Strange Brew
Even though business is spotty in downtown Parkville these days it’s a great thing to see a festival that’s done right and for the past several years Angelo Gangai has done a terrific, first class job with the Brewfest.
The Power Plant Restaurant that he manages has been subject to a fair amount of armchair quarterbacking since its inception, but you know, it’s a pretty cool thing to have a brewery in town. I get a kick our of running into their Master Brewer Gordon Gerski every Friday as I deliver The Luminary to the restaurant. It’s an interesting meeting of the minds. He brews beer for a living and I’m a newspaperman. It’s safe to say we both feel pretty lucky to be able to do what it is that we’re doing and get paid for it.
Of course, once the tent is packed up and Kasey Rausch puts her guitar away, reality sets in. The Power Plant hasn’t produced energy since the ‘60s, but nobody has done more lately to take the spark out of the joint than reigning downtown buzzkill Tom Hutsler.
Two weeks ago, Phil Johannes, one of the partners in the restaurant, sent a desperate e-mail to just about everyone in his address book. In the message, the exasperated Johannes laments Tom Hutlser’s absurd decision to place a gigantic for-sale sign in front of the restaurant as he simultaneously went about knocking down the restaurant’s chief form of identity – its iconic smokestack.
“[Hutsler] has placed a ‘For Information’ sign on the property, which has led many passers by to conclude the space is vacant, or soon will be,” Johannes wrote. “Many folks are under the impression that we are either closed, about to close, or we are trying to sell/move the restaurant business.”
Yeah, gigantic for-sale signs in front of your entrance could possibly have that effect. Plywood haphazardly nailed over the restaurant’s side windows could send a possible signal to would-be diners that, you know, you’re boarded up. It is unfathomable to think that landlord Hutsler – who earns rent from the operation and should, ideally, be interested in their success – would do such a thing to their own tenant but that is, as they say, the story.
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Lose the sign, Tom. It’s not a vacant lot, and it’s not an empty storefront, Tom. Give the restaurant a chance, Tom. Then get a clue, Tom.
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This week’s feature by Carolyn Elwess is particularly timely. May is a slow month for retailers. But while we’re on the subject, The Luminary has wanted to resurrect the “Commercial” segment of the original newspaper (see the graphic on page one for an idea). In order to do so, we’re going to have to rely on a lot of regular feedback from participating businesses and retailers. We’re looking to form an “able corps of correspondents.” If you’re interested, e-mail me at mvasto@kc.rr.com with the subject line “correspondent”.
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For the love of humanity, take down the sign, Tom.
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Some would say that we’re overdoing the Jason Brown homecoming (see story on page one). If you’re not Jason Brown and you think that, then you’re a damned cynic. The guy’s got a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and a scumbag terrorist’s bullet in his lung .
The guy’s a hero and a role model in the old school sense. Welcome home.