Open Letter to Peter Ladner - RE Biltmore Cabaret

[SpongeG]

this is going around facebook thought i'd share here... this city i tell ya - worst

Hello Peter,

I know you are busy and I want to thank you for reading this. I am a young business person from Calgary who has recently opened a bar in Vancouver. In Calgary I run a venue called 'Broken City' that has been voted best live music venue each of the 4 years it has been open. We host local and touring rock bands for the most part. We also host Calgary's longest running jazz jam and various community events, fundraisers and even political debates. I also run a music festival called Sled Island.

My mother lives in Vancouver when she is not in Calgary running the magazine Alberta Views (a political magazine). My father was an MLA in Alberta, and I am also politically active in Calgary. My bar in Calgary is frequented by a few of our city councillors and I have hosted events for them.

When I used to visit Vancouver people would complain that there were no good venues that supported the local arts community (the Railway and Media clubs being notable exceptions). One year ago an opportunity to do something here opened up for me.

I took the old bar in the basement of the Biltmore (Kingsway and 12th) - this was formerly a rough place- and did a small yet expensive non-structural renovation, including expanding the existing stage and installing a top of the line sound system. We hire local staff and bands and have already started to make some waves in Vancouver.

We were recently shut down on a technicality regarding the expansion of our stage. This came about after we had been shut down due to going over our posted capacity. Our posted capacity is punitively low- but we should not have gone over. Getting shut down, however, seems to be not in keeping with normal practices. Normally a fine is issued unless people are at risk (from my understanding). We are currently closed because the fire inspector then took issue with the stage being larger that it was on the drawings he had. That same inspector told us we would not likely get shut down again- but then came in at 4pm the night of a show to tell us we had to close. He then told us that if we got a drawing we could open the next day. We got the drawing and were then told we had to wait for them to process things for a few more days. Today I have learned that things have now been pushed over to a building inspector and it will take at least 10 more days. Now that I am in this process I know it could keep getting passed around endlessly. It is amazing how suddenly effective municipal employees can be when they are trying to make things hard for people/small businesses. This is not meant to be a threat- but my consultant is recommending that I initiate legal action. I would rather avoid this.

Apparently our liquor inspector (a hapless and misinformed man named Edward) stated to one of my employees that he wanted to see the club shut down permanently. All of what we are being put through seems excessive and punitive. It is also costing me a lot of money. Bar owners are people too- at least some of us are. We have a loose cannon in Edward acting like a renegade sheriff.

It is a largely held belief that the Granville Entertainment Group is paying off civil servants. I don't know if this is true- but that it is widely held to be true is troubling enough.

There are bars in Vancouver that have been in business operating as brothels (the #5 orange, etc) for years. There are bars that lock the front doors and serve drinks until 7am. There is a bar that serves drinks all night, has no license AND deals with the city the city of Vancouver regarding plumbing issues- and is still in operation. They have dangerous wiring and actually could put people in harm's way. In Vancouver I have been to filthy restaurants with public bathrooms in the kitchen. There is also a MASSIVE drug problem in the city. But we are closed for weeks because of a technicality with our stage. The amount of heat being put on us is completely out of scale. We are a well run, well intending bar that wants to do good things here in Vancouver and we are following the rules.

Our stage was approved in our initial inspection. It is true- we made non-structural changes and we increased the size of the stage, but it was approved already. It is under two feet high and from what I know about building codes it should not require a permit. Yet here we are having the book thrown at us.

I believe everything we have done is legal, other than going over capacity. We have paid piles of money in taxes. I feel we are being treated unfairly and I am writing to ask for your help. If you would be willing to ask a couple of questions to find out why this is happening to us it would be very helpful and very much appreciated.


Yours,


Zak Pashak



(Ladner has not yet responded)

Any help that any of you can provide would be greatly appreciated here. Thank you!

[dreambrother808]

i got the same email and am fully intrigued/supportive of the ideas exposed... there is some serious bullshit afoot.

[MistyMountainHop]

Damn. Vancouver needs all the good music venues it can get.

[djh]

That was one of the most lucid letters I've read. I really hope somebody like the Georgia Straight picks it up.
Apart from the one statement that could be libellous about the No. 5 Orange, I think everything he says deserves serious support, because when we look at the crap scene in this city, it all does seem pretty obviously corrupt. There are constant stories of good honest businesspeople getting beaten-down by city bureaucrats, so the conclusion this guy makes must be pretty close to the truth - you gotta pay them off or they come and get you!

More evidence of the Wild West mentality in Vancouver...sigh

[flight_from_kamakura]

the bureaucrats/inspectors/cops in vancouver are very very annoying. they really punish even the most minor infractions. personally, i'm still bitter about the sugar refinery shut down. good luck to this guy!

[entheosfog]

Too bad about the Biltmore. It's such a quality place and the interior is pretty nice. Hopefully things get worked out for them.

[VanExPat]

I passed the Biltmore on the 19 nightbus last night and there were an excessive amount of Fire Trucks parked out front with the lights going. I hope nothing happened.

[David]

well the actual entrance to the biltmore space is around the back and one floor down, so unless the fire trucks were parked behind the building i wouldnt be too worried

[jo67sh]

Originally Posted by David

well the actual entrance to the biltmore space is around the back and one floor down, so unless the fire trucks were parked behind the building i wouldnt be too worried

---------------------------------
i hear the biltmore is owned by koreans..

fire trucks were called cause of the food being way too spicy hot???

[raggedy13]

I'd never heard that rumour about the Granville crowd paying off civil servants. Personally I wouldn't be surprised at all. It's a bit frustrating to hear as I think there is too much emphasis on Granville as the "Entertainment District" as is. I think trying to concentrate Vancouver's nightlife into one street is the stupidest thing ever, especially when the club scene there is so generic and soulless.

It has lots of energy at least and generates a ridiculous amount of pedestrian action at night but there definitely needs to be a greater variety of options and venues around the city. I've only been to the Biltmore once but I had a much better time there than I ever do on Granville. And the crowd there is a lot more chill (and the music is better). I can't stand the chachy, pretentious, skanky, suburbanite crowd of Granville Street and the generic clubs with their equally generic top-40 beats.

I hope this city is able to see the light sometime soon.

[jlousa]

I'm not into the "scene" anymore, and haven't been for a few years, but I know economics. There is no Granville St conspiracy here. Lets just think about it for a second. The people into the live music scene are not the same people that are "Entrainment district" clients. There's no reason for them to attempt to sabotage them.

It would be like McDonalds trying to shut down Cactus club, they aren't really competitors even though they're in the same industry.

This is most likely a case of he pissed off the wrong person somewhere along the line, and it is unfortunate but it's a fact of life, by going public he might be able to get some of the pressure off of him.

[SpongeG]

i don't know forcing people through policies to go to granville is not a fair to those not wanting that or people who don't want to go there - there need to be alternatives and the city seems to be doing its best to force their vision rather than letting the people or the market decide

me and my friend strolled along granville on friday and it was just lame - clubs blaring old music, people lined up for hours for nothing, girls in flip flops and baby dolls - oooh fun fun

no wonder house parties and living room shows are becoming popular

[SpongeG]

the biltmore reopened a couple weeks ago apparently

seems rumours are still going around its closed down but its open and looking to get the people back