Vox Pop, the coffee house/bookstore/art gallery/music venue located on Cortelyou Road in Ditmas Park/Flatbush, has been having big financial problems for some time now. It seems that the old leadership has resigned and Debi Ryan, a new CEO, has taken over. Ryan is trying to pay off the cafe's old debts, reorganize the cafe as a collective, and find a way for this beloved local institution to stay afloat financially.
Last Sunday, there was a town-hall style meeting at Vox Pop about its future survival (there will be another one tomorrow). Started four years ago and spearheaded by a visionary entrepreneur by the name of Sander Hicks, Vox Pop provided a space for the community to meet in a neighborhood that was fast gentrifying. There was nothing like it in that neighborhood at the time. However, since Vox Pop, opened,
several independently owned restaurants and bars have opened up along Cortylou Avenue more are moving in every day.
The founders of Vox Pop had a vision of a politically progressive coffee shop franchise and they wanted to expand rapidly. Last spring,
in an effort to expand, the board at that time decided to open a second
Vox Pop at the Bowery Poetry Club. That is now seen as a strategic mistake. The second store did not have the long term capital to keep going and their financial problems dragged the Cortelyou Road Vox Pop deep into the
red over the past year. A wise decision was made to close the Bowery Poetry Club location.
Mired in debt, the Brooklyn Vox Pop tried to get out from under their unpaid bills. One of the debts that was left unpaid was to the Department of Health, which
refused to renew their permit and closed them down in February. Since then, the old Board of Directors and the Officers of the
Corporation have all resigned. I suppose that means that Sander Hicks is no longer involved and his vision of a political cafe franchise.
But there is energy in the ashes. Debi Ryan has taken over and has been furiously trying to raising money to keep Vox Pop open. With tremendous help from the community, Vox Pop has raised well over half of the debt that they owe. .
But there is still an urgent need to raise the rest of the money before the end of the month; Vox
Pop has exactly two days left to do it. Today I got word that there will be a benefit tonight (Saturday March 298th) to raise money for Vox Pop in its dire time of need.
TONIGHT,
March 28 at 8 pm THE LOOM will be headlining a benefit show at Vox
Pop. The Loom is a folk and Americana-influenced indie rock sextet from
Brooklyn. You can get a feel for them here http://www.myspace.com/theloommusic
Tomorrow, Sunday,
March 29nd at 4:00 pm at the Vox Pop Café, there will be aother Save Vox Pop Town Hall meeting.