Arts at the Armory - Support Needed for March 4 Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting

[fefie.livejournal.com]

Arts at the Armory is seeking changes to its existing Special Permit to allow daytime use of the building for its programs and special events in the performance hall and the cafe - including concurrent events. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 4 at 6 PM in the Aldermanic Chambers, 2nd Floor of Somerville City Hall located at 93 Highland Avenue.

If the Zoning Board of Appeals grants our request, it would allow us to host matinee performances for theater, dance and music as well as offer open studios, lectures, conferences and other events of community interest in the performance hall and cafe.

Your support is needed at this meeting! If you cannot attend, please send an e-mail of support to the Zoning Board of Appeals in care of Madeleine Masters at mmasters@somervillema.gov.

Questions?
Contact Debra McLaughlin or Susan Fiedler at 617.718.2191 or email us at info@artsatthearmory.org

Comments

[notnatalie.livejournal.com]

I'm going to throw my two cents in here, as someone who also attended the community meeting, primarily to get a look-see at the space in the tour they gave a half hour before the meeting started.
The space, by the way, is incredible.

Let me say I am not an abutter. And also, I am 1000% behind having the Armory thrive. I can not wait to attend shows (and hopefully, matinees!) I felt that Debra was a tremendous resource and is obviously working very hard to build trust.

However.

I could wait six months after the official opening before i got to start attending those matinees.

I was REALLY struck by the attitude toward the one main concern the abutters brought up, that of parking and traffic issues. It seemed to me that the original conditions were fair: wait six months after the official opening before seeking an expansion of hours. Yes, these conditions were agreed to years ago, when there was less trust. That's what compromise is about.
That this was a pretty fair compromise, all things considered, seemed to have been overlooked by those seeking zoning variance.
I didn't get the sense that the neighbors were any longer concerned it would be turned into a nightclub. The issue is of trust. Debra probably feels, rightly, that she has spent a lot of time being transparent, working with the community, and building trust. But it seemed to me that, to her, this has been going on for so long that the neighbors just have to go with good faith. But to the neighbors, the Armory is just getting going!

Frankly, I would have felt really affronted and dismayed at this turn of events, if I was an abutter. Heck, I felt it anyway, and I wasn't.

All I kept thinking, was "Debra has tenants that clearly need the matinees for revenue. What the heck happened that it was not made abundantly clear to them that there was a 6-month trial from the official occupancy date before the Armory would push like mad to get the hours changed?"

I would have never thought of the term "elitist" but I am very sad to say that is an appropriate description. A very subtle sort of elitism, one that implies that the neighbors are being fearful and selfish, and not caring about the Armory tenants. When it really seemed to me that they felt betrayed.
And I would have, too. It left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

[ron_newman]

I didn't see it being an issue of needing matinees "for revenue", but rather that any theatre company at all has matinees as part of their regular run. Schoolkids and seniors, among others, prefer matinees and don't want to stay out until 11 at night. One of the matinees is 10 am on a Thursday, which is probably for a high-school class.

Also, Somerville Open Studios was and is looking forward to using the Armory as a group-show exhibition space.

When the original agreement was reached, the Armory expected the main tenant to instead be a dance company that would have had only evening shows. Instead they got Actors' Shakespeare Project.