I get it. But maybe you should research your targets a little more.

While in grad school, I worked as a waiter at the Alamo in Austin. Every employee, from busboy to general manager who worked 30 hours a week was eligible for health insurance. All of them. We had six screens at my location and probably 100 employees who were paid fairly, with benefits, and if you wanted, growth. A friend who started as a food runner with me is now a General Manager.

Decent jobs. Opportunity for advancement and benefits.

Stop being a knee jerk NIMBY jack arse and listen before you talk.

I’ll be first in line when they open here.

We will continue to support and nurture the Streetopia model that puts community above profit. We are in the eye of one of the most intense and thorough-going storms of acquisition and consolidation of wealth and power in history, one that is leaving a larger share of humanity out of it’s benefits while expanding it’s exploitive capabilities over them, and is able, at the very same moment, to tell the world with a straight face that it is about empowerment for all!

1. The disenfranchised, working class, and immigrant communities that have deep roots in the district would be displaced by the further gentrification;

2. Our already existing Mission community theaters (the Roxie, ATA, Oddball Film & Video), which provide the best film programming in San Francisco and which have long standing roots and investment in the community.

We’ve never been a supporter of trickle down economics, which has been the model that keeps being touted by those with money – “if we just invite these business in they will make money and create new jobs for people in the community” – as we’ve seen over the past 12 years – starting with the dotcom bomb, the impact has been a non-family-friendly environment that has turned the Valencia corridor into a big kegger with hordes of loud, drunken frat-like kids pouring out onto the streets nightly from the trendy upscale venues that have moved into the neighborhood. This is in addition to the numerous evictions that the development and gentrification of the neighborhood has caused.

We’d love to see other options that support the low-income children, youth, and families in the Mission and who need more venues that speak to their needs. A great recent model of a successful community space project – is Streetopia – http://streetopiasf.com/ – perhaps a project like this could move into the New Mission Theater!!!

Clarion Alley Mural Project will be organizing our own community meeting around the development of this space – and the direction of the Mission District. Please stay tuned for more details!

In solidarity and support of our community,
CAMP

I look forward to meeting with everyone and trying to clear up any misconceptions about our plans. I can tell you that 1) we never were anywhere close to opening a theater in Brooklyn, let alone getting shut down from community opposition and 2) we will be extremely open to working with the community and making the space available for all manner of events, fundraisers, community forums, etc. Anyhow, I can explain more in person at the event!

Ideas that come to mind are projects/organizations like the theater company Campo Santo, which hasn’t really had a great presentation space since Intersection for the Arts had to leave the neighborhood; or Michelle Tea’s RADAR productions, or something like Youthspace, which was a project that developed out of Coleman Advocates in the early 2000′s as a space solely for and by youth, but which was never able to find a space … we need to support our local existing arts community that’s already struggling.

Finally, the neighborhood already has the best theaters with the most diverse and interesting programming in the city – the Roxie Theater (which has been in the Mission since 1909), ATA, and Oddball Film & Video. Do we really want to invest in a corporate chain from outside of the community – whose only interest is in making a profit and that could jeopardize the existence of our longstanding community theaters?

And in fact when the Alamo tried to move in and open a branch in Brooklyn, the development was shut down for these very reasons …

In solidarity and support of our local community,
CAMP

The Drafthouse staff works very hard to be a part of and work with the community. The Drafthouse hosts creative and vibrant events, brings incredible film resources to fans, distributes local and independent films, and has probably done more for the Austin film community than anyone in the last decade. The same thing can happen in SF.

And, their tickets prices have always been comparable, if not less, than other movie theaters. This will give us – for the first time in a long time – an option for affordably priced movies just a few blocks from home.

It will be a great resource for the neighborhood. I think this is absolutely a win for the Mission and I cannot wait for opening night.