City Manager Doug Elliott was contacted by Great Escapes Theatres, the theater’s owner, late Friday afternoon and told they wanted $200,000 for “furniture, fixtures and equipment.”
He told council he was recommending approval of the original resolution to accept the theater as a donation. He said approval of the original resolution gives them a starting point for further discussions with the owner.
“This is symbolic, folks,” Elliott said after council approved the resolution, but said he hoped the approval “would appeal to their better nature.”
In the public discussion of the resolution, four Talawanda High School students presented petitions they said had 333 signatures of high school and middle school students urging the city to keep the theater open. The four students — Dara Levy, Noah Levy, Eva Fischer and Maddy Abowicz — read the petition saying the theater was a meeting place for young people without having to go out of Oxford to see movies as well as being a place for families to go together.
Kathleen Veslany told council she sees the theater as similar to the summer music festival as a way to bring community residents together as well as being a place for people to gather indoors on hot summer afternoons.
“It is a necessary escape as a mother of small children,” she said, evoking laughter from the audience. She said nearly 1,200 people are on a Facebook Save the Princess page.
Council members all expressed their hope the Princess theater can be saved.
“This is going to be tough,” Mayor Richard Keebler said. “If it was a money-maker, it would not be closed.”
He said it should also be remembered that Miami University now has a new student center under construction which will include a 500-seat theater.
The theater will require heating repairs estimated at $25,000 as well as digital movie projectors to replace the current 35 millimeter projectors, according to Elliott.
About the Author