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Guest View: Bridgeport City Council Stirs Up Arts Community


by turfgrrl


May 23rd, 2007 · 7 Comments

Bridgeport City Council Deliberates on Proposed Non-profit Art Organization Leases

Khyal Braun, May 23rd, 2007

Last night’s Bridgeport City Council meeting stirred up an arts loving crowd, parents and families of students who benefit from the local arts organizations, business folks, and Councilmen watching over the city’s coffers.

Supporters of the Downtown Cabaret came wearing neon yellow stickers marking their pride. The city’s offer of a 10-year lease at $300/month with maintenance and utilities paid in full was approved quickly after the theater’s Chairman, Bob Scinto, agreed to the added benchmark of presenting a minimum of 200 performances per year. Scinto claimed that the Cabaret served 35,000+ children visitors per year.

A grueling two hours after beginning discussions, a motion was passed to revisit the MACH lease at 999 Broad Street in the City Hall Annex Building. Councilman argued that the space was better used for commercial tenants paying rent, and that MACH requirements did not warrant 15,000 square feet of Class A business space with a supposed market value of 300k annually. There were also concerns that a 10-year lease with a 10-year renewal at $300/month and maintenance paid by the city would take a substantial financial toll. Some thought the non-profit did not belong in a downtown location and would be better suited to a less urban neighborhood.

While not on the agenda for discussion last night, some propaganda for the Black Rock Arts Center was distributed, comparing its lease offer from the city to the Downtown Cabaret and MACH’s much sweeter deals. BRAC’s lease for a smaller space on Fairfield Avenue is $3,500/month for a term of only 1 year with maintenance and utilities paid in full by the center. Joseph Celli, Director of BRAC, was present at the meeting taking photos and notes, and respectfully quiet. The handout comparing the three leases made it apparent how ridiculous the difference was in lease offerings to fairly similar non-profit charters. The Black Rock Art Center is looking for a level playing field, and who can blame them?

For more information, please see:
City of Bridgeport
www.blackrockartscenter.com
www.dtcab.com
www.musicandartscenter.org

Tags: Bridgeport · In the News

7 Responses so far ↓ “Guest View: Bridgeport City Council Stirs Up Arts Community”



  • 1 anonymous // May 30, 2007 at 8:13 pm

    Bravissimo!!!!!!!

  • 2 L'arlequino // May 30, 2007 at 9:35 pm

    At least Bridgeport has some semblance of City patronage of the arts. Here in Norwalk all we have is a Commission which only serves to function as posting a calendar on the City’s website.

    A Google search turned up this link: http://www.norwalkct.org/NewPressReleases/ArtsCultureJan2007.htm

    When can we expect this Commission to actually start functioning?

  • 3 L'arlequino // May 30, 2007 at 9:41 pm

    I note from the link above: “Created in May, 2006 by Mayor Richard Moccia, the Commission works under the auspices of the Department of Recreation and Parks and Culture.”

    Department of Recreation and Parks and Culture? Cultcha? Does that include mini-golf?

    I failed to locate this Department on the City website. Perhaps someone else can?

  • 4 turfgrrl // May 30, 2007 at 9:49 pm

    First off, you don’t need the city to be a patron of the arts in order to have a vibrant arts community. See Greater New Haven Regional Arts council. You do need people who are involved in arts programs to want to work together under the auspices of a regional group. I don’t see that here in Norwalk, or even Fairfield County. I’d like to see it happen.

    A funny thing about mini-golf though. I was driving through White Plains this past weekend, and lo and behold, a public park with a public pool, playground and mini-golf. Apparently it is not such an alien concept as it at first sounded.

    But of all things that the public parks here could use, why not an ice rink, swimming pool and basketball/volleyball courts? Maybe my taste is somewhat urban, but it seems silly not to build amenities that all residents could enjoy.

  • 5 anonymous // May 30, 2007 at 10:13 pm

    Why an ice rink, swimming pool or basketball courts? Why change anything, ever? Be sure and beat the $@&! out of anyone in this town who comes up with any idea at all to change anything…

    While I was never crazy for miniature golf in Vets Park, I applaud the parks directors initiative at least (though undoubtedly this post will create a string of negative attacks).

  • 6 L'arlequino // May 31, 2007 at 7:35 am

    Does anyone know anything about this “Commission”? Are taxpayer dollars going towards more crappy public art? I had heard Parks and Rec was responsible for that and found it hard to believe but considering the Vets Park debacle I’m not surprised. How are huge pieces of outdoor sculpture acquired by the City without any fanfare in the media or by the mayor’s office?

  • 7 L'arlequino // Jun 1, 2007 at 8:10 am

    #5 - It’s not that people in Norwalk are against those things. People in Norwalk who have raised opposition to the proposed development of Vets Park don’t want the commercialization of public open space; they don’t want Common Council cronyism bestowing GOB (good ole boy) favoritism behind the public’s back; and they want reason and logic and VISION (d’oh!) to dictate how the City moves forward with development.

    Only one person I’ve read on this blog mentioned the fact that there’s already a mini-golf course at Calf Pasture. I recall that the owner refurbished that completely at his own expense a few years ago.

    Why didn’t the City think about partnering with him at the current location? Probably because the $ were too small in their myopic eyes. Also because an ampitheater and water park (didn’t I just read about that somewhere for the first time?) would bring even more opposition there than at Vets, not to mention the traffic issues.

    Gregory Blvd. is bad enough as it is in the summer, what with the hot-rodding of cars and crotch-rocket motorcycles creating a pedestrian environment. I actually had a pack of said motorcyclists stop traffic on East Avenue at the Shell station by the train overpass one time so they could all exit the gas station en masse. Don’t think they were from Norwalk, either. I thought I was in a Marlon Brando movie.

    But I digress. Norwalk needs more thoughtful city planning, not kneejerk buddy-buddy planning. That’s what residents object to.