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VICTORIANEWS VICTORIA Friday, October 12, 2012
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Bus strike looming in Victoria
How about a beer with that popcorn?
Tuesday marks deadline to return to bargaining Daniel Palmer News staff
Quadra Street movie theatre testing new liquor licensing possibility Roszan Holmen News staff
Maybe it’s the veil of darkness that leaves people leery. Whatever the reason, the possibility of selling alcohol at Victoria movie theatres doesn’t sit as easily as it does with sports arenas such as the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. In B.C., movie house owners won the right to apply for liquor licences in April, after a high-profile and contentious public consultation. But while the provincial government’s concerns have been adequately assuaged by a set of restrictions, the as-yet untested idea still elicits some fears at the local government level. This provincial issue has landed here for the first time, as the Roxy Theatre seeks the nod from city council. 3
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In 2010, the little theatre in Quadra Village made headlines when owner Michael Sharpe
tried – and failed – to sell the property with development potential. Fans were quick to defend their 63-year-old “irreplaceable landmark,” and reporters waxed eloquent about the value of these disappearing icons. Even back then, before it was legal, Victorians mused about the possibility of selling booze as a way to reinvigorate the theatre. “I guess I can see how someone might want to have a few beers while at a (for example) martial-arts triple feature,” wrote ‘Amor de Cosmos’ on Vibrant Victoria, adding a smirking emoticon. These days, the Roxy mostly shows second-run films at reduced prices. But it also screens cultish and other classics, such as the upcoming Rocky Horror Picture Show. The theatre’s website even invites patrons to write to management with suggestions for what they’d like to see. These are hard times for many small movie theatres. That’s in part because they often can’t afford to make the
Dirty Carpets?
PLEASE SEE: Booze in theatre, Page A10
PLEASE SEE: Bus strike, Page A4
Don Descoteau/News staff
Operators of the Roxy Classic Theatre hope to see the Quadra Street movie house become the first in the city allowed to serve alcohol during movies. transition to digital technology, said Donovan Aikman, programmer for the Victoria Film Festival, which salvaged the Vic Theatre after it closed in 2008. “Digital projectors are not a small investment … (and) there is a lot less film product that can come into a theatre on 35 millimetre,” he said. This is the problem facing
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Sidney’s well-loved, but struggling Star Cinema. It’s looking to its patrons to secure its financial future. Seat sponsorships by individuals and businesses have so far raised just over half of the $200,000 needed to upgrade its technology.
Bus drivers in Greater Victoria have scrapped their uniforms in favour of street clothes. The uniform ban was sanctioned by the Canadian Auto Workers local 333. “We’re trying to do everything we can without disrupting service,” said union local president Ben Williams. “We’re not getting their attention.” The drivers’ job action will escalate by Tuesday if B.C. Transit has not returned to the negotiating table, Williams said. “It will affect the commuting public.” More than 650 bus drivers, skilled trades and maintenance workers in Greater Victoria issued strike notice last Friday (Oct. 5). The two sides remain at an impasse over wage increases and benefits, which are not in line with the B.C. government’s net zero mandate, said Transit spokesperson Meribeth Burton. “We asked the bargaining committee to go and speak to other unions. There seems to be a lack of understanding about what the co-operative gains mandate is,” she said. The negotiating mandate requires unions to offset any wage increases with cost savings and productivity gains in other areas. The B.C. Nurses Union and B.C. Government Employees Union reached tentative contract agreements under the mandate. “Our (offer) is exactly in line with the nurses (and) the BCGEU and we’re still surprised we’re sitting at this impasse,” Burton said.
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