Vox Pop Shareholders Weighing Options

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

The Brooklyn Paper writes up the fall of Vox Pop, where some of the thoughtful comments posted on this blog now decorate the locked grate.

And Debi Ryan says they haven’t totally given up hope:

“The fate of Vox Pop has not yet been determined,” wrote Ryan in an e-mail to The Brooklyn Paper. “The Board and shareholders are currently looking at various options to make a final determination as to what is best.” Ryan did not respond to further questioning about the café.

Ryan has battled endless troubles at the iconic Cortelyou Road café, bookstore and jam space since taking the reigns from its anarchist founder Sander Hicks last year and transforming the space into a “for-profit collective” with shares owned by various community members.

…Ryan made strides toward getting the café back on financial track, but apparently not enough. state Taxation spokesman Gregg Semanick declined to comment due to privacy restrictions.

For now, the café is shuttered, and neighbors have their fingers crossed.

“It’s a very quirky and interesting and place — I always liked it because it’s so weird and unusual,” said Marion Weiner, an area resident. “I don’t even go there that often, but I would definitely be sad if it closed for good.”

Liena Zagare of Ditmas Park Blog thinks Vox Pop’s salvation is in a clean slate. “Vox Pop should go bankrupt, and start fresh — the mess that Sander Hicks left is just too much money,” said Zagare. “There is no place like it in the neighborhood, and the hole it leaves is huge. What they were offering was a really wonderful community center, and each community needs one. Hanging out at Connecticut Muffin is not quite the same.”

For his part, Hicks, ever the conspiracy theorist and publisher of many books and treatises contending, among other things, that the Bush Administration was involved in the 9-11 attacks, blamed government thugs, not his failure to pay his taxes, for the closure.

“The state and federal governments will not tolerate a business that stands up to the lies of the War on Terror,” he said.

- Ben

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  • Dncmilch

    Every time I see a Sander Hicks quote, I feel like I just drank a tall glass of orange juice after brushing my teeth.

  • carissa

    I really hope they find a way to start fresh. Running a business is difficult enough without all of the baggage Debi took on. Good luck!

  • CM

    I find it very interesting and suspicious that every time Ben writes something about vox pop he has to mention and often quote sander hicks. When Liena writes something about vox pop she simply writes about the current issue facing vox pop. Thanks to Liena for being a writer and not a person interested in starting controversy.

  • Emily

    CM, I can sympathize with the frustration over the way the past Vox Pop posts have gone, but to be entirely fair to Ben, this is a pretty direct reprint of the Brooklyn Paper article. He also removed a section that begins with “Hicks started the café on its road to financial ruin…”.

  • http://www.ditmasparkblog.com Ben

    Yes – no controversy intended, was just posting that bit of the article -though I agree that Liena is better at this than I am.

  • J

    HA!

    On a more serious note… how ‘legal’ is the shareholder situation? What I mean is, Do the shareholders also share liability like shareholders in a small corporation? Do they actually *own* a portion of the company or was this just casual usage of the term?

    Similarly… what about a co-op like the Food Co-op? Where are the lines drawn? They say you are a co-owner, but how does that play out legally? (not just in terms of company governance)

  • http://bzeines.wordpress.com Bruzen

    I think it is time to declare war on Sander Hicks brain which is somehow completely defective. The only terror war going on in this area, is the one he has irresponsibly inflicted on this community. He may be visionary, but he is also nuts.

  • Karen

    I’m in year 2 of living in DP, and I have yet to see this fellow around… I am bemused by how he is characterized here- or perhaps I should say, vilified.

    Which is not to say I don’t sympathize (with you, Bruzen)- I am currently empoyed by a “visionary” person (who has, I might add, been quite a bit more succesful than Mr. Hicks, but is still nuts) and I have known a few in my life.

    I understand it’s easy to get burned, but maybe forgetting is easier than declaring war? I mean, his bond fund apparently hasn’t materialized, and he seems to be laying low, no? His own craziness is probably enough of a cross to bear; maybe we could just let him go off into whatever lalaland he now inhabits? Wouldn’t that be healthier for us all?

  • DITMAS RESIDENT

    Conspiracy theorist Hicks is too self important for the tax problems to result from his error or oversight. Of course all levels of government are conspiring against his because of his knowledge of government secrets. He knows without a doubt that he’s always right.

  • lauren

    Wait–so I guess I’m very out of the loop here but, if I’m understanding correctly, Vox Pop’s financial problems stem from Sander Hick’s refusing to pay his taxes? What did he think was going to happen?

  • http://onaperegrine.blogspot.com/ Peregrine

    Sept. 12th.
    Vox Pox Populi…
    Grab Miss Liberty and march in the Flatbush Frolic parade.
    Debi and all her staff and supporters have earned the right to march in the parade and have the community thank them.
    Maybe with a grand reception they will find a way to continue.
    If not then we will clap and thank them for all their efforts.

  • Fred

    Okay, Sander may be extraordinarily nuts, but it is kind of awesome that he thinks that ‘The Man’ shut down Vox Pop for political reasons.

  • Karen

    Fred I agree with you but awesome in the sense that a demolition derby is awesome. Fun to watch but ultimately kind of pointless.

    And not that this makes Sander less amusing in the sense that you mean, but he apparently has upset some of our friends & neighbors in a way that they’re having real trouble letting go of, which was my original point…. and that’s sad.

    I’ve got no beef with the guy, just for the record.

  • zeth

    Shortly after I arrived in the neighborhood five years ago and began rediscovering my passion for music, I started going to the Sunday Open Mic. I couldn’t have had better luck in finding a community of musicians who supported each other and were really into what they were doing. The place made me feel comfortable making music and stepping in front of an audience again, which I hadn’t done for many years.

    I am going to miss Vox Pop. I’m going to miss hanging out there Sunday afternoons with my daughter, with Bruzen
    and my neighbor Patrick and his dog Princess. I’m going to miss the offbeat shows — everything from singer/songwriters to jazz jams to burlesque — that occurred there regularly. I am going to miss the friendly baristas who sometimes also performed there. And I am going to miss Debi, who held the place together — often with no more than sheer determination and chutzpah.

    For the first time ever, I cannot walk down Cortelyou Road from the subway without running into at least one or two people I know. This never happened to me in twelve years of living in Manhattan, and I mostly credit Vox Pop for this. Without it, I still might enjoy living in Ditmas Park, but my experience of the place would be a lot different.

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