New Downtown Theater???

[Towntalk]

By the way, Covelli doesn't have events every week, so those restaurants that are near it do have the opportunity to cash in, so your premise is flawed when you say that Covelli harms them.
Another question, just how many can be seated at those restaurants? Also how much publicity do they do to promote their business? And what are their customer ratings? Could a party go there, be seated and served in say 10 to 15 minutes? What is the eye appeal if those restaurants? All these things make or break any restaurant.
How is the food presented, and how much effort is made to fill a customers special requests?
If you've ever watched Restaurant Imposable on the Food Network you can see just how important all these things are to the success of a restaurant. When a party goes out to attend an event, that is special, and they want something more than a McDonald style restaurant to dine at. The events at Covelli are big ticket events so people are more particular about where they dine, at least that's true with the crowd I associate with.

[Towntalk]

Another view

[Towntalk]

Why is it that the venues on West Federal ... ie Powers and Oakland do not impact the restaurants nearby? In point of fact they benefit whenever there is an event at those venues.
And just how many restaurants are/were near Covelli?
Could it have been a case of the restaurants not serving quality products?
Overture is in the DeYor complex and it does good business before and after shows at Powers.
It seems to me that with the proper promotion that restaurants around Covelli could reap the benefits ... show specials ... reasonable prices and quality staffing along with a pleasing atmosphere go a long way toward the success of any restaurant.

[jay]

A video clip of the mayor was on the TV news this morning.  He was explaining how the city now has control of the food concessions at the convocation center and makes a lot of money to help pay off the debt.

If concert goers eat inside the convocation center or at an amphitheater, they will be less likely to dine at the existing downtown restaurants.  Remember what recently happened to the restaurant situated closest to the convocation center?

[Towntalk]

Here is a link to a Google Map of the Covelli Center area that shows just a limited amount of undeveloped space. How can you fit all the things that Bozanich is talking about in that space?
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=covelli+center&ie=UTF-8&ei=ivCyUvyFH4PlyQGP4YGQAw&sqi=2&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg

By yhe way, here is the correct definition of an amphitheater:
A contemporary amphitheatre, the sense in which the word has come to be used now, is a curved, acoustically vibrant performance space, particularly one located outdoors. Contemporary amphitheatres often include standing structures, called bandshells, sometimes curved or bowl-shaped, both behind the stage and behind the audience, creating an area which echoes or amplifies sound, making the amphitheatre ideal for musical or theatrical performances. Most are semicircular in shape, so they should not properly be called amphitheatres.

[Towntalk]

That's fine Jay, but how many shows are there at the Morley per year? And who says that the downtown amphitheater has to be a mirror image of Morley? Can the entire Youngstown Symphony Orchestra fit in the Morley stage ... no. A slimmed down orchestra ... yes, but the full orchestra ... no. Is Morley equipped to do a show where there is special effects lighting such as you see with a lot of today's Rock bands?  No. Can Morley do a multimedia concert ... no. It serves it's purpose for Mill Creek Park but as a full scale entertainment venue it isn't.
The city is dreaming if it thinks that the downtown amphitheater can be sustainable as a freebie venue? The last downtown amphitheater failed miserably. It was nothing but a small open stage squeezed onto East Federal Street and there were very few events that even used it.
What the city is talking about is placing a number of features there that are a metter fit for Mill Creek Park, but are not a fit for the central business district.
Tell us Jay, how can what Dave Bozanich is talking about be good fit to that area ... a park setting ... a hike/bike trail ... a little water feature?  My goodness we're talking about downtown Youngstown not Mill Creek Park, and we're talking about a limited space to do all that in.
Remember when Jack Hunter turned Federal Street into Federal Plaza ... did that work? No, it turned into a miserable failure.
Again, how many acres are we talking about? Actual acres that would include all these grand ideas that he comes up with? He can't reduce the parking area for Covelli without doing harm to that venue, and he's constrained from building right up to the river, so where is all this going to go in order to give it an attractive area?
Forget the space west of the Market Street Bridge for the time being, and just concentrate on the area east of the bridge.

[jay]

Events at the Morley have been unwritten by the 7Up beverage company and a local newspaper.

[Towntalk]

For three years I worked at one of the local theater venues as a second job, and got a real insider education on what it takes to put on a show worth it's salt, and the sort of venue that is being talked about just won't cut it. I worked everything from one man shows to large productions, and let me tell you that if they follow through with their plan, it will end up like the Morley, sitting unused most of the season, and most of the shows that were held there would be free, AT TAX PAYERS EXPENSE.
Youngstown deserves better ... MUCH BETTER!

[AllanY2525]

I agree with Towntalk on the built-in seating....should be more than 500
persons worth of permanent seats.  The more durable, the better.

[Towntalk]

 According to today's Vindicator, the plan calls for a stage, temporary seating for about 500 and the remaining folks would sprawl out on a lawn.

NO VISION and a lot of input from people that haven't the slightest notion about what a real amphitheater really is all about.

This venue MUST be able to pay for itself and not be a burden on the tax payers.

None of the characters in City Hall have the foggiest notion about the theater, and they have even less knowledge about what it costs to put on a decent show.

Were Eric or whoever to book a big group to play the Amphitheater, they would need more than a simple stage with no technical facilities, nor would they want to run back and forth between the Covelli Center and the amphitheater during a show.

Who made anyone in City Council or the Board of Control the almighty experts on theater management and design?

Unless they put it in the hands of REAL EXPERTS, it's doomed to fail just as the last downtown amphitheater failed.

. http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/dec/19/city-first-will-seek-funds-for-amphithea/

[Towntalk]

This is good news, now lets hope that once it's up and running that they will let Covelli manage it, and not stick their collective noses in to it.

My hope is that whoever is chosen will give us a product that we can not only be proud of, but will also embrace all the new technology that is required in an amphitheater using European models, and that seating would be permanent as opposed to having patrons bringing in lawn chairs or sitting on the ground. Near the stage, there should be room to place tables for VIP Patrons. and there should be at least three isles.
Surrounding the area should be a barrier to the seating area since the idea is to charge admission to that area.

In locating the amphitheater, it should run parallel with Front Street so as to maximize the size of the facility without compromising the Covelli parking area, and should allow at least 2000 permanent seats pr at the very least 1500.

The stage area should be a domed shell that allows sound to be projected with a sufficient wings space on either side.
Behind the stage area should be two dressing rooms, a green room, two toilets. a master utility room, and sufficient area for keeping the grips of the performers without interfering with free flowing of back stage movement.
There must also be space off stage for the person operating the mixers and lighting to see the show without detracting from the show. One could be at stage left and the other stage right, and at the back of the stage should be a double door to allow stage hands set the stage, but when they are closed, they become invisable to the audience.
Above the stage should be sufficient flys and lighting bars, and at the front of the stage footlights with multi-colored lights.
At the rear of the ampthitheater should be a tower for spotlights that could also house movie projectors.

[jay]

All seven councilmen voted for the expenditure.

[Towntalk]

Here is how I vision the ampitheater in a scaled down version.

[Towntalk]

Again, agreed, and by working with Covelli, it would give her access to tools that she doesn't already have to book in great shows.

[Youngstownshrimp]

Is Lynsey a part of this project, she should be, she ran the outdoor movies from scratch when Kidd bailed?