Suggested talking points if you’re speaking on Wednesday

If you’re speaking at City Council this Wednesday Dec. 4, thank you! If you haven’t signed up yet, click here for how to do it – it’s easy, and we need your voice!

Suggested speaking points

1.  Insist that the Hollywood be saved! The city should proactively work with the community and owner to establish a mutually agreeable solution to save the Hollywood that works for everyone. Tell what the Hollywood means to you and why it should be saved.

2. The city should extend the protection order for the Hollywood to the full 120 days allowable in order to provide the necessary time to work out a solution to save the Hollywood.

3. Voice support for the following four actions in the report to council.

(Sorry that these are a bit technical! If you wish to save time in your presentation you can express your support for the following four Actions by simply stating: “I support the four Actions recommended by the Save the Hollywood Theatre Coalition.”)

a) Action 1 states that, “effective immediately, in situations where demolition or degradation of a heritage resource is proposed, the Director of Planning will consider only outright uses in any development applications.” To the extent that this recommendation is implemented in such a way as to apply to development applications already in process, we expect that it could be helpful in saving the Hollywood. We ask council to approve Action 1 as proposed and apply it to the Hollywood.

b) Amend Heritage Report Action #9 – Examine Incentive Program for Applicability Elsewhere to make it a “Quick Start” action allowing the heritage incentive programs in the DTES to be applied to significant heritage buildings outside of the DTES, including the Hollywood Theatre. Clearly, for the Hollywood to benefit, this Action would need to be implemented immediately or possibly on an interim basis with the Hollywood as a pilot project.  Our expectation is that property tax exemptions and façade grants could be particularly effective in relation to the Hollywood’s restoration and viability as a community-focused arts and culture venue.

c) Transferable density is already an available tool, but should only be part of a Heritage Revitalization Agreement that preserves the Hollywood as a complete and fully intact theatre/performance space. City Council and the Director of Planning do not need more powers to do this. No amendments are required to the report for density transfers.

In addition, we suggest you request that Mayor and Council give consideration to the Coalition’s following related recommendations:

• The City should work proactively with the community and the owner to establish a mutually agreeable solution to save the Hollywood that works for everyone. As requested by both the owner and the Coalition, this should include providing resources of staff deployed immediately to put together data required to help us negotiate a reasonable solution. There is an overwhelming desire on the part of citizens, the community and arts and cultural organizations to save this irreplaceable element of Vancouver’s cultural heritage. Once destroyed it is gone forever.
• In view of substantial progress already made, the city should extend the existing protection order for the Hollywood Theatre to the full 120 days to ensure a positive and optimum outcome.
• The City should provide an option in principle to consider a density transfer to one or more appropriate properties owned by the same owner as the Hollywood Theatre in the Downtown District.
• The City should provide funding options in the capital budget for potential purchase and/or renovation of the Hollywood Theatre as a community amenity for an arts and culture centre.

The Save the Hollywood Theatre Coalition encourages Mayor and Council to view the Hollywood Theatre as a litmus test for evaluating the proposed Heritage Action Plan.  If recommended improvements are insufficient to save the Hollywood, our view is that further work is required.

Please sign up to speak! We need your voice this Wednesday to save the Hollywood!