This isn’t really “city photos” so I leave it to the mods if they want to move it elsewhere

 

 

What’s it all about….

 

 

 

The rally was really just an informational thing run out of this table

 

 

Various things for sale at the table…buttons, calendar, bookmarks,….and pledge forms and flyers

 

 

Concerned citizens…the fellow to the left in the Bermuda shorts and mint green shirt is “Metromark”, who posts at the “Dayton Syndicate” blog community.

 

 

The lady in pink with the mike is Betty Rogge, who used to host a TV talk show here…a local media personality from way back.

 

 

Betty interviews Leon Bey, who is one of the organizers.

 

 

The entertainment was this bagpiper player, which could be cool as I could see him leading us around the Arcade in a protest march  (and I’m a sucker for bagpipe music). 

 

 

 

The media…Channel 2…

 

 

….and Channel 7

 

 

Outreach to people walking through the square.

 

 

 

 

I don’t know who this guy was but he was fired-up enough to lead us in a “Save the Arcade” chant

 

 

The pipes are calling……

 

 

 

 

Now I'm worried.

Was a Golden Buckeye card a prereq for attending?

I had no idea Metromark was so old! Well, he's not old old—just older than I had imagined.

 

 

It is interesting that everyone looks to be 65+. How'd that come about?

Generally speaking, most historical/preservation societies tend to be made up of older folks - mostly because they have the free time to devote to it. Don't let that scare you off from joining or at least volunteering for their causes you support.

Thanks, MayDay.

 

Also, this was midday on a workday, so attendance was limited to those downtown or could be there (the only reason I was there was I took some vacation time to come down).

 

Another thing to keep in mind that young adults are most likely not aware of this building (I know this from younger people asking about it when I was putting out flyers and posters), so don't really have an interest or attachmen to it.

 

It has been closed since 1991, so people in their 20s or early 30s would have been children or in their teens when the building was open, and would have seen it only if their parents took them there...or they might have heard of it from their parents or older relatives.

 

People who do know, just regular folks,  it remember it fondly.  This couple came by the table and they said they have nothing to give us but their support (poorer folk).  But I heard them talking as they walked away, behind my back, the girl saying they need to reopen it or get it open again, or something like that.

 

So the support is out there in the public, or thats's my hope.

 

 

 

Jeff, thanks for blowing my cover! (Just kidding). Realize this gathering happened on a Thursday noon. You're right, how many twenty-somethings have the time to come to this event and get involved? Still, there were many workers of all ages that we had a chance to talk to who hadn't a clue what the Arcade was and what we could lose. There's a whole generation out there that's never even been inside this cool space! We hope that as many people as possible come downtown for Urban Nights on September 14 and tour the Arcade from 5-10 pm. If you do come to the event, ask yourself this question: is this place worth saving? If the answer is "yes," you can make a difference; and the grassroots volunteers who will be there will be able to tell you how.

 

Now,foreverglow, et al--Not the most flattering picture, I must admit (I refuse to use Grecian formula); but I'm not "65+"! (I'm 58 . . . okay, I'm "mature," but I'm not THAT old. And I do have a job! I'm a full-time National Park ranger; and I, like you, love Dayton. We need to preserve our unique spaces, and this is the most unique.

 

Today (Saturday), a group of 11 activists that some may call "old people", spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the Arcade moving junk, cleaning, setting up fencing, and making the place safe for visitors to come and see the gem we have on Urban Nights. Bob Schiffler, who redid the Kuhns Building, is redoing McCrory's and the old Moraine Embassy Hotel, was there. He said that DAYTON developers are very close in coming together to bring the Arcade back. He's an optimist and can see the possibilities; but he's also a realist and knows the obstacles ahead. The most important thing right now is paying the taxes so that the Arcade doesn't go to auction and some outside investment group with no stake in Dayton takes ownership and tears the complex down. The Friends of the Arcade are looking for pledges (not money at this time) to see if we can pay off the taxes and buy time for the public/private partnerships to form.

 

Check out the website http://daytonarcade.wetpaint.com/ for more information, a pledge form, a history of the Arcade, and pix on what the Arcade is all about.

I hope you didn't take my comment as an insult.  It was just my snarky or maybe snotty way of pointing out that it is a shame there weren't more young people who took the time to be involved.  Good luck, it is a beatiful building, an architectural treasure.

Welcome mark1152 (and MUCH appreciated welcome at that) and God Save the Arcade (or atleast the State of Ohio save it!)!

Woops, sorry Mark. Hopefully no insult was taken because certainly none was meant! I'm happy to see you over here at Urban Ohio now. Dayton needs more Bob Schifflers. If he has a positive spirit about the outcome of the Arcade then my hopes are a little higher. I need to get over to the Save the Arcade site and make a pledge.

"X" and Phil - None taken. In fact I was amused and somewhat flattered that readers thought I was younger (not to say 58 is old!)

 

Anyway, the point of all this in the first place is to get a new generation interested in the city and in urban life. As I mentioned in a previous post, I talked with many on CH square Thursday who didn't have a clue what the Arcade was about. Some even thought a developer was already renovating it! If we can get people excited about this place, beginning with Urban Nights, perhaps enough pledges will be raised to pay the tax bill and and save it from going to auction. That might buy enough time for a public/private venture to come up with a plan. The next urgent issue, after taxes, is restoring minimum maintenance so the buildings don't fall into further disrepair.

 

I was really encouraged by Bob Schiffler, though, who is optimistic about the Arcade's future. We need to keep this project controlled by Daytonians and not by some outside investors. It's possible the Arcade could be "mothballed" until we get some critical mass going downtown. That's better than demolishing it.

 

 

It seems to me the Arcade is  symbol of Dayton's fate. If Dayton can't save the Arcade, everybody should turn off the lights and go away. If a structure that magnificent is destroyed, then it would show there is no civic pride, no civic vision, no civic leadership and no reason for Dayton to be. Glass-roofed arcades go back nearly 250 years. The oldest in this country is in Providence and is nearly 200 years old. Most were built in a two- or three-decade period starting around 1880. Not too long ago, Ohio had seven historic glass-roofed arcades -- three in Cleveland. The oldest in Ohio was Springfield's (now gone); the smallest was in Zanesville (now gone, I think). The grandest were the Old Arcade in Cleveland and the Dayton Arcade, unique for its glass-roofed rotunda. The Cleveland and the Galleria Vittoria Emmanuel in Milan (Italy; not the Edison birthplace) are considered the grandest of the form in the world. I would put Dayton not far behind. It would be a crime and a travesty and a death knell to get rid of the Dayton Arcade. It would kill Dayton's future by killing its past. The lack of young people at the Arcade rally is not a good sign for the Arcade's future. Or the city's.

I'd like to amend my comments from a few hours ago -- I hadn't read all of the previous ones. I hope the event last night (the 14th) attracted a lot of people and introduced the magnifice space to a generation than maybe hasn't been exposed to the Arcade.

I didn't realize it was last night! Darn.

It seems to me the Arcade is  symbol of Dayton's fate. If Dayton can't save the Arcade, everybody should turn off the lights and go away. If a structure that magnificent is destroyed, then it would show there is no civic pride, no civic vision, no civic leadership and no reason for Dayton to be.

 

 

I can see the symbolism of the Arcade being demolished, but demolition really won't affect much in real-life.  It would just mean the old part of downtown thins out a bit more.  There is still a lot happening in other parts of downtown, Webster Station, and the historic districts.

 

The Arcade was part of the expansion of downtown to the west and south in the later years of the 19th and early years of the 20th century.  Downtown is re-orienting more to the east now, toward the river and toward Webster Station and the Oregon.  And cities change through time.  The Arcade was the third or fourth collection of buildings on that site, so one could expect it would eventually be replaced due to obsolescence and lack of economic relevance, as its predecessors on that site were.

 

This was a nice thread to visit with all the current hoopla about auction in the news.

Yeah, that 2007 urban nights event was huge.  There was massive interest in touring the building.  Then a lot of hope when Bob Shiffler got involved in 2008 (but as we see Tony Staub wouldnt cut a deal with Shiffler).

 

I think the Friends to Save the Arcade went on hiatus during this past summer, but their last effort was a nice book on the complex authored by Kurt Dalton, a local historian. Sort of a epitath?  We'll see what transpires after the auction.