Market Hotel Is Shut Down Until Further Notice

• Having gone to these types of venues in NYC for the past 10 years I have notices a large uptick in the number of people now going to them due to the promotional efforts of ToddP. Shows are no longer by word of mouth of free but advertised on the internet for all to show up. The space never had a proper Public Assembly Permit which includes a fire alarm, emergency lighting, sprinklers etc. If that place ever went up inflames there would be a large loss of life. There is a reason why legit venues cost what they do, its because of overhead of permits, safety, liability and insurance, this is something that ToddP never bothered with so in some ways his shows are over priced.

• So many people will be really sad if Market is shut down for good. From this eyewitness account, the cops were actually very decent, one even apologized. Seemed like they recognize Market is a good thing, no one's doing anything wrong-- other than the minor fact that the place is totally illegal (whoops!) --the city prob just needs the $ right now from fines or whatever. I hope this can be turned into a blessing in disguise, that it shows people that there is a real need to make it legal to truly survive long-term. Todd has been wanting to do this forever, to go the non-profit route. To the readers of the Voice and NY Press and BK Vegan and whoever else chooses to cover this story, I say, if you know anyone with nonprofit start-up experience, someone who knows how to write a business plan, or anything of that nature, and you care about the fate of Market Hotel, send that info over to Todd. He might estimate $100k but that seems like a very very low number for what it would take to renovate Market into something that would meet health codes. I say that with love :P I think Todd should convert Market into the community center that I think he has in mind. He's gonna need a lot of help, but if Todd says it can be done, that's good enough for me. But as for Sarturday night, the cops were very diplomatic; there were absolutely no threats that I heard. They mostly just looked around with flashlights, turned the lights on, stood around, announced that everyone had to leave, and stood around some more. One guy from the Smith Westerns was having a long conversation with one cop, telling him that he was just bummed he couldn't get to play. The cop was listening patiently. I'm not some cop-loving-defender but I think people should get the story straight. I hope this can be turned into a positive thing. Please write to Todd and the others at Market if you can help at all, esp with information. It would be awful for Market to go dark forever.

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