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We all have a fetish . . .
. . . and mine is for zombies. But I'm also happy to see latex, leather, etc., if it's for a good cause. In this case, the cause was a Save the Main event. These guys are campaigning to keep Montréal's red light district from being turned into yet more office space (we already have more than we can lease!). Anyway, part of Bonnie's baladi troupe was dancing in the evening's cabaret element, although the feature event was a fetish film festival as part of the Montréal Fetish Weekend.
The dance connection wasn't the only reason I went. As it happens, I believe that cities need red light districts. Tonight, I heard that lots of cities are bulldozing red light districts to make room for more offices. Well, I've seen that happen, folks, and the reality is this: It disperses the district's people and activities all over the city. If you're into this stuff, it becomes harder to find. If you're opposed to it, guess what? It ends up in your back alley. Either way, nobody wins . . . least of all the people who work there.
And that's enough politics for one night.
The dance connection wasn't the only reason I went. As it happens, I believe that cities need red light districts. Tonight, I heard that lots of cities are bulldozing red light districts to make room for more offices. Well, I've seen that happen, folks, and the reality is this: It disperses the district's people and activities all over the city. If you're into this stuff, it becomes harder to find. If you're opposed to it, guess what? It ends up in your back alley. Either way, nobody wins . . . least of all the people who work there.
And that's enough politics for one night.
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I realize that it's common to have moral objections to lap dancers, strippers, and prostitutes, but let's be honest: There's enough of them in business in one area because the demand exists. The demand won't go away. Why put these people out of a workplace and then lie about the reasons? ("We need more office space!") How is lying a moral thing?
Setting that aside and getting to something I actually know about: There's also the fact that the same district supports alternative entertainment. A percentage of that is risqué, like most fetish shows and some burlesque. However, much of it – like a lot of niche dance and performance art – simply lacks a venue. How do the forces crushing a red light district on two-faced moral grounds justify tossing artists in the street in order to build empty towers?
It's a complex problem. However, it has its roots in the fallacy that the square feet of city you get to have dedicated to your particular interests should be proportional to the tax dollars you pay. Thus, wealthy developers and suburbanites feel entitled to dictate how the inner city is used, despite rarely going there. Meanwhile, people who work or perform there are silenced.
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Unlike most people (but like many city planners), I rarely hear a moral argument for or against "gentrification". Ultimately, it's all about money, and the perceived best interest of the competing interests involved. If you hope to see Montréal's "Performing Arts District" preserved, you will need to find an economic rationale for its continuation. (God, I miss being able to think in colloquial English right now!) This is especially if you're dealing with actual religious prejudice, for which there can be no moral debate that is not absolutist.
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What you say about an economic rationale is completely true. Everybody knows it, too. The problem is that Canadian culture – and I include Québec culture here, although that's approximate – doesn't work that way. You're speaking American. Up here, people expect a socialized solution. Of course, this would come from the same place as the impetus to build big glass towers, whence the problem.
To expand: The very artists who want the region preserved are relying on economic handouts; they are not generating significant revenues. Unsurprisingly, the Powers That Be feel that makes them a net loss where office space would earn. The moral issue is that this comparison is a lie. We already have a ridiculous vacancy rate for office space, so office space would be a net loss, too, and would represent the economic momentum of an earlier era carrying a delayed plan forward when it's no longer the best plan. Even if the region were vacant lots, it would be dumb to build offices; therefore, doing so when people and businesses stand to be displaced seems especially offensive to some.
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At this point, though, it's clear that all I can do is turn up my palms and say, "Sucks, don't it?" I clearly don't understand the situation, for example how development got backers when the vacancy rate is already so high. There must be some sort of government development subsidy? My instinct is always to follow the money, and that applies pretty much regardless of culture. So now I'm curious: Who's getting some on this deal?
Construction unions?
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There may have been some effect from the housing bubble. I've read that it's starting to turn into a commercial real estate collapse as well, though more slowly.
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I see a lot of empty office space out in Oregon's Silicon Forest (i.e. Hillsboro and vicinity), where all the dot-coms died. Downtown Portland, though, place be hoppin'. I'm thinking we have our "urban growth boundary" to thank for it. Even so, when I see a massive class 'A' complex in Hillsboro with an actual for sale sign on it, something is very very wrong.
A couple of Asian churches got very nice digs as a result, though. Which led to the further jarring-but-rather-nice image of a lovely children's playground next to a shining glass tower.