Fri, 10/08/2010 - 7:24pm - Posted by: Common Sense

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Wed, 10/06/2010 - 11:49am - Posted by: BHaas

Loserish... : No one on our board ever claimed "the Franks were liars and were out to ruin the town." We never did; we never would. You should know that when you have to make stuff up to exaggerate a point, it's time to click delete.

Wed, 10/06/2010 - 7:27am - Posted by: West Cape Loserish

You can blame the Franks all you want but the fact is it's THEIR building, it's NOT historic and in reality is VERY un-Victorian.

I honestly can't believe this has gotten this far. You loudmouths can BUY the building and do whatever you want with it but you know it's a lost cause, so instead you try force the owners to do what YOU want so some imaginary family can have the greatest time ever watching some horrible movie.

You guys claimed the Franks were liars and were out to ruin the town but when it was your turn to run the place it was just as much of a craphole with crappy films as it was before. Get off your incredibly high horses and repay the ****** loan. And before you go on about how you're brave enough to put your name on here and were anonymous, it's because you were DUMB enough to sign the contract with your real names.

Any Condo with a little gingerbread on the porch is more fitting in Cape May than some post-deco pre-doowop movie theater that no one goes to regardless of the reason.

Fri, 10/08/2010 - 7:25pm - Posted by: Common Sense

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Tue, 10/05/2010 - 4:48pm - Posted by: BHaas

CS: Misinterpretation and incorrect assumptions galore! "Enough"was not directed at you. It matters not to me if you rant on and on and on. When I wrote the word I was telling myself to stop. And I did.

As for "a vain attempt to shift the conversation" - it wasn't that, CS. I was calling you out for being afraid to own your opinions in the public light, something most of us grown-ups are accustomed to doing. .

Anyone who was at the last public hearing on Convention Hall before the vote on the additional 3.5 million was taken could tell you that I spoke in favor of the original 32k foot hall. The smaller version will not serve the city well in years to come. Dunno where you got the wrong impression... but somehow it didn't stop you from stating it.

As for your examples of CM Magazine, again you speak from a base of not knowing. I n the last 5 years, I have been burned by all 3 of the kinds of situations you mention, and I didn't get all bent out of shape. That's business. You learn who to trust and who not to. You improve your methods. And move on.

So Common Sense, enough from me - you can carry on all you like. And in the end if you and the City prevail the BTF will fold, the Franks (who were the recipients of the $100g as rent) will press on to get their condos built, Cape May will have lost an historic building, there will be no movies in town, our good and noble pledgors (of which I am one) will be the ones who replenish the loan fund from the state (a fund that no one has asked to borrow from since 2007 - us) and Cape May will be the lesser for it.

But you can be proud of yourself and say, anonymously of course, that you helped get repaid the money no one wants...and the City cannot use. Good job. But you really should change your handle from Common Sense to something more appropriate. Enough..

Fri, 10/08/2010 - 7:25pm - Posted by: Common Sense

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Tue, 10/05/2010 - 2:39pm - Posted by: J Testa

It's pretty obvious that "Common Sense" isn't going to get any more sense than he/she is likely to stop hiding behind anonymity.

Once again, for the lame of mind--the "contract" was a note with a 2012 payment date--NOT 2010. The note contained an acceleration clause-- language that lenders commonly are asked to waive and do waive. In this case, the waiver was requested with justification given the original intent of the loan, the Franks' action regarding the lease, and the future prospects for the site. The fact the Theatre was running or not had little to do with its prospects for restoration or redevelopment, the underlying purpose for the loan. The waiver was delayed and denied for political chicanery, not fiscal rationality.

So, in point of fact, the BTF has remained true to the original term and intent of the contract, but the City has not. Moreover, to underscore the poor economic judgment at work here, just suppose, in a successful redevelopment of the site by 2012, the City could convert the $100,000 loan into an asset worth five to ten times that amount. Wouldn't calling the note early and unnecessarily in 2010 seem pretty stupid then? Plenty of upside, very little downside, but we choose neither?

Again, it's not common sense, it’s just nonsense.

I think that "West Cape Loserish" is right in one important respect--the Theatre turned into garbage in the hands of the Franks--that's why the effort to save, restore and expand it in the context of an adjoining Convention Hall as a cultural anchor for our City makes all the more sense, and that's what the BTF has been trying to do, as Bernie Haas points out-- none of it anonymously.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 1:46pm - Posted by: West Cape Loserish

honestly, the theater has been garbage since it went from 2 screens to 4 and even 2 screens was pushing it for a building that size.

I understand the nostalgic urge in wanting to save the building that you felt up your first chick in, but the reason why no one was going there was because of the quality of the projectors and seats and the availability of other forms of entertainment. People can see a movie anywhere, why would they spend a night watching an overpriced underamplified 2 hour piece of garbage when they have anywhere from 2-7 nights to get in a whole years vacation.

It was a valiant but misguided effort to keep a property owner from having the freedom to do with their property as they wish but it's time to repay the loan...

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 1:15pm - Posted by: BHaas

Notes to CS: Did you choose anonymity because you are afraid of being identified? Why? Do you lack credibility as your own person? You don't "applaud" us. We are the people who tried to save the Beach. In your other blog remarks, you never applauded us and today you called us "scumbags." Nice. Your representation on behalf of Cape May taxpayers is self-aggrandizement. You don't represent Cape May taxpayers like me. The terms of any loan can be changed if it is reasonable (makes good business sense) to do so. Changing terms does not preclude payment. Read Testa again. We aren't refusing to pay. Enough.

Fri, 10/08/2010 - 7:26pm - Posted by: Common Sense

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Tue, 10/05/2010 - 12:23pm - Posted by: BHaas

The problem with blogs like this is that anyone can say demeaning things and use words like "scumbags" anonymously. It allows any and all cowards an opportunity to bloviate. J Testa's summary here is obviously beyond the ken of "Common Sense." But for those with a greater awareness of the issue it speaks volumes. I can only add this note: Although the tax dollars lent to the BTF were from a special state of New Jersey fund that had no impact whatsoever on the Cape May City's treasury, no one on our board is saying the note should not be paid back! It's a question of timing and approach. These are subtle distinctions that don't fit comfortably inside the limits of common sense.

Fri, 10/08/2010 - 7:27pm - Posted by: Common Sense

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Tue, 10/05/2010 - 11:13am - Posted by: J Testa

Beyond personal attacks on members of the BTF Board of Trustees, “Common Sense” makes anything but sense.

Let’s start out with the City loan. The source was a state program that had nothing to do with City taxpayers and revenues. Paying back the money now, or even when it was originally promised (which was 2012 and NOT 2010), will do nothing to increase municipal revenues or lower City or state taxes. Furthermore, the state program that supplied the funding hasn’t forced or even asked the City to accelerate the loan—that idea originated with our own City leadership.

Every penny of the loan was spent properly for the purposes for which it was intended, primarily for lease acquisition costs and job creation. Community donations and movie revenues during 2008 amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars more, and the Beach Theatre enjoyed modest success, cut short by the failure of its derelict physical plant that had long been neglected by the landlord.

The BTF note of 2007 evidencing the loan was a five year balloon note with an acceleration clause if the lease were lost. When the lease was lost in 2009 due to the landlord’s unilateral action refusing to renew it, a factor totally out of BTF control, the BTF promptly requested an amendment and waiver of that clause. Why? Because everyone recognized the work of the Foundation in saving the Theatre and redeveloping it was not yet done—and no one expected it to be done before 2012. However, unlike a responsible creditor acting in good faith, the City kept the BTF hanging in silence for a year on its request, never analyzed the requested waiver objectively on its merits, and never forthrightly considered what the BTF could do over the next two years to acquire the site and redevelop it for the overall betterment of the community. Meanwhile, even though exposed and unsupported by City leadership, the BTF forged on in its efforts to find developers for the site, tried twice to buy it at a fair price, and continued to oppose the landlord’s attempts to demolish it until it could be redeveloped.

And what did the City do? Well, for its part, after inexcusable silence, it simply accelerated the note, demanded payment and pressed the BTF knowing the result likely would be financial ruin and pre-mature hardship for its pledgors. Some might think the first note demand timing in April 2010, which happened to be the same month the City filed its losing lawsuit against the Friends and Neighbors of East Cape May (FAN ECM) to prevent a referendum on East End parking meters a coincidence. However, most people who have a whit of “common sense” see the BTF note acceleration for what it really was –petty political retribution for the organization of that referendum led by the undersigned and for the personal support given to it by all other BTF trustees. Of course, not only did the referendum occur, it produced a landslide public vote on September 8, overturning the meter and angled parking ordinances. Not surprisingly or coincidentally, but typically, the direct recourse attempt to the BTF pledgors followed in a few weeks.

The great irony of the City position regarding the BTF note acceleration (putting aside its economic obtuseness and underhanded politics) is that leadership, by making this pre-mature collection move, effectively aligns the City with the Franks to facilitate demolition of the Theatre and against the core of the community most dedicated to save and restore it.

Respectfully, that is nonsense and not common sense.

Fri, 10/08/2010 - 7:26pm - Posted by: Common Sense

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