The Observation Deck

As I see it this could be a win-win for the Beck Center.

Crocker Park will have a theatre regardless of whether Beck Center goes there or not. Stark is just trying to get a great theatre company to fill it by providing this incentive. But there may be hidden costs that are in the future.

Lakewood will have a theatre whether Beck Center stays or not. Lakewood has proven over the last 75 years it will support a Community Theatre.

The best way to have synergy is for the Beck Center to do both. They make good money from education. Our students won't drag out to Crocker Park and visa versa. Our teachers most likely won't want to drag out there either. We have a rich tradition of our students going to art and theatre classes. We have a tradition of filling those classes. We are a progressive community that has a tradition of supporting community theatre and the arts.

And no one has mentioned that the best incentive in my mind for Beck Center to stay is a beautiful amphitheatre on the lake that can handle full scale productions. That is something Crocker Park will never have.

I hope the Beck Center stays or does both. But if they don't, I'm convinced that the majority of the students, the teachers and many of the actors/musicians will stay with the Lakewood theatre.

Lynn Farris wrote:And no one has mentioned that the best incentive in my mind for Beck Center to stay is a beautiful amphitheatre on the lake that can handle full scale productions. That is something Crocker Park will never have.

Lynn

Not so fast I heard that Stark made an offer to Lake Erie, but it said it would rather stay next to Lakewood.


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The Beck Center needs to obtain a better site within the distributional network of capital in order to obtain the state of the art facility and campus desired.

Let’s face it consumption is the basis through which social space is constructed by the distributional network of capital in America.

We are what we buy, despite the vain glorious attempts by the Lakewood Observer to rouse homies concerning the pressing need to execute according to the logic of territoriality a visionary alignment that includes residency for public servants and local community currency.

Again, we are what we buy. That’s the civic culture. That’s what Stark is selling.

Hence the Beck Center’s art and culture will inevitably follow the money to Crocker Park. Speaking theoretically, it is all part of the same logic, the same class interest pushing public servants bereft of territorial logic to boogie from solidarity with the taxpayers in the Wood.

The wise eyes on the prize are focused on the six acres in Lakewood and the five or six million in assets belonging to the Beck Center.

“Accumulation by dispossessionâ€Â￾ is the concept Marxist geographer David Harvey has devised to explain the trajectory of capital now ready through developers to take title to the land from the Beck Center in order to construct space for lease.

Capital always takes its cut.

What’s the cut, for Mr. Stark, for Mr. Yates?

That’s not exactly “the dealâ€Â￾ Mr. Unger is talking about.

Let’s think about this raid by capital on the assets of the non-profit Beck Center.

Let’s prepare for narratives of devaluation applied to Lakewood by the powers of capital, regionalism and the PD. Spinners for the logic of capital must bear down Lakewood’s logic of territoriality, press the regional arts/culture platform and destabilize psyches attached to the city’s customary claims on culture.

Here’s how it looks from latest reporting:

Lakewood is the revenue strapped municipality that could not pony up a budget line for the Beck, according to the quote in Gill’s article.

The question begged is how much in CBDG funds were directed to the Beck Center over the past two decades. It is a number that worth noting, at least for the record. No use crying over spilt milk, though.

Let’s face squarely the inexorable logic of capital and corporate power that will always grab the land and the consumable culture.

Can Lakewood grow something new on another scale? (Didn’t Caberet Dada get displaced last year from downtown Cleveland as the neighborhood went upscale.)

I’d bet a privatization of assets, now held by a weak non-profit, will be part of the plan.

It sounds like a major capital infusion is desired. Hence the Beck Center is preparing to dispossess itself of the real property and to envision a rosy scenario in Westlake.

One can argue a cash strapped municipality, like Lakewood, will benefit from the shift of asset from the weak non-profit to the for-profit developer who might put up a tax producing property. That may be so. Capital always takes it’s cut. Someboby’s has to make money.

The weakening of the asset side of the ledger for the non-profit is clear. That’s the dispossession side of Harvey’s equation.

The developer accumulates the real property, which lands in the private side of the ledger.

There’s a class dimension to the story of the Beck Center boogie and Lakewood’s dispossession of cultural capital and weakening of civic identity in the face of a developer’s grab and Westlake’s new cultural cachet for Crocker Park.

One strategic problem for the Beck Center will be how to keep Lakewood’s homies currently supporting the program from feeling negative about a move thoroughly overshadowed by the larger destabilizing effects of capital and largely conservative interests of the sprawlgeoisie.

Kenneth Warren

Kenneth Warren wrote:...Hence the Beck Center’s art and culture will inevitably follow the money to Crocker Park. Speaking theoretically, it is all part of the same logic, the same class interest pushing public servants bereft of territorial logic to boogie from solidarity with the taxpayers in the Wood.
...

.... One strategic problem for the Beck Center will be how to keep Lakewood’s homies currently supporting the program from feeling negative about a move thoroughly overshadowed by the larger destabilizing effects of capital and largely conservative interests of the sprawlgeoisie.

Kenneth Warren

Ken

These might both be very flawed thoughts based on comments from both sides.

Kenneth Warren wrote:The wise eyes on the prize are focused on the six acres in Lakewood and the five or six million in assets belonging to the Beck Center.

How many magic beans can the sacred calf be had for? That is now the question from the new west that rises like a star in the old east.

Nice seeing you back and recharged, much has happened since you took hold of the compass.

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Lakewood Little Theatre was basically a dump when Kenneth Beck decided to endow a new Arts center. When the new facility opened, thirty (ish) years ago, the Cleveland Museum of Art was so impressed with the design that they opened a western campus in that space.

Evidently little has been done to maintain the buildings. Very little has been done to generate income from the properties the Beck Center owns. They've been, in my opinion, bad stewards.

When Beck Center looks to greener pastures, they most likely will not own property. I hear of a deal where they will pay nominal rent and get a great state-of-the-art theater. But who will run the new Arts Center? The same people that ran the Beck Center into the ground? Maybe Dan DiLiberto can come to the rescue?

Where will they find the dollars?

Our community is shrinking. The big corporate funders are gone. Foundations don't want to see expansion of not-for-profits. The Health Museum has to merge with the the Natural History Museum.

If you read between the lines in Michael Gill's article, the major foundations are not jumping for joy over this idea. All the institutions are vying for shrinking dollars.

Everybody wants 25 million dollars (including PlayHouse Square). Not even the Cleveland Museum of Art has been able to raise the funds they need for their expansion.

I think of a story. There's this guy, a criminal attorney, whose heart is in the theater and in restoration. He spent time at Café LaMamma in NYc. He produced free Shakespeare at the Zoo. He did a number of interesting projects.

One day, he's driving down Detroit Avenue and he sees an old Irish Hall. He envisions a theater. He rents the hall. In the first three weeks of his new project, he is welcomed to the neighborhood when somebody throws a beer bottle and hits him in the mouth.

He works as an attorney to keep money coming in and he defends a lot of people, but he's one of these liberal types and many of the men can't pay him. So these men are nicknamed the "brew crew" and they go to work creating a theater. That was 1982. That was the Cleveland Public Theater and that was James Levin.

How have they fared in comparison to Beck Center?

I love to read and hear about James Levin. He is trying to save and build up that area around W. 65th with the kind of things that Beck represents in Lakewood. He has a theater for producing shows, as does Beck. He has a youth-oriented portion of the street that is now rented out to Near West Theater, who has a mission of serving neighborhood kids by including them in all aspects of putting on a show (my daughter loved their Alladin a couple of weeks ago). Beck also has this with their student productions. Levin envisions mixing the shows with restaurants and shops as is the current Beck (with the Rush Inn being the food and...er...something else being the shops).

Levin has a bigger picture in mind than simply bottom line (though I am sure the bottom line drives how soon his vision can come to be reality). He is kind of like our own Jim O. Lots of big ideas for his turf. I have heard Levin talk about doing an arts festival and such that is multi-faceted, using visual arts and performance arts to highlight the breadth and variety of art in the West Side of Cleveland. CPT's space was used to host the Ohio Independent Film Festival and I am told Levin and his people are looking at the old movie theater over there to make the "West Side Cedar-Lee" that many have wanted for years.

So while he hasn't reached his vision, there is definitely movement in that direction. That is kind of the difference between Beck and CPT (and other not for profit theaters in the area). CPT is looking at its role in supporting and developing the neighborhood where it resides. At this time, Beck is kind of doing the opposite. Beck seems to be looking to see what its surrounding neighborhood can do for it, be it staying in Lakewood or moving to Westlake. They are two wholly different ways of thinking about the issues. I would argue which I prefer, of course, but both are legitimate ways to run a theater.

Am I the only one who looks at this and says "$25 MILLION"?

We're demolishing and building entire new schools for about half that per building. The renovation and expansion of Severance was only $36 milion. What repairs need to be done for $25 million?

My scenario. Find out, realistically, what it would take to repair the facility to safe, workable standards. Campaign for the (private) funds to get that done.

At that point, if the professional Beck management wants to move, I'm with Mr O, let 'em go. Replace the whole lot with a more community-based operation that, while it might be a tad less glitzy and ambitious, may be more closely linked to the community. Obviously, Lakewood feels more connected to the Beck than vice versa.

Does Lakewood want a community arts and theater center, or compete with Playhouse Square? JMO, but I think the latter is a losing propoisition.

I'm not unfamiliar with art and theater myself (totally as a consumer, of course), and one thing I've learned is that there is scant connection between the opulence of the surroundings and the quality of the art. Half the theaters on Broadway are dumps.

What's wrong with a trimmed-down, back-to-basics operation, housed in a safe, functional facility? Seems like that can be accomplished for a lot less than 25 mil.

Joan

Always the voice of reason.

$25 million, or a ten minute drive?

For the record, I have spoken with Beck people and assured them. If they choose to stay, the Observer is more than willing to do anything we can to help raise the money they need.

But I want to see a long term commitment in writing.

Maybe it's time for the Beck to turn the property back over to the city, and trust us to do the right thing with their future as they seem more than willing to do with Stark.

If the Beck does not have a deal signed, then I cannot think of many things that were handled and managed worse. Well the Iraq War, maybe.

Last night I attended a LakewoodAlive meeting where the Beck had claimed at one point they would show up. First it was Mr. Farina, then Fred Unger, then Jay Foran speaking on his talks with Fred Unger, then nothing but silence, dead silence. This was a room filled with people that had always fought for the Beck, true civic leaders like Jack Gustin, Paula Reed, Dave Shaw, Tim Lasky, LakewoodAlive, Ed Fitzgerald, Mary Louise Madigan, Nickie Antonio, Suzanne Metelko, Michael Gill, Julie Hutchinson...

The conversation was MainStreet ie Detroit and what is going on. But not one peep from the Beck Center.

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Jim O'Bryan wrote:Last night I attended a LakewoodAlive meeting where the Beck had claimed at one point they would show up. First it was Mr. Farina, then Fred Unger, then Jay Foran speaking on his talks with Fred Unger, then nothing but silence, dead silence. This was a room filled with people that had always fought for the Beck, true civic leaders like Jack Gustin, Paula Reed, Dave Shaw, Tim Lasky, LakewoodAlive, Ed Fitzgerald, Mary Louise Madigan, Nickie Antonio, Suzanne Metelko, Michael Gill, Julie Hutchinson...

The conversation was MainStreet ie Detroit and what is going on. But not one peep from the Beck Center.

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It is time to start thinking beyond Beck. The Beck has been mismanaged for years, the board cares nothing for the City.

How about a fund raiser for the new Lakewood Center for the Arts held on the same night as the Beck's Westlake fund raiser?

Bill Call wrote:How about a fund raiser for the new Lakewood Center for the Arts held on the same night as the Beck's Westlake fund raiser?

Bill

Call me a little old fashion, but perhaps we could get some sort of plan in place before we start raising funds!

Time to start all of these project running on a little better footing. I am tired of fundraisers to study things, and then hope a plan emerges down the road.


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PS - Is there any truth to the rumor the city is planning on resurfacing Wayne, Rockway and 17700-17900 area of Detroit over the next five years?

Deleted due to what appears to be seriously misunderstood information. See Jay Foran's followup posting for the truth on Lakewood Alive and Beck.

Phil-

Take the family to Ingenuity Fest this summer.

You gotta see this!

Phil Florian wrote:...Anyway, in short, it was LA's choice to dump the Beck and not the Beck's. At least that is what I hear from someone in LA.

Phil

Thanks for the note. I can understand why tarnish a good name that LA has worked so hard to build.


Phil/DL

Or you coul try the LO Lakewood Car Rally, Kar Kulture Show, Arts Festival, Starry Night, LO concert series, 4th of July at Lakewood Park.

Stop by our refreshment table, I think you might like the purple or the red.

To quote a damn good singer and/or a great Russian writer, "There's no place like home, no place like home, no place like...



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Phil Florian wrote:...Anyway, in short, it was LA's choice to dump the Beck and not the Beck's. At least that is what I hear from someone in LA.

Phil

Thanks for the note. I can understand, why tarnish a good name that LA has worked so hard to build.


Phil/DL

Or you could try the LO Lakewood Car Rally, Kar Kulture Show, Arts Festival, Starry Night, LO concert series, 4th of July at Lakewood Park.

Stop by our refreshment table, I think you might like the purple or the red.

To quote a damn good singer and/or a great Russian writer, "There's no place like home, no place like home, no place like...



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Phil and Jim,

Unfortunately you both have wrong information.

Here are the facts.

I contacted the Beck on Monday and spoke with various staff members. In light of the recent press release, I offered them the opportunity to come to the LA event last evening, make a statement and answer questions. This would be at the end of the Main Street presentation. They indicated they would attend. Later that morning we released an e-mail (and placed on our website) indicating they would attend.

Later Monday, I received a call from the Beck Center staff indicating they had changed their mind and would not attend. I indicated that I thought it was important. A meeting was set for Tuesday morning and I met with Fred Unger (Chairman of the Board) and Jim Walton (COO). Despite my best efforts to convince them to attend, both Fred and Jim felt that at this time there was no information to share in light of the recent press release and newspaper articles. They indicated that meeting with the general public could occur sometime in the future. The meeting was extremely cordial.

With this new information, mid-Tuesday we put out another e-mail to our members (and removed announcement from our website) indicating that the Beck Center would not attend as previously announced.

Jim, in your newspaper article regarding the Beck you indicated I would speak to the audience based on my conversation with Fred Unger. Where did you get this information? You never spoke with me or Mary Anne. I never indicated anything of the same to Mr. Unger or Mr. Walton. I was prepared to provide the summary above if anyone asked last evening....which no one did.

Phil, where did you get your information? Nothing could be farther from the truth.