor, according to the license agreement Mr. Kiefaber has signed.

The Senator begins an engagement of Fritz Lang's classic 1927 silent film, "Metropolis," to which lost footage has recently been restored. Attendance for the 11 screenings scheduled in the first week is modest, but respectable.

June 21, 2010 - City Solicitor Lawrence Jenkins is quoted in the Daily Record, noting that he has sent Tom Kiefaber an eviction notice. Mr. Kiefaber responds that this is a private legal matter, and that he intends to begin a run of the first-run film "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" on June 30th, as previously scheduled.

June 22, 2010 - Tom Kiefaber sends a response letter to City Solicitor Lawrence Jenkins, in which he questions the legality of the eviction notice he has received and alleges fraud and collusion among some city and BDC officials and Robert C. Embry of the Abell Foundation, both in the acquisition of his theatre, and in the subsequent RFP process. The letter is published in full on the Baltimore Sun's web site.

June 25, 2010 - The City extends Tom Kiefaber's license until July 21st, so the run of "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" can take place as scheduled.

June 30, 2010 - The Senator begins a run of the highly anticipated "blockbuster" summer film "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," which sets box office records upon opening, but not at The Senator. At The Senator, 29 screenings are scheduled in the first week. The total box office for these 29 screenings of the record-setting blockbuster is outgrossed by the 11 screenings in the first week of The Senator's run of the 1927 silent film "Metropolis" that started on June 11th.

The attendance for "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" is so poor that for the first time in 35 years in the film exhibition business, Tom Kiefaber requests a checker from the film distributor, to verify that the grosses he is reporting are accurate. Checkers come on several subsequent days, and openly state to FOTS volunteers their amazement that the film is grossing so poorly at The Senator. None of this surprises Kiefaber or The Senator's long-time managers, who have noted a decline in attendance for first-run films for many years prior to this.

July 15, 2010 - FOTS President Tom Harris writes to Deputy Mayor Kaliope Parthemos to ask what the process is moving forward, and whether the theatre will close after Kiefaber and FOTS are evicted on July 21st.

The Deputy Mayor's response:

"I am referring to Kristen [Mitchell of the BDC] on the process moving forward. I am sure the theater will go dark until Mr Cusack is ready to move forward and negotiations have been completed. Mr Kiefaber is to cease all operations on the 21st under any circumstance. Thank you. "

July 16, 2010 - FOTS puts out a press release announcing that the Mayor's office has said The Senator will go dark on July 21st, and demanding an explanation for this.

The response comes from Kathleen Cusack, daughter of Buzz Cusack, not the Mayor's office. She says the theatre will reopen quickly and ""It could be as little as two days or a week," while also noting that their plan is not finalized yet.

Now that FOTS has the media's attention, we follow up immediately with a second press release, in which Tom Kiefaber joins us in alleging that both the City's acquisition of The Senator and the BDC's RFP process were tainted by collusion and fraud. The press release specifically names former BDC official and Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank, BDC President M.J. Brodie, BDC Executive Vice President Kimberly Clark, 4th District Councilman Bill Henry, and Abell Foundation President Robert C. Embry as co-conspirators.

July 19, 2010 - In an email to Tom Kiefaber, President Robert C. Embry of the Abell Foundation denies that he met with Towson University President Robert Caret in March and urged him not to pursue Towson's operation of The Senator. The denial is then repeated in the Baltimore Sun, with Towson spokeswoman Marina Cooper adding that Caret and Embry do dine together on occasion.

July 20, 2010 - Friends of The Senator press release indicates that the theatre's last hurrah, before going dark after 71 years of family ownership and operation, will be a showing of a rare 1977 British I.B. Technicolor print of "Star Wars: A New Hope."

July 21, 2010 - The last day of 71 years of operation of The Senator Theatre by Tom Kiefaber and his family. Friends of The Senator give a press conference with Kiefaber, discussing the theatre's preservation needs, hopes for a reopening of the theatre, and warnings of the pitfalls ahead. (Press conference video: Remarks by FOTS Managing Director Laura Perkins, Remarks by FOTS President Tom Harris, Remarks by former Senator owner Tom Kiefaber: Part 1, Part 2)

In the afternoon and evening, FOTS hosts two free showings of the original 1977 version of "Star Wars," with a beautiful I.B. Technicolor print from a private collection. Both shows are heavily attended. The second show is standing room only, with standing ovations for Tom Kiefaber's introduction of the film.

During the evening, Kiefaber has a conversation with City Solicitor Lawrence Jenkins, who is attending the film. Kiefaber understands Jenkins to say that Kiefaber may move his personal possessions out of the theatre over the next couple of days. Kiefaber hands over his key to the theatre to Jenkins. At approximately 3 A.M. on July 22, Kiefaber switches off the theatre's lights and the marquee for the last time, and exits the theatre with members of the volunteer staff.

July 22, 2010 - Longtime Senator Theatre manager and expert projectionist Bill Hewitt arrives at The Senator around 11 AM, expecting to be able to get in and pack his personal belongings, based on the conversation that Tom Kiefaber had with City Solicitor Lawrence Jenkins the night before. Instead, he finds that the City has already changed the locks, but the City has left the side door to the theatre unlocked on their first day of stewardship of the theatre. Mr. Hewitt informs Mr. Kiefaber of this situation, and they contact volunteers who are available to help them move, while they still have access to the theatre.

A couple of hours later, while Tom Kiefaber, Bill Hewitt, and two of their associates are in the theatre packing their accumulated belongings from 71 years of operation, Ann Costlow, the owner of Sofi's Crepes, who plans to open a crepe restaurant in the theatre's original Ladies Lounge/Restroom suite, arrives at the theatre looking for the BDC's recommended new operator, Buzz Cusack. After seeing Mr. Kiefaber working to pack his personal possessions, she goes outside and gets on the cell phone.

Moments later, several police cars arrive. The police tell Mr. Kiefaber, Mr. Hewitt, and their two helpers to sit on the benches in the outer lobby and take the I.D. of all four people. They are kept there for about an hour while the police make various calls, trying to ascertain whether Kiefaber and Hewitt have authorization to be in the theatre. Kiefaber tells them to call Jenkins. The elderly Mr. Hewitt is clearly physically uncomfortable at being made to sit on the bench for so long.

Meanwhile, Ann Costlow is seen outside on the cell phone for quite some time, apparently making multiple phone calls. (She has since denied calling the police.)

The response from the police to whatever call they may have received seems to be overkill. At one point, nine police cars are reported to have surrounded The Senator Theatre, but no arrests or charges are ever made.

Eventually Mr. Jenkins arrives from the City Law Department to supervise the move, and tells the police to let Kiefaber and Hewitt and their helpers continue with their work.

A reporter for one of the local news organizations later tells Kiefaber that someone was trying to make a news story out of his attempt to move his personal possessions out of the theatre, and that a woman had called several times, attempting to whip this up into some kind of media incident.

July 25, 2010 - FOTS Managing Director Laura Perkins notes that the marquee and neon of the theatre have been left on 24 hours a day for the past 3 days since the city acquired the theatre, with nobody in the theatre, and the utility bills being paid by the taxpayers.