Hi Neighbors,
At the last Lake Neighbors Group meeting I gave an update on the status of a project to organize outdoor movie nights on the east side wall of the Parkway Theater. The project would involve projecting the movies from the O’really auto part’s parking lot ( corner of 18th St and Parkway Blvd). The most recent information (September 17th) is that O’really’s rejected the proposal in one sentence saying that they will be unable to have this event take place at their location “due to liability issues”
A little of background information on this project: A couple of months ago, a group on neighbors came with the idea of a “Parkway Movie Night” event as a way of bringing the community together, having a good time watching outdoor movies, and in the process help to activate the area around the theater. My neighbors and I thought that the Parkway is so central and important to this neighbor that we should keep the Parkway movie watching tradition even if the theater is closed for now. To make this happen, we need O’really’s collaboration.
The Lake neighbors group and Steve Ma, from the Lake Merritt Merchants Association enthusiastically supported the project and I sent a letter to O’really’s Regional Manager to present the proposal and asking them to share with us a small portion of their underutilized parking lot as seating area. The short negative response received from O’really’s indicates that they are concerned with liability, which is completely understandable, but also indicates a lack of willingness to work with the community to find creative solutions and work together towards bringing community events to the area. At this point there are two options: accepting O’really’s rejection, or pressuring O’really to engage and work out a solution to their liability concerns (e.g. liability waivers, getting police support, etc) and show that they are invested in improving the neighborhood. The movie nights would take place during late Summer-Fall, when the weather is appropriate and the goal would be now to start the events next year.
I have enclosed the initial proposal letter that I sent to the Matt Presnell, Regional Manager. The proposal letter will give a better a idea of how the outdoor movie night events would work logistically. FYI, to date, Matt Presnell has not responded to a September 18th follow up email I sent him asking him to expand on O'really's potential liability issues in order to work together in creative solutions to their concerns. Please write to Matt to let him know that O’really’s response is not acceptable and that we want them to take part in bringing cultural events and activating Park Blvd.
This is the email for Matt Presnell
Thank you,
Javier Amaro
