Gentrification Rears Its Ugly Head

The owners/management of Alabama Center have decided the venerable shopping center needs a facelift, and said facelift includes doing away with the sign that's been part of longtime tenant Cactus Music forever. The folks at Cactus Music are none too pleased with this development, and have issued this call to arms:

As you may know, the Alabama Center where we are located is undergoing a
complete remodel. While we are very happy with the new look, we are
extremely distressed about one of the planned changes. Andrew Kaldis
Properties and Weingarten Realty intend to remove our Cactus marquee sign
that has been in place for twenty-seven years and replace it with a standard
pylon type sign that lists the tenants of the center. What is even more
disturbing is that there are other places on the property which could
effectively accommodate the new tenants' sign. They simply feel that our
marquee is not in keeping with the look of the remodeled center. We feel
that our unusual signage is a landmark in our community and one of the key
elements that makes our store unique. More importantly, it is our most
effective tool in informing passers-by about new release music and movies as
well as in-store performances and other events. We routinely hear comments
from our customers about their stopping in just because of what is listed on
our marquee. It is our contention that this unnecessary change will have a
devastating effect on our sales as well as attendance for our weekly events.

We would like to ask a favor of our customers, who we value so much. If
you have a memory of driving by our store and noticing something on our
marquee that brought you in our doors, please write us a quick e-mail to
relate your positive experience. Maybe you picked up a new record by your
favorite artist, saw that movie that you missed in the theater or attended
one of our many in-store performances. Any thoughts or comments on this
issue are welcome and helpful. Also, it would be helpful to include your
name, city and state. If you work in the media, the music industry or are a
local musician, listing your company and title would help us build a case
for how important this signage is to the Houston Music Community. Any
information on how our marquee contributed to sales of your projects or the
success of an event that we hosted for you would be a tremendous help.

We are hoping that, with your assistance, we might be able to avoid this
imminent calamity that faces our store. We greatly appreciate your help in
this matter.

Best Regards,
Quinn Bishop
General Manager
Cactus Music & Video

If you have any such memories or thoughts, feel free to send them on towards Cactus. Maybe the Pacifica Nitwits could organize a sit-in around the marquee or something? Oh wait, they don't do music any more, concentrating instead on programs like Democracy and Lesbianism in the Congo. My bad.

[Posted at 10:25 CST on 06/14/03] [Link]