J. Peter Flemming has written a terrific letter to Nanette Smith, special assistant to Mayor Bloomberg, about the proposal to turn DUMBO's Tobacco Warehouse into a theater for commercial productions.
Published in its entirety in the Brooklyn Eagle, it starts:
The idea that we should be grateful that your [Brooklyn Bridge Park] Board will have taken advantage of our communities’ and our then elected officials’ and the Landmarks Conservancy’s remarkable efforts in the late ’90s to save the Tobacco Inspection Warehouse as an historic and visually stunning “ruin” — to hand both the structure and the iconic site over to one private entity — for free — for it to construct a “cultural facility” now outside the Park, not a “part” of the Park, is completely disingenuous and quite insulting . . .
Read the whole letter here.
- RFP Issued for Tobacco Warehouse in DUMBO
- Tobacco Warehouse, Acute Corner, DUMBO
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2 comments:
Mr. Flemmings has made several inaccurate statements: the theater company is not commercial and charges prices often well below 'market', whatever that is in theater; the theater will most certainly not be the only user of the space, which will include charity, corporate and other events; the space has been rented for years to commercial events; leaving a 'ruin' vacant in venue-challenged brooklyn to suit a small coterie of folks would be a crime; for the park to function it needs to attract people from around the city and world, which the theater will help do.
The letter fully contradicts itself by saying the theater is paying nothing, but charging money. The more that is 'paid' to the government, which owns the space, the higher ticket prices will be and the more commercial the use. Can't have it both ways.
Something is not right with the RFP process for this site. I am sure many not-for-profit arts programs would be interested in this space as is. The unusually short time frame to respond to the RFP is odd and raises my suspicions.
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