Comments from ronbo42

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ronbo42
ronbo42 commented about Fox Theatre on Dec 23, 2009 at 2:33 am

The City of Tucson has taken over management of the facility from the non-profit organization that restored it. They reduced staff and utilize city resources to support the theater. There are only five paid positions and the rest are volunteers (myself amongst them). We do contract out to a local event staffing company as the bar, security and other positions have certain legal requirements.

More and more people are discovering the Fox as downtown slowly gets renovated. More shows are being booked here and each season we show different movies (tonight is ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’). Parking is free downtown after 5 PM and on the weekends so there is no reason not to come see this beautiful landmark.

ronbo42
ronbo42 commented about Fox Phoenix Theatre on Dec 4, 2009 at 5:47 am

I’d like to address the ‘lack of caring’ posts on the part of Phoenicians about their past. As a native Arizonan and Phoenician I can say without a doubt that we care deeply about our past and hate seeing it bulldozed so carelessly; unfortunately, Arizonans and Phoenicians are in the minority when it comes to who lives and works here. Phoenix is very much a transient city. Few people are from Phoenix who actually live in Phoenix. People come from all around the country and move in with little to no ties to our state or city.

What happened to the Cine-Capri is an excellent example. There was a HUGE outcry among those of us who remember the Cine-Capri and stood in line for three hours to see Star Wars (because that was the only theater it was showing at). Buisness interests from outside the state and council members from Indiana and Iowa representing the district the Cine-Capri was in pushed the demolition through since they had no past history with the establishment. Neither did the residents in the area who saw it as an eyesore and had never seen a movie there as they just moved here from another state. The Kachina went through similiar turmoil.

My mother worked at the Fox in the fourties and was part of the small fight to save it. That was simply short-sighted councilmen. The wholesale destruction that has happened since then has been wrought by people who grew up in other states. They have no ‘skin in the game’ so to speak. Is it our fault for electing them? Sure, but as I said people with a past here are in the minority.

I live in Tucson now and am thankful we don’t have near the out of town/state issues that Phoenix has. We fought hard to restore our Fox and I and many others I know support it financially and by volunteering.

If you move here from out of state, become vested in Arizona: patronize local businesses, find out about the history, go sight seeing, hike, bike, support local sports venues. We need our historic places just like you need yours wherever you’re from.