Baltimore City Councilman Bill Henry speaks reverently about the Senator Theatre as a big part of his life. It was where his dad took him to see his first non-G-rated movie, the sci-fi thriller "Logan's Run," he said.

It was where he posed, grinning, for a photo from the campaign trail in 2003.

"I've thrown more balcony parties than I can count," Henry said. "I love that theater."

But some Senator supporters had no love for Henry this week as they braced for a scheduled foreclosure auction of the landmark 70-year-old theater at 5904 York Road.

Alex Cooper Auctioneers was scheduled to conduct the auction Wednesday on behalf of the Baltimore Development Corp., the city's economic development arm.

The city earlier this year took over mortgage payments on the theater. Now, the BDC is seeking a buyer or someone to lease it as a theater.

Henry, who said the July 22 auction is the only way to clear the books on the theater and preserve it, is in a war of words with longtime owner Tom Kiefaber, who is pushing to convert the debt-ridden Senator to nonprofit status.

Marquee attraction

The debate escalated last week, when the Senator marquee proclaimed, "Councilman Henry won't meet with the community about the auction."

"Tom's 'community' is him and the people who follow him," Henry retorted.

He said he has attended at least three town meetings about the Senator's future and missed one due to a prior obligation.

He said he feels sorry for Tom that he is losing the theater, but called the statement on the marquee an "insult" to his district.

Kiefaber, who could not be reached for comment for this article, has claimed publicly and on his Web site, www.senator.com, that an auction is akin to Russian roulette and would be a "circus."

In an open letter to Henry posted on the Senator Web site July 7, he also said Henry is dodging him and "running out the clock."

And Kiefaber, who for 20 years has been the public face of the Senator, said Henry is the leading face and chief champion of the auction.

"You've been an enthusiastic advocate through the media and in public and private meetings across north Baltimore for the city's position regarding a byzantine plan concocted by Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank and the BDC," Kiefaber's letter states.

In another missive Monday, he went further: "From our perspective, our district's City Councilman Bill Henry has changed his avowed allegiance to the community and the constituent base he represents and his stance in that regard has fundamentally shifted. It's clear to us and many others within our community that he has instead taken on the role of enthusiastic spokesperson for the mayor's office, the BDC and Baltimore's commercial development interests, and not the community in relation to the Senator Theatre's change of ownership at auction."

In arrears

Kiefaber fell more than $900,000 behind in mortgage payments on the Senator and the theater stopped showing first-run movies in March, although it continues to show classic films such as "Rashomon," which is playing this week.

The city purchased the mortgage note this spring from 1st Mariner Bank and averted a scheduled bank auction. The city set its own foreclosure auction for Wednesday and hoped that someone would buy the Senator and continue to operate it as a theater.

If not, the city planned to take over the building and issue a Request For Proposals to lease it as a theater, Henry said.

Charles Theatre owner James "Buzz" Cusack told the Messenger that he is interested in buying or leasing the Senator and would like to continue running it as a single-screen theater and add a restaurant, such as his tapas restaurant next door to the Charles.

"I'm willing to give it a try," he said.

Loyola College announced this week that it, too, is considering bidding on the building but spokeswoman Courtney Jolley would not comment on what Loyola would use it for or how high in price Loyola would be willing to go. Jolley said the college is acting as "a committed member of the York Road community."

Henry said he thinks the college might use the theater as a performance art, lecture and multipurpose center with some uses for the college and some for the public.

Also interested in operating the theater, according to pulished reports, is Baltimore-based Cordish Companies. Cordish officials could not be reached for comment.

Kiefaber and his supporters say the auction is a gamble and the theater may fall into the wrong hands, like a megachurch. That would be bad for the business community, including the Belvedere Square shopping center across the street, they say.

Henry said it's unlikely anyone but the city would buy the theater, because of parking restrictions, the high cost of deferred maintenance and renovation, and the hoops that a potential buyer would have to jump through to get the building rezoned to allow live music or entertainment, if they didn't keep it as a theater.

Plus, the 4th District councilman told constituents in an open letter of his own July 9, the opening bid would be a daunting $1 million-plus -- which is what it cost the city to purchase the 1st Mariner Bank note and to cover related costs such as liens on several houses Kiefaber owns.

Kiefaber called that a tacit admission by Henry that anyone with enough money could buy the Senator, whether or not they wanted to keep it as a theater.

No easy way out?

Kiefaber wants to create a nonprofit group to run the theater and expand its mission, with live entertainment, a liquor license and programming for area schoolchildren.

Henry served on a steering committee that concluded this spring the theater cannot be run successfully as a nonprofit, because it would require a continuing subsidy from the city.

Henry said there's not enough time to reinvent the Senator as a nonprofit because of all the pressing debt.

"It was clear that there was no more easy way out of this, where Tom wouldn't have to get foreclosed on or wouldn't have to declare bankruptcy," Henry said.

BDC officials could not be reached for comment but have echoed Henry's sentiments in published reports.

"The best outcome is that an entity interested in operating a historic movie theater comes up with the million-plus that would pay off the city's expenses," Kimberly Clark, BDC executive vice president told Preservation magazine in July. The publication is published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Kiefaber lauds the city for buying the note from 1st Mariner but criticizes the city for not pursuing nonprofit status for the movie house.

" ... The city was in an ideal position to avoid the Russian roulette of an auction, and instead affect an enlightened and judicious transition of the Senator Theatre to nonprofit ownership, as many municipalities have done nationwide with great success," he said in his most recent letter to the community, which he said written as a response to Henry's letter.

"The premise touted by the BDC, the Mayor's office and Councilman Henry that the upcoming foreclosure auction is the best and most viable option available to the city in the best interests of the community is absurd," Kiefaber states.

Under their skins

The back and forth between Kiefaber and Henry has taken on a life of its own at the Senator, where Henry and the city are critizized by some moviegoers and from volunteers who are helping run the theater when it shows occasional films.

One volunteer is Laura Perkins, who goes by Astrogirl, a blogger who is writing on the Web site www.astrogirlguides.com that unnamed city officials are out to destroy Kiefaber -- and that Henry, once a Senator supporter, now "has crossed over to the dark side and is doing their bidding."

"Astrogirl gets it!" says a headline on the Senator Web site, which links to her blog. A plug for the blog was on the marquee early this week.

Another volunteer is Gayle Grove, who said she has been "a Jane of all trades" for the Senator for 17 years.

Standing behind the concession stand last week and serving a small crowd that came to see "Under My Skin," a documentary about Lyme Disease, both said that Henry and the city were getting under their skins.

Henry is "trashing Tom," Grove said.

Perkins said Henry and other city officials are dismissing a nonprofit option that may be the last hope for survival of the Senator and independent theaters nationally.

By holding an auction, "they may get an operator in here that will help it limp along for a couple of years," Perkins said. "But at some point it's going to need some TLC.

"And regardless of the operator, the movie business is tanking all over the country," she said. "It's not a viable model."

Grove said the city purchased the old Mayfair Theatre on Howard Street, and it's still in disrepair with the roof collapsing.

"That shows you how the city runs theaters," she said.

Theater of the absurd

An announcement on the marquee last week said tickets would be sold for the auction, which was slated to be held at the theater.

Grove said Senator supporters were trying to book performers, too.

"It's a circus, so we're going to go with the circus thing," she said.

Recent comments on the marquee have piqued the public's interest and sullied Henry in the minds of some moviegoers.

"He begs you for votes and then he turns his back on you," said Charles Marrone, who came from Lancaster, Pa., to see "Under My Skin."

But mostly, Marrone felt sorry for the Senator.

"If I had the money I'd buy it myself and treat everybody," he said. "This place should not go to the dogs."

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user comments (2)

user emjsea says...

Frankly I'm sick and tired of the energy and expense that has been spent on keeping this arrogant, incompetent "businessman" afloat. Mr. Henry is correct, it is only about Tom Kiefaber and that's what it's been for decades. The Senator is merely a tool for Tom to get his little time in front of people and be the center of attention and occasionally rub shoulders with celebrities. It's time that taxpayers stopped being forced to keep this fool afloat. Let him ride off into the sunset with his precious cast jackets and spin his b.s. and rip off another community. Baltimore is DONE.

Posted 7:51 PM, 07.23.09

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user tomkiefaber says...

Dear emjsea, [MJC?], If you are going to post such a harsh and damning assessment of someone please follow our lead and stand behind your words and not hide behind a pseudonym. It's cowardly. Another good article on the situation with Councilman Henry by Larry Perl. For the record though, we did not fall more than $900,000 behind in mortgage payments to the bank on the Senator." That figure was close to our total debt to the bank, not the payments in arrears. While it also may have been helpful for readers to know more specific about why we feel Bill Henry is ethically challenged, Bill did point out that he has hosted many, many parties in The Senator's private space over the years before he was elected. That's one of the councilman's more accurate statements, and it is our staff's familiarity with Bill in that regard that gave us our initial pause for concern about him and his character and why we did not initially back his candidacy. Then he gave us an offer to do so that we couldn't refuse. Later we regrettably fell for his populist facade once he took office, but then the scales fell from our eyes like rain, and stayed there.

Posted 5:34 AM, 07.24.09

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