Year old Illinois Smoking Ban Hurts Bars and Casinos

From Belleville.com on January 1, 2009:
By David Mercer
Walt Karstens stood inside his 74-year-old wood-frame bar in Moline counting his customers, and the empty seats he says would have been filled a year ago.

About a dozen regulars had checked in at Casey's Tavern by late afternoon on New Year's Eve, roughly half the number the 60-year-old Karstens says he could have expected before the state banned smoking in public places a year ago.

"It's terrible," Karstens said of the Smoke-Free Illinois Act, which he blames for the loss of about a fifth of his business. "It's the worst thing that could happen to a neighborhood saloon."
In the year since the new law kicked in, many bar owners say they've lost business, while casinos blame a drop in business on the ban and local governments that depend on gambling-tax revenue say they're sharing in the pain.

But the complaints aren't universal. Some bar owners say they've survived and even thrived since the ban, and organizations that pushed for it say the first year has been a success.

"I think it went exceptionally well," said Kathy Drea, the director of public policy for the American Lung Association. "We've heard from so many people that are now working in smoke-free work places and what a difference it's made in their lives. They just feel better."

Effective Jan. 1, 2008, the measure outlawed smoking in public places and within 15 feet of their exterior doors and windows. People and establishments that violate the law face fines of up to $250.

From the beginning, bars and casinos complained they would be hurt, while some prosecutors and police contended the law lacked details about how it should be enforced and how people cited for violations can appeal.

Those legal questions remain, Drea said.

The General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules has never approved rules for enforcing the law, something the American Lung Association and others hope will be addressed through a Senate bill now awaiting action.

It also isn't clear how widely the ban is being enforced.

The Illinois Department of Health received about 5,500 complaints in 2008 about smoking in bars, restaurants and other public places, spokeswoman Kelly Jakubek said. But that number doesn't include complaints filed with county health departments and local law enforcement.

For the most part, Jakubek said, smokers and the businesses they frequent seem to be following the new law.

Two Joliet bar customers fined $231 each and sentenced in November to court supervision for lighting up in a bar are believed to be among the first found to have violated the law. Another Joliet resident pleaded guilty earlier this year to smoking in a bar and paid a $235 fine, while several other Will County cases are scheduled for court next year.

What is clear is that casino business is down since the ban started. Revenue at Illinois casinos dropped 20.2 percent between November 2007 and November 2008, according to the most recent figures available from the Illinois Gaming Board.

Several factors are to blame, among them the weak economy.

"But the majority of the decrease has been as a result of the smoking ban," said Tom Swoik, executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association.

Swoik points out that casinos in Indiana, Missouri and Iowa - neighboring states where smoking is legal in casinos - saw nothing like Illinois' revenue drop, and he contends gamblers are leaving Illinois for casinos where they can smoke.

The American Lung Association's Drea disputes that. New casinos opened in those neighboring states over the past year, she said, which she believes accounts for their better fortunes.

And Illinois' sharp drop?

"Absolutely, I think it's the economy," she said. "The smoke-free law is insignificant."

Beyond the casinos, not all businesses affected by the new law say it's been a bad thing.

In Champaign, Toby Herges spent about $150,000 before the statewide ban kicked in on a heated, partially enclosed outdoor smoking area at his Tumble Inn bar, which opened in 1947.

"The whole idea was to just not lose the customers that we've had coming here for so many years," Herges said.

Instead, he said, he added customers who used to go to other bars, where they now have little choice in the winter but to stand outside in the wind and cold to light up.

It was 15 degrees and windy at Casey's in Moline on Wednesday afternoon. The deck Karstens built behind his bar doesn't do him or his smoking customers much good on a day like this, he said.

When the ban began, its backers predicted drinkers and gamblers who stayed away would be replaced by nonsmokers drawn to businesses where they could now breathe easier.

Karstens, whose great-grandfather opened Casey's during the Great Depression, says that never happened. Now, he figures he'll have to adapt by adding heat and some kind of enclosure to his deck to deal with a ban he said isn't like to go away.

"I don't think anything's going to change, not for a long time."

Fight the Hate! National Protest Saturday November 15

Protests Break Out in SF & LA Over Gay Marriage Ban

The end of the G-A-Y

From TimesOnLine.com on july 24, 2008:
"The London nightclub that welcomed Kylie, Cyndi and Madonna, and provided the venue for countless gay romances, is shutting up shop.

Everyone is so post-gay now, it's probably not the done thing to shed a tear over the last night of G-A-Y at the Astoria in Central London this Saturday. With its simple delight in fluffy disco and boozy, cruisey merriment, G-A-Y seems a dinosaur in the modern landscape of gay indie clubs, mixed clubs and the pansexual, drag-tastic dives of Shoreditch, where the beestung-lipped boy in eyeshadow probably has a girlfriend who's cool with it all.

But sad I am for the passing of G-A-Y. Jeremy Joseph, the club's pixie-like promoter, says it will reopen somewhere else, but it won't be the same - for good and ill, for its fans and detractors, G-A-Y at the Astoria is a gay cultural landmark, and even though it smells of chips and the Astoria has seen better days, the club has a resounding pre-eminence. While Joseph's G-A-Y has been going since 1993, the night began life as Bang! way back in 1976. It's a gay grand-daddy in a tight T-shirt.

As the club's capital-lettered, branded moniker implies, G-A-Y is gay and then some. It doesn't try to be clever or jaded. Instead it serves up, weekly, a cacophonous, fizzing party, the centrepiece of which is a performance by a pop star. Madonna, Kylie, Mariah Carey, Cyndi Lauper, Pink, Enrique Iglesias (and a lot worse - step forward Caprice) have appeared at G-A-Y: Iglesias generously offering up his ass to be fondled. Joseph doesn't think that the G-A-Y brand is outdated: “We've survived longer than any other gay club. Does that sound unsuccessful to you?”

G-A-Y encompasses not just the Saturday-night club but also two Soho bars. Along with Heaven, it is the first, most visible homo port of call not just for foreign visitors but for 16-year-olds coming out. Its young crowd sets it apart: if you are over the age of 25 you feel ancient.

Joseph says that he has decided to ship out because he is fed up with having “the axe of Crossrail hanging over my head”. He still doesn't know if or when the Astoria will be knocked down to make way for London's high-speed rail link, but this week Crossrail received Royal Assent, which Joseph took to be “a message - the time is right to go”.

Joseph says that it is getting harder and harder to show stars around the building when it's in such a bad state. But he'll be emotional on Saturday night, he admits - his energy and ability to get stars to perform at G-A-Y have given the club an enviable profile. Open the tabloids on a Monday morning and there will be a picture of, say, McFly dropping their pants on stage.

The most dramatic appearance was possibly that of Kylie Minogue on stage, post-cancer operation, alongside her sister Dannii. That night I had been out at Ghetto, just behind G-A-Y, and was accosted by two sweet and breathless young guys on the night bus, eager to share the news (and pictures taken on their mobile phones). Over the years, G-A-Y has played a part in mobilising support for significant gay political campaigns, such as Section 28, the age of consent and gays and the military.

Joseph has had many messages from G-A-Yers young and old in the past few days. “It was the first place they went to when they came out - or before they came out; the place they went to be themselves if they were having problems with families or colleagues. I've even had messages such as ‘I met my boyfriend ten years ago at G-A-Y. If you hadn't been there we'd never have met'.”

Joseph won't say where or when the club will reopen. He is being very cagey about what will happen on Saturday night, too. “Lots of acts” will be performing - he says that Kylie and Madonna are unavailable, but is this a decoy?

The evening isn't about the “names”, he says strenuously, or he would publicise them. It's about saying farewell to the club. All will be revealed when the show starts at 1am. Joseph will make a speech - “I've been trying to compose one on the running machine but I keep getting stuck” - and a grand finale (prepare for glitter guns and tears) is planned for 4.15am.

For Joseph - and me, it turns out - the song that best sums up G-A-Y is Kylie's Better the Devil You Know. For the past 15 years he has played it at 12.30am each week.

“It's one of the world's best pop songs,” he says with absolute authority. “When you hear that first ‘Woo-ooohhh-ohhh' in the opening bars, you just know...” And his voice tails off but I know what he means. Jeremy, see you on the dancefloor at 12.30am. "

A Message From the Owner - Major Announcement About the Future of Faces on Fourth Street

Thank you to everyone who ever visited Faces on Fourth Street over the last 30 years. Thank you to everyone who filled our dance floor until dawn, who drank with us, laughed with us, celebrated with us, fell in love with us, and sometimes cried with us. Faces has been both famous and infamous for 30 years. The last 14 years, I had the privilege of owning a part of our history. While it was often hard work and long hours, I am grateful to everyone who included me and Faces in their lives. I loved throwing the parties. I loved the music. I loved the video stars, recording artists, and DJs that I was able to get to know. I loved the incredibly talented DJs and drag queens from our local community who made Faces their home. I loved the late night decadence. I loved the thousands of wonderful customers who took the time to get to know me and my staff. I loved the conversations over cocktails about everything from politics to sex. You and your friends made the last 14 years one hell of a ride. After we closed at the end of April 2007, I took some time off. I worked to try to pay our old bills, kept the building secure, tried to keep up on St. Louis nightlife, and asked you for your feedback. I read your comments from our on line survey, sharing them with friends, advisors, and family. Considering the fact that we were forced to close because of cash flow issues, your positive comments were a nice surprise. We continue to get emails and IMs asking when we are reopening, frequently begging us to reopen. Some have admitted that they did not realize what they had at Faces until it was gone.
My answer has been pretty consistent. I appreciate all of your positive comments and I really did not know what our plans were. Personally, 2007 was a bad year. I had borrowed heavily to keep the bar going, and I was forced to sell property at a deep discount just to try to repay debts. What little money was left from sales went to start to repay people who had helped us, but at the end of the day, there wasn't enough to pay everyone. In a different economy, there would have been enough to cover all our debts and reopen. Despite this setback, we continued to discuss plans to remodel and reopen. The idea of reopening under my management became even more distant in the last few weeks.
In the last few weeks, someone cut the power lines to the building to steal the copper from our electric meter. How they did it without being electocuted is a mystery. Before we could replace it, they managed to break into the building and began systematically to gut the building. While not damaged beyond repair, they cut out copper pipes to and from our boiler, they cut out copper water pipes, they even smashed toilets to get the copper pipe and valves. We have been maintaining the building, keeping it secure, and alarmed since we closed. We could have easily cleaned, painted, and reopened in a matter of days. Now, the damage done in the last few weeks make that dream unrealistic.
The building is secure again. We have removed the equipment to keep it safe. We don't feel that we have the capital necessary to make repairs, remodel, redecorate, and reopen. It breaks my heart to say the only way to pay off all our debts and make necessary repairs is to offer the club for lease. We hope to offer someone with new ideas the opportunity to repair and reopen Faces. I want Faces to reopen as much as you do. I want it to reopen as a gay bar. Your on line survey responses have confirmed that there is a demand for Faces to return. I will help anyone willing to make that happen.
An observation - disturbing recent events in St. Louis gay nightlife seem to point to a continued downturn in the clubs. Manchester Street favorite, Freddie's was forced to close recently with plans to remodel and re-open in the spring. EXP Magazine, long the source of St. Louis' gay bar news recently suspended publication, leaving St. Louis without a gay bar magazine. Both events are sad. My heart goes out to the owner and staff of Freddie's as well as EXP owner/editor Jeff Balk. We had a long friendship with EXP and Jeff deserves credit for much of our early success as well as for his contributions to our community. We always enjoyed Freddie's and have a special place in our heart for their nationally known and incredibly talented DJ Danny Morris. We wish them the best and hope this is the end of the bad news for St. Louis gay bars.
Thank you for your support and kind words.
Craig

Eye Candy - Cute Naked Guy Running

The_naked_mile
Uploaded by shico30

Gays Hit by Drug Resistant Flesh Eating Bacteria, Researchers Suggest Scrubbing with Soap & Water After Sex

From NYT:
January 15, 2008
New Bacteria Strain Is Striking Gay Men
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN
A new, highly drug-resistant strain of the “flesh-eating” MRSA bacteria is being spread among gay men in San Francisco and Boston, researchers reported on Monday.

In a study published online by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, the bacteria seemed to be spread most easily through anal intercourse but also through casual skin-to-skin contact and touching contaminated surfaces.

The authors warned that unless microbiology laboratories were able to identify the strain and doctors prescribed the proper antibiotic therapy, the infection could soon spread among other groups and become a wider threat.

The new strain seems to have “spread rapidly” in gay populations in San Francisco and Boston, the researchers wrote, and “has the potential for rapid, nationwide dissemination” among gay men.

The study was based on a review of medical records from outpatient clinics in San Francisco and Boston and nine medical centers in San Francisco.

The Castro district in San Francisco has the highest number of gay residents in the country, according to the University of California, San Francisco. One in 588 residents is infected with the new multidrug-resistant MRSA strain, the study found. That compares with 1 in 3,800 people in San Francisco, according to statistical analyses based on ZIP codes.

A separate part of the study found that gay men in San Francisco were about 13 times more likely to be infected than other people in the city.

The San Francisco researchers suggested that scrubbing with soap and water might be the most effective way to stop skin-to-skin transmission, particularly after sexual activities.

MRSA, for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, was once spread chiefly in hospitals. But in recent years, a number of healthy people have acquired it outside hospitals.

Nearly 19,000 people died in the United States from MRSA infections in 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported.

The infection can cause unusually severe problems, including abscesses and skin ulcers. The bacteria can invade through the skin to produce necrotizing fasciitis, giving them the popular name of flesh-eating bacteria. They can also cause pneumonia, damage the heart and produce widespread infection through the blood.

Among gay men in the study, MRSA was spread by skin contact, causing abscesses and infection in the buttocks and genital area.

The new strain is closely related to earlier ones. Both are known as MRSA USA300.

The strain is much more difficult to treat because it is resistant not just to methicillin, but also many more of the antibiotics used to treat the earlier strains, said Dr. Henry F. Chambers, an author of the new study.

The new strain contains a plasmid called pUSA03.

“This particular clone is resistant to at least three other drugs, clindamycin, tetracycline and mupirocin,” Dr. Chambers said in a telephone interview.

Of the alternatives recommended by the C.D.C. and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim), clindamycin and a tetracycline, “this strain is resistant to two of those three,” he added. “In addition, the new strain is resistant to mupirocin, which has been advocated for eradicating the strain from carriers.”

HIV Rises in Young Gay Men

From NYT:
January 14, 2008
Editorial
AIDS appears to be making an alarming comeback. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that the incidence of H.I.V. infection among gay men is shooting up, following an encouraging period of decline. The rise of infections among younger gay men, especially black and Hispanic men, is troubling, and the study carries the clear implication that people at high risk of contracting the disease are becoming less cautious.

Statistics gathered by New York City health officials show that new diagnoses of H.I.V. infection — the virus that causes AIDS — in gay men under age 30 rose 32 percent between 2001 and 2006. Among black and Hispanic men, the figure was 34 percent. Most troubling, the number of new diagnoses among the youngest men in the study, those between ages 13 and 19, doubled.

New York officials say increased alcohol and drug use may be partly responsible since they make unprotected sex more likely. Other basic precautions, including finding out whether a potential partner is infected, are also apparently being ignored.

The one bright spot in this bleak picture was the 22 percent decline in infections among men over 30 in the New York study. Awareness of the disease’s devastating effects, as much as maturity, may explain the difference. A large number of these older men came of age when AIDS was all but untreatable. They may have buried friends who died after being horribly ill.

When the disease was new and terrifying, the gay community helped change behavior by preaching loudly against taking sexual risks. From San Francisco to New York, bathhouses notorious for promoting casual sex changed the way they did business or closed down. Condoms were encouraged, and so was H.I.V. testing. “Silence equals death” was the motto of the day.

Silence now seems to be winning the day. Nearly 6,000 gay men died of AIDS in the United States in 2005; still, many young men appear to have persuaded themselves that the infection is no longer such a big deal. It is true that antiretroviral therapy has improved the outlook for anyone who becomes infected. But the treatments are still too new to know whether they can work much beyond a decade. Public health officials need to continue to distribute condoms, encourage testing and treat those who are ill. Leaders in the hardest-hit communities need to start speaking out again. The fight against AIDS is far from over.

Nine Days Into Badly Written Illinois Smoking Ban Law and State Government Still Can't Agree on Enforcement Rules

From Stltoday.com:
By Kevin McDermott
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
Thursday, Jan. 10 2008

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Almost two weeks into Illinois' new indoor smoking ban,
state officials haven't yet cleared the air of lingering questions over how it
is to be enforced — and what recourse business owners have if they think
they've been wrongly cited for violations.

The ban remains in effect, as it has since Jan. 1, making it illegal to smoke
in or near bars, restaurants, casinos and other indoor public venues in
Illinois. But there are still no detailed enforcement standards for that ban. A
legislative panel on Wednesday rejected, for the second time, a proposed set of
specific rules.

As a result, it remains unclear how outdoor beer gardens are to be policed,
whether bar owners are responsible for outdoor smoke that drifts inside, and
whether universities can legally conduct smoking-related research in state
facilities.

What most concerned lawmakers on the panel Wednesday was that the proposed
rules provided no internal appeals process for businesses that are fined for
violating the law.

"The existence of an ashtray (in a restaurant) could trigger an investigation,"
yet there's no way for the restaurant owner to appeal any findings except to
sue in the court system, said Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, a member of the Joint
Administrative Committee on Rules.

That legislative committee, which oversees how state laws are implemented by
state agencies, voted 9-1 against approving rules that were proposed by the
Illinois Department of Public Health. The agency now will have to revise and
resubmit its proposed rules to lawmakers, probably next month.

It was the second time in the past two months that the legislative panel
rejected the agency's proposed rules. Lawmakers expressed frustration at what
they said was the agency's continued failure to address crucial issues of
enforcement and due process.

"The one thing I've heard from my constituents is they don't know what their
rights are," Rep. David Miller, D-Dolton, said at the hearing.

Miller and others chided Public Health Department officials for their
insistence that the proposed rules should be implemented immediately, and then
updated as needed.

"Even though you know there are problems with the rules as written, you want to
proceed?" Miller asked.

After the hearing, department spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said the agency was
disappointed at the committee's decision, and that it will put together yet
another proposed set of rules for lawmakers to consider next month.

"The law still is in place," she added. "As far as smoking in a bar or
restaurant or bowling alley … that is still against the law."

But within that broad prohibition, there remain numerous detailed questions —
to the frustration of business owners who are trying to find ways to continue
to cater to smokers without violating the new law.

One of them, Fast Eddie's tavern of Alton, has conducted a major renovation to
install a beer garden to allow patrons to legally smoke on the premises. Owner
Eddie Sholar said he's confident the facility adheres to the new law as it's
currently written, but he worries that whatever rules are eventually
implemented from Springfield may change that.

"They say we have to obey the law, but they can't even tell you what it is.
Just tell us what it is and we'll do it," Sholar said Wednesday. "It's
ridiculous how Illinois did this. They don't even know what they're doing."

State officials have received about 300 complaints alleging smoking ban
violations by businesses since the ban started Jan. 1, said Arnold, the Public
Health Department spokeswoman. She said she wasn't aware of any fines being
imposed, and that most violators still were being given warning notices because
the law is so new.

Infamous New York Club Parties Shut Down

From NYT:

By MELENA RYZIK
Published: December 31, 2007
It’s been more than three months since Melissa Maino and Jonathan Murray dressed up in gold lamé pants with matching boots (him) and a sailor hat and bubble dress (her) for the final Misshapes party. And it’s been about two months since they costumed themselves in green body paint (her) and a silver spacesuit (him) for what turned out to be the last Halloween blowout of a long-running series with an unpublishable name.
Both Misshapes, held every Saturday for five years, and the other party, held on the eve of major holidays for nearly eight years, were regular destinations for young downtown clubgoers. Their unexpected back-to-back demise left the skinny-jeans-and-Converse set — along with the promoters who cater to them — asking the same question: What’s next?

“It’s been rough,” Ms. Maino, 24, said. That’s especially true Monday night, one of the biggest clubbing nights of the year, when the former holiday-eve party was a reliable place to celebrate in the most downtown-decadent way possible. Going there “was what I depended on for New Year’s Eve,” Ms. Maino said, adding that its sudden end “was definitely heartbreaking.”

But on the weekend before Christmas she and Mr. Murray, 28, who live together in Manhattan and are corporate suit-wearers by day, rallied and coordinated their outfits once again to hit two of the newest regular parties. On that Friday, they were at Robot Rock at Le Royale, a West Village club open just three weeks (in the space that was formerly Luke & Leroy, once home to Misshapes) to hear Kele Okereke, the singer from the British band Bloc Party, D.J. On Sunday they stopped by Beauty Bar, on East 14th Street, where the D.J. and promoter who goes by the name Michael T., a founder of the holiday eve series, has recently helped start the retro-glam Re-make/Re-model party. For the time being it will also be held only before holidays.

“It’s just getting harder and harder to do weekly parties, unfortunately, at least for me,” Michael T. said, adding that the right site is difficult to find. “In a city just inundated with bottle service and things of that nature, that’s not me, and also ultra-hip Brooklyn ‘I don’t bathe and I have a beard’ is not me.”

In 2000 he was co-founder of the holiday eve series as a way to merge disparate Manhattan scenes — glam, rock, goth, indie, gay, straight — with his partners: Georgie Seville, a veteran promoter; Johnny Yerington (a k a Johnny T.), an East Village bar owner and musician; and the D.J. Justine Delaney, better known as Justine D. What began as a part-time endeavor wound up as a regular roving bacchanal, famous for its nude go-go dancers, wildly costumed crowd and dance floor debauchery. (The party’s original home, the Chelsea club Mother, closed unexpectedly after their inaugural event there; the founders moved it around to clubs like the Roxy, Avalon and Rebel.)

A rarity on the club scene, the holiday-eve party was also a destination for up-and-coming bands, indie favorites like Bloc Party, the Rapture, the Faint and !!! before they broke, and the Cramps and the New York Dolls on the cusp of their comeback tours. During its long run the party managed to retain a cult audience; more than 2,000 people came to the Halloween event, Michael T. said. Last year it was even the subject of a yet-to-be-released documentary, which the crew hoped would propel it to bigger projects, like an album. Despite its longevity, the series was never a moneymaker. “We did it as a labor of love,” Ms. Delaney said.

But the foursome’s different managerial styles caused near-constant friction. “We’ve had years where we were like cats and dogs, at each other’s throats,” Mr. Yerington said, adding that the group had decided to call it quits in 2008, after eight years. Then on Halloween Michael T. and Mr. Yerington had a fight about an unrelated party that both had been involved in.

Michael T. characterized it as the final straw. “I had an epiphany,” he said. “I was just like, do I want to continue to deal with this type of relationship in my life? No, I don’t.” He decided to disband the group immediately, though not without some regret. The end of that party, he said wistfully, “was kind of like somebody in your family passing away.”

But his partners were sanguine. “I think it was time,” Ms. Delaney said. It helps that they are all busy with new ventures. As the creative director of Studio B, Ms. Delaney is overseeing parties like Monday’s New Year’s Eve event there, with Slick Rick and Moby. Mr. Seville works with the Lower East Side club the Annex and at a club in Miami, Studio A, and runs a recording studio. Mr. Yerington is expanding into restaurants. And Michael T. is a co-host of a New Year’s Eve party on Monday at Don Hill’s in the South Village, with promoters of another downtown series, Trash. The Brooklyn band A Place to Bury Strangers will perform, and there will be burlesque; Mr. Murray and Ms. Maino are already on board for Don Hill’s, they said when they checked out Le Royale.

They gave Le Royale high marks for being not too self-consciously posey, despite the presence of a photo blogger. “The party should be about having fun, not looking like you’re having fun,” Ms. Maino said.

In Le Royale’s opening weeks, the ground floor lounge area, which has a V.I.P. section, was mostly empty, while the upper level dance floor was mostly packed. Fashion was less outré than at Misshapes. One man wore a sweater around his shoulders, apparently without irony.

“There’s two dramatically opposed scenes,” said Thomas Dunkley, a booker for Le Royale and an owner of GBH, a decade-old promotions company. “The real commercial scene,” typified by the big-box clubs of West Chelsea, “and the hipster scene.”

“Where it gets interesting,” he said, “is where the two merge together. We’ve always tried to be in that place.”

His partner, Alejandro Torio, categorized their crowd as music fans and “hipsters who have graduated.” To that end they are booking D.J.’s from indie it-bands like Peter Bjorn and John, and the Raveonettes, playing host to rock bands and giving after-parties.

Bottle service (buying an expensive bottle to get a table) is not a main focus, and though there is a coverage charge — around $20 — it seems easy to get around it by being on the right list or dropping the right name. (“Oh, you’re a friend of the bartender?” a doorman said to a guest who was trying to get in free. “O.K.”)

The comparatively unpretentious endeavor has the support of the club’s new owner, Dave Baxley, a nightlife veteran who used to run the 1990s D.J. haven Centro-Fly and whose taste in bars runs to the Subway Inn on the Upper East Side. “Everything is a little too clean in New York,” he said. “I feel like this is a good club for a recession.”

He added, “It’s the opposite of 1 Oak,” referring to another new downtown club backed by celebrity- and model-friendly promoters. “We are trying to have a sense of humor.”

But will it be the next Misshapes? When that hipster Mecca ended in September, a Tuesday party called Six Six Sick at the Chinatown bar Happy Ending emerged as a contender; Jackson Polis, a Misshapes D.J., had his birthday party there, and the promoters, three women known for their matching risqué outfits, won a nightlife award from Paper magazine. The downtown nightlife calendar also includes the Factory-esque 205 club on Mondays for karaoke (or Butter, for the celebrity-hungry); Home Sweet Home for a goth night on Wednesdays; Hiro Ballroom (promoted by the GBH crew) on Thursdays; and Studio B and the Annex on Fridays. By general consensus, Saturdays are still up for grabs.

But perhaps not for long. Next month Michael T. plans to restart Rated X, a particularly louche party with a late-night “hot body” contest, at Don Hill’s. Still, it won’t be like his signature party. “Every artist has their peak time, and then you make that mark,” he said. “Right now, I’m not at that peak.”

Not that he’s wall-flowering. “I’m a survivor,” he said. “It’s going to be me, Cher, and the cockroaches.”

East Side Bar Owners Brace for Worst As Smoking Ban Takes Effect - Smokers Threaten to Move Their Drinking to St. Louis' Ban-Free Bars

From Belleville News-Democrat:

BY OLIVIA GOLDBERG
For the News-Democrat

More than 70 percent of Illinois residents support a ban on smoking in restaurants and work places. But you'd never know it to hear the customers at Crehan's Irish Pub in Belleville.

Grumbling about the statewide ban on smoking in public places that begins Tuesday, some customers said they'll give up a favorite hangout before they give up a favorite habit.

"I'll go across the river," said David Rush, 64. A retired engineer, Rush patronizes Crehan's three or four days a week. But now he plans to take trips to Soulard or the Hill in St. Louis. Some Missouri municipalities have enacted smoking bans, but St. Louis city and St. Louis County have not.

"We've had people here say their friends are planning to come over here from Illinois and party," said Paula Young, the service manager at Hammerstone's in Soulard.

It's a reaction that has Crehan's owner, Barry Gregory, on edge these days.

"I'm much more nervous about it now than ever I have been," said Gregory who, at 54, staked his future on the success of the bar-restaurant at 5500 North Belt West.

"I invested my entire retirement in this facility," he said. "If this doesn't work out, you'll probably see me as a greeter at some local store somewhere."

Eddie Sholar, owner of Fast Eddie's Bon Air in Alton, already had plans to expand and, with passage of the Smoke-Free Illinois Act, began incorporating a large space especially for smokers.

"We like to say there's no smoking ban here," Sholar said.

Sholar described the additional 300-seat bar as "just a regular room that meets all the codes."

The Smoke-Free Illinois Act, slated to take effect Tuesday, has stirred up passions -- particularly among smokers. The law prohibits smoking in all public places, including restaurants, bars and clubs.

It is a response to the 2006 U.S. Surgeon General's report, which determined there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, and that even small amounts of exposure puts health at risk.

The state backed up the legislation with findings from its 2005 survey in which 72 percent of adults believed smoking should not be allowed in work areas. Nearly 73 percent supported a law for smoke-free restaurants.

The state also cited a 2006 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which calculated that nearly 80 percent of Illinoisans do not smoke. Compliance rates with other states that had previously enacted smoke-free laws, it found, were high.

Gregory serves as the area state vice president of the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, which has lobbied steadily against a smoking ban because bars could go out of business.

The American Cancer Society, which supported the smoking ban, has heard similar arguments from business owners like Gregory before. As of 2007, 25 states have passed similar anti-smoking laws.

"We understand the way these establishments in the hospitality industry may feel, but there are more than 20 independent studies that say these laws have a neutral or positive effect on hospitality industries," said Dr. James Piephoff, the volunteer board president of American Cancer Society's metro-east chapter.

Gregory, his patrons and employees say the law is, at worst, an infringement on citizens' rights to determine their own behaviors.

"They're taking away your personal choice in trying to protect you," Gregory said. "It's been proven with prohibition that you can't legislate. ..." Rush finished Gregory's sentence. "Morality?" he said. "Right," Gregory answered.

Patrons at the Fairview Heights Memorial VFW 8677 and Ladies' Auxiliary on North Illinois Street in Fairview Heights tend to weigh in on smoking more as a fundamental right, one implied in the U.S. Constitution and now, imperiled.

"My dad served in World War II, my husband served in Vietnam and my son's been in the Army 15 years," said bar manager Ruth Ann Shellito.

"All of them served for our rights and freedoms, but they're constantly taking our freedoms away," she said, adding that plans to build a beer garden on the property are on hold, pending more information on the parameters of the new law.

Rosie Gwinn, president of the Ladies Auxiliary, quit smoking in 1999 after her mother, Carol Gwinn, suffered a heart attack. Returning to the smoky VFW was a challenge at first, but one she said she had to get past.

"If you want to be with your friends, you have to get over it," she said, adding that she smells smoke on her clothes when she gets home. "But here it doesn't bother me at all. People are going to smoke wherever you go."

However, the number of public places people can smoke in the country has declined. Between 1998 and 1999, 61 percent of adults in U.S. households polled by the National Cancer Institute for a tobacco use survey said smoking was not allowed at home. Sixty-eight percent said their workplaces did not allow smoking. By 2003, the numbers had grown to 74 percent and 77 percent, respectively.

Similarly, nearly 30 percent of U.S. households surveyed between 1998 and 1999 believed bars and cocktail lounges should be smoke-free. Three years later, that number grew to nearly 40 percent. Attitudes toward smoking have changed.

Case in point: John Pilkington. The 58-year-old father and grandfather exited St. Clair Square on Christmas Eve and promptly lit up. In his estimation, the more smoke-free environments lawmakers identify, the better.

"She's been after me for years to quit," nodding toward his daughter, Anne Amici, 37.

Local businesses don't have years, and owners must take steps now to turn people's habits -- at least in their establishments -- around. Ashtrays will vanish, no smoking signs will appear and some places, like Porter's Cigar Bar in Collinsville, will take on a whole new identity.

The swanky space has emptied its humidors in anticipation of the ban. After Tuesday, the venue will be known as Porter's Place, a jazz and blues venue.

"It's certainly not what we wanted, but we're trying to put our best face forward as a way to remarket Porter's," said general manager Tom Bruno. The business has partnered with the music department at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville to acquire local talent.

While Bruno, like so many of his colleagues, tried to stall or seek exemption from the legislation, the ban's passage told him the time to fight was over.

"It's the law now," he said. "We want to be in compliance with the law."

Illinois Officials Big Failure - Critical Smoking Ban Questions Unanswered Days Before NYE Effective Date

Who is going to pay for enforcing this law? How many communities have extra money to cover cost of enforcement of smoking ban? What programs will suffer or be cut when communites are forced to pay for this unfunded mandate? Will police be forced to curtail street patrols so they can write tickets in bars?

From St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
By Kevin McDermott
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
Sunday, Dec. 23 2007

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — This much is clear: After midnight on New Year's Eve, it
will be illegal to light a cigarette inside a restaurant, bar or other indoor
public place anywhere in Illinois.

But parts of Illinois' impending smoking ban remain hazy. It will go into
effect Jan. 1 with unsettled questions regarding outdoor dining patios,
merchant liability, the appeals process and even the wording of the
"no-smoking" signs that businesses will be required to post.

"There are some things that haven't been totally defined," said Barb Hohlt of
the St. Clair County Health Department, who cited especially "questions about
beer gardens and patios."

She added, "To be honest with you, we don't have the answers to those."

Normally, the state agency responsible for rolling out a new law (the Illinois
Department of Public Health, in the case of the smoking ban) proposes specific
rules so local officials and the public know exactly what to do. The proposed
rules have to be approved by a legislative body called the Joint Committee on
Administrative Rules, made up of 12 state legislators.

The process is to make sure that the agencies carry out new laws the way the
Legislature

intended. The committee declined earlier this month to approve the proposed
rules from the Department of Public Health, saying they don't address key
issues.

Generally, the law bans all smoking in enclosed public places, all venues where
employees are present, and within 15 feet of entryways of those venues. The law
sets fines of up to $250 for individuals and $2,500 for businesses that defy
the ban.

But the proposed rules didn't address what happens if a smoking complaint
arises from something beyond a business' control — say, a non-patron smoking
outdoors but near a restaurant doorway. And there's no administrative appeals
process for a business that believes it's been wrongly fined.

Also, the proposed rules don't provide exemptions for situations that obviously
weren't the target of the law, including several smoking research programs
being conducted by universities. State Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Pontiac, a
committee member, worried that the law might bar such research. He added that
the smoking ban law was poorly drafted and the proposed rules inadequate.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Public Health is re-working its proposed
rules, and the committee could approve them at its next meeting Jan. 9. But
that means local officials and businesses will still have to feel their way
around the new law for more than a week, at least, with some details still
unclear.

Toni Corona of the Madison County Public Health Department called the snag "a
hiccup in the process." She said it wouldn't impede the ban locally, but had
complicated issues such as what kind of "no smoking" signs businesses have to
post.

There also are quandaries about outdoor restaurant areas that are partly
enclosed, an issue the only vaguely addresses.

Hohlt, of the St. Clair County Health Department, is refraining from even
trying to answer that question until the rules clarify it.

"We don't want to cause a local business to construct things (for smokers) that
don't comply with the law," she said.

A spokesman for the Illinois Restaurant Association, Larry Suffredin, said that
the snag was another reminder that "state government doesn't always function
well," but that he didn't expect restaurants to have any serious problems
implementing it. "The law is clear: There's no smoking as of Jan. 1."

kmcdermott@post-dispatch.com

Illinois Statewide Smoking Ban Takes Effect @ Midnight on New Year's Eve

From Chicago Sun-Times:

December 28, 2007
.. Article By Line -->
BY JIM RITTER Health Reporter/jritter@suntimes.com
.. Article's First Paragraph -->
At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, Illinois will ban virtually all indoor smoking in public spaces, including bars and restaurants.

Bad timing, said Sheila O'Grady of the Illinois Restaurant Association.

"To become effective in the middle of New Years Eve celebrations is not ideal."

However, O'Grady predicted that restaurants will comply. And if past experience is any guide, she's probably right.

Chicago restricted indoor smoking in 2005, and so far this year, the city has received only 119 smoking-related complaints, the public health department said.

Under the Smoke-Free Illinois Act, just about the only places left where you can smoke indoors will be private cars and homes.

Smoking will be banned in offices, factory floors, stores, private clubs, prisons, bowling alleys, dormitories, stadiums, casinos, elevators and restrooms.

Smoking also will be banned within 15 feet of entrances, exits and windows.

Smoking will still be allowed in private rooms in nursing homes, in up to 25 percent of hotel rooms and in tobacco shops and hookah bars that don't serve food or alcohol.

Smokers could be fined as much as $250. Businesses could be fined at least $250 for the first violation and at least $2,500 for a third violation within a year.

The city offers this advice if you see a violation: Ask the smoker to put the cigarette out, then inform the management. And if that doesn't work, call 311. After three complaints, the city will send an inspector to investigate.

Outside Chicago, call the Cook County Public Health Department, (708) 492-2000 or the Illinois Public Health Department, (866) 973-4646.

Health advocates say the law will protect workers. In addition to cancer, secondhand smoke can cause stroke, heart disease, respiratory ailments and sudden infant death syndrome. Studies have found secondhand smoke kills 65,000 Americans each year, including eight people in Illinois every day.

A 2005 survey found that 72 percent of Illinois adults said smoking should be banned from work and 73 percent said it should be banned from restaurants.

But the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association says bars, restaurants and nightclubs could lose business to neighboring states. And a casino trade group has warned that casinos could lose as much as 20 percent of their business, costing the state as much as $144 million in lost tax revenue.

Jusy Garland - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Merry Christmas

New York Times Asks, "Are Gay Neighborhoods Passe?'

By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
Published: October 30, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 24 — This Halloween, the Glindas, gladiators and harem boys of the Castro — along with untold numbers who plan to dress up as Senator Larry E. Craig, this year’s camp celebrity — will be celebrating behind closed doors. The city’s most popular Halloween party, in America’s largest gay neighborhood, is canceled.
The once-exuberant street party, a symbol of sexual liberation since 1979 has in recent years become a Nightmare on Castro Street, drawing as many as 200,000 people, many of them costumeless outsiders, and there has been talk of moving it outside the district because of increasing violence. Last year, nine people were wounded when a gunman opened fire at the celebration.

For many in the Castro District, the cancellation is a blow that strikes at the heart of neighborhood identity, and it has brought soul-searching that goes beyond concerns about crime.

These are wrenching times for San Francisco’s historic gay village, with population shifts, booming development, and a waning sense of belonging that is also being felt in gay enclaves across the nation, from Key West, Fla., to West Hollywood, as they struggle to maintain cultural relevance in the face of gentrification.

There has been a notable shift of gravity from the Castro, with young gay men and lesbians fanning out into less-expensive neighborhoods like Mission Dolores and the Outer Sunset, and farther away to Marin and Alameda Counties, “mirroring national trends where you are seeing same-sex couples becoming less urban, even as the population become slightly more urban,” said Gary J. Gates, a demographer and senior research fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles.

At the same time, cities not widely considered gay meccas have seen a sharp increase in same-sex couples. Among them: Fort Worth; El Paso; Albuquerque; Louisville, Ky.; and Virginia Beach, according to census figures and extrapolations by Dr. Gates for The New York Times. “Twenty years ago, if you were gay and lived in rural Kansas, you went to San Francisco or New York,” he said. “Now you can just go to Kansas City.”

In the Castro, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society held public meetings earlier this year to grapple with such questions as “Are Gay Neighborhoods Worth Saving?”

With nine major developments planned for Market Street, including a splashy 113-unit condominium designed by Arquitectonica, anxiety about the future is swirling. Median home prices hover around $870,000. Local institutions like Cliff’s Variety, a hardware store selling feathered boas (year-round) are not about to vanish from this storied homeland of the gay rights movement. But the prospect of half-million-dollar condos inhabited by many straight people underscores a demographic shift.

“The Castro, and to a lesser extent the West Village, was where you went to express yourself,” said Don F. Reuter, a New York author who is researching a book on the rise and fall of gay neighborhoods, or “gayborhoods.”

“Claiming physical territory was a powerful act,” Mr. Reuter said. “But the gay neighborhood is becoming a past-tense idea.”

In the Castro, the influx of baby strollers — some being pushed by straight parents, some by gay parents — is perhaps the most blatant sign of change. “The Castro has gone from a gay-ghetto mentality to a family mentality,” said Wes Freas, a broker with Zephyr Real Estate. The arrival of a Pottery Barn down the street from the birthplaces of the AIDS quilt and the Rainbow Flag is a nod to change.

Sakura Ferris, a 28-year-old mother of a toddler, moved to the Castro because she liked its new eclecticism. At the Eureka Valley Recreation Center, a parent hot spot rife with Froggie pull-toys, Ms. Ferris’s tot mingles with infants in onesies that read, “I Love My Daddies.”

The Castro remains a top tourist destination for gay and lesbian visitors. But Joe D’Alessandro, president and C.E.O. of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, and a gay parent who lives in the Castro, predicted that eventually the neighborhood would go the way of North Beach, “still a historic Italian neighborhood though Italians don’t necessarily live there anymore.”

The Castro became a center for gay liberation in the late 1960s and early 1970s in a declining Irish Catholic and Scandinavian neighborhood. At its helm was Harvey Milk, the first openly gay city supervisor in San Francisco whose slaying in 1978 by a disgruntled former supervisor, Dan White, galvanized the community and set off riots when White was convicted of manslaughter instead of murder.

Decimated during the AIDS epidemic of 1990-1995, the neighborhood rebounded in the boom economy of the late 1990s. But the social forces that gave rise to the Castro and other gay neighborhoods like the West Village and West Hollywood may be becoming passé.

While the state’s Eighth Congressional District, which includes the Castro, saw an increase of about 20 percent in the number of same-sex couples from 2002 to 2006, surrounding districts had a 38 percent increase in same-sex couples, according to Dr. Gates.

In West Hollywood, another traditional gay haven, the graying of the population and the high cost of real estate have resulted in once-gay watering holes like the Spike and the I Candy Lounge going hetero. A new kind of gentrification is under way in which young gay waiters and school teachers move instead to Hollywood and other surrounding neighborhoods. “We often clamored for equality where gay and straight could coexist,” said Mayor John Duran of West Hollywood, who is gay. “But we weren’t prepared to give up our subculture to negotiate that exchange.”

While the Castro has been the center of a movement, it is also home to “an important political constituency,” said Elizabeth A. Armstrong, an associate sociology professor at Indiana University and the author of “Forging Gay Identities: Organizing Sexuality in San Francisco 1950-1994”

“When people were angry about Dan White they were able to assemble quickly, spilling out of the bars,” Professor Armstrong said. “Physical location mattered.”

The Castro still has the city’s largest progressive Democratic organization, the Harvey Milk Club. A survey of registered voters earlier this year by David Binder, a San Francisco political analyst, found that 33 percent of the Eighth District identified themselves as gay or lesbian, compared with 13 percent citywide.

The Castro’s activist legacy continues to exert a strong emotional pull: the corner of 18th and Castro Streets, where Harvey Milk; Diana, Princess of Wales; and Matthew Shepard were mourned and where gay marriage was fleetingly celebrated, is for many a mythic homeland.

Amanda Rankin, a 40-year-old tourist from Hamilton, Ontario, was taking a “Cruisin’ the Castro” walking tour with three lesbian friends the other day.

“In America there still seems to be a lot of sexual repression left over from Puritanism and the pilgrims,” Ms. Rankin said. “Then there’s San Francisco.”

But its legacy has not prevented the neighborhood from harsh urban realities. As San Francisco real estate skyrocketed in the 1990s, the Castro had the city’s highest concentration of evictions, as speculators “flipped” buildings, many of them housing people with disabilities and AIDS, to convert to market-rate apartments, said Brian Basinger, the founder of the AIDS Housing Alliance.

Even before Halloween, the Castro was grappling with violence and crime. Allegations of racial profiling at the Badlands, the neighborhood’s most popular bar, led to a widespread boycott in 2005 and intervention by the city’s Human Rights Commission.

The highly publicized rape of a man in the Castro in September 2006 led to the formation of Castro on Patrol, a whistle-wielding citizens’ street brigade. In that attack, Mark Welch was raped five blocks from a store he managed on Castro Street. He said in that he later learned there had been two previous similar rapes in the neighborhood, but that had not been widely reported.

He said it took months for it to surface on a sex-crimes Web site maintained by the authorities. There are signs that the dispersing of gay people beyond the Castro vortex and the rise of the Internet are also contributing to a declining sense of community. An annual survey by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Community Initiative indicated that in 2007 only 36 percent of men under 29 said there was a gay community in the city with which they could identify.

Doug Sebesta, the group’s executive director and a medical sociologist at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, said, “I’ve had therapists who have told me they are asking their clients to go back to bars as a way of social interaction.”

The Internet is not a replacement for a neighborhood where people are involved in issues beyond themselves, said John Newsome, an African-American who co-founded the group And Castro For All after the Badlands incident. “There are a lot of really lonely gay people sitting in front of a computer,” he said.

Which is why the cancellation of the Halloween party by the city has provoked such a sense of loss. Many residents say that their night has been taken away. “It’s proof that whatever sense of safety we have is incredibly tenuous, “ Mr. Newsome said.

The city is shutting down public transportation to the Castro on Halloween and has begun a Web site, homeforhalloween.com, that lists “fun” alternatives, including a Halloween blood drive and a “Monster Bash” — in San Mateo.

On a recent Saturday, Sister Roma, a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an activist coterie of drag queens, sashayed down Castro Street in heavy eye shadow and a gold lamé top. Though she looked well prepared for Halloween, she said she planned to be in hiding that night.

She wasn’t feeling too deprived, however.

“Sweetie,” she said, “every day is Halloween in the Castro.”

Loft Developer Works on East St. Louis Master Plan

Friday, September 21, 2007
Pyramid Cos. developing East St. Louis master plan
St. Louis Business Journal - by Lisa R. Brown

Pyramid Cos. is stretching across the Mississippi River to develop a new master plan for revitalizing East St. Louis.
The St. Louis-based development firm, led by John Steffen, is in the preliminary stages of developing a master plan for about 100 acres of property in downtown East St. Louis, adding more than 500 rehabbed and new-construction homes in the city and adding a marina.

The East St. Louis City Council unanimously approved a development agreement with Steffen at its Sept. 13 meeting. The agreement requires Pyramid to present development plans to the City Council within the next 120 days.

Steffen said he's been working with the new mayor of East St. Louis, Alvin Parks Jr., to bring new investment to the city. Pyramid is not receiving a fee to develop the master plan. "This will send a signal to the business community - locally, nationally and internationally - that East St. Louis is open for business," Parks said.

lrbrown@bizjournals.com

Gay Customers Don't Want Their Bars to Be Like Straight Bars

A few more interesting things from our Faces online survey for us to think about...and for every straight bar owner who was thinking they could throw together a "gay night" on a slow night to empty gay pockets...84.2% of our survey respondents do not want gay bars to be like straight bars. Eighty-nine percent think that gay bars are an important part of our community...ninety percent think that gay bars give them a place to be themselves...80% said it was important for the bars that they patronize to support AIDS service organizations...70% said it was important that their bars support St. Louis Pridefest....67% said it was important for their bars to offer HIV testing and safe sex material...77% said it was important that their bars support gay owned publications like EXP and Vital Voice...and 90% said that whenever possible they try to support gay owned businesses. One remark we would like to add...there are many straight owned bars and restaurants that support AIDS service organizations...some support Pridefest..and a few advertise in gay owned publications (and quite a few gay bars have abandoned these publications yet they still get support from the community)...those businesses that reach out to us deserve the support and thanks of our community. We are not aware of any straight bars that offer HIV testing or safe sex material, which is kind of odd since straight people have sex too.

SurveyYields Surprising Results - You Love Us...You Really, Really Love Us!

Many of you have been writing us to ask about our plans and we thought it might be time for an update. Thank you again to everyone who took the time to complete our online survey. We think you'll find the results interesting if not surprising. First a disclaimer...our online survey was not scientific...it was open to anyone who wanted to complete it...we relied on your honesty..we hope that your answers were serious and thoughtful... we have no way of knowing if the survey respondents have ever actually been to Faces. We realize that some of our customers do not have computers and some, angry about the length of the survey did not complete it. We realize that some respondents had their own personal agendas but we think the numbers are an accurate snapshot of what St. Louis club-goers are thinking now. While some of the responses have left us scratching our heads...they seem inconsistent with the facts...they have given us all a lot to think about. We encourage you to share the results with your friends and let us know how you interpret the numbers.
Some good news for Faces on Fourth Street...80.2% of our respondents agreed that they found " the raw, sexually charged atmosphere at Faces appealing."
Ninety-one percent said that "it is important that St. Louis has a bar like Faces." Sixty-two percent told us that they "were satisfied with the club experience at Faces on Fourth Street." Ninety-three percent thought it was important that St. Louis have an after-hours gay bar.
Fifty-two percent said that "Faces on Fourth Street is my favorite gay/alternative club in the St. Louis area."
Eighty-nine percent were "sorry to hear that Faces on Fourth Street closed."
Sixty percent said that they like the music the DJs play at Faces more then other gay bars. Sixty-one percent said they were more likely to go to a gay bar that had a drag show, 72 % said they enjoy watching drag shows, and 62.7% said Faces should have more drag shows in the cabaret.
Some bad news for St. Louis gay bars...in fact a lot of bad news....while 89.7% agree that gay bars are an important part of our community and 90% said that gay bars give them a place to be themselves, only 39.9 % of our respondents are satisfied with nightlife in St. Louis. Seventy-six percent wished there were more gay bars in St. Louis. Fifty-six percent said they were going out to gay bars less then they had a year ago while 35.9% said they were going to gay bars less often because they were not happy with St. Louis gay bars. because they weren't happy. When asked to name an event or entertainment held at a St. Louis gay bar (other then Faces) that they enjoyed, more then half could not name a single event..those that did answer were frequently vague, offering general answers like drag shows or New Year's Eve without even specifying what bar they were talking about.
A few more surprising things from our survey...62% of our respondents have MySpace pages...52% have Gay.com profiles...24% were 31-35 years old...36% were 21-31 years old...9% were 18-21...and 31% were over 35 years old.
We will post more survey results in the future. We'd like you to take some time to digest and consider these results just as we are evaluating them. What does it mean that our customers like the Faces atmosphere, like our music, like drag shows, and think of us as their favorite gay bar at the same time we were forced to close our doors due to increasing expenses and declining attendance? What does it mean when a huge majority of respondents are not happy with St. Louis gay bars, wish there were more bar choices, but did not support the alternative that Faces offered?
Does the survey offer a clear path for Faces to take in the future....unfortunately, no...every Faces event listed on the survey was met with similar answers....large majorities who had been to our events, from foam parties to U Can Dance liked them...but the majority of our survey respondents had never been to one of these events...everyone who came, liked them...had a great time..but that word-of-mouth didn't persuade more to come....the most popular events on the survey, our Lights Out/Underwear Parties and our male dancers have drawn little or no crowds in the last few months. Over 60% of the survey respondents thought they knew all about events happening at Faces before they walked in the door, but our own anecdotal experience is just the opposite. Many of the survey essay answers seemed to reinforce that..often complaining about policies or conditions that have not existed in years...suggesting that we try things that we have already been doing consistently for years...We found it increasingly difficult to communicate with or reach our potential customers and that condition has not changed.
We are taking time to consider your answers...to study the gay club scene in St. Louis..to look at our mistakes...and to consider where we can fit into your life in the future. We don't have an answer yet. We have considered re-opening on weekends only...we have considered opening just one floor...we have considered gutting the building and starting from scratch...we have considered mothballing the club until we can determine there is a need..a demand for what we can offer. We took the summer off because we felt we could not sustain the utility bills that more then doubled this year. We hoped that the Illinois Legislature would act to rollback and freeze utility rates but they failed...our electric rates will continue to rise with no relief. We feel that the legislature has let down the people of Illinois.
For now...thank you for your support..please consider the survey results and share your thoughts with us.

Ameren Profits Increase 38% - $266 Million Profit This Year

This is from the Springfield Journal Register (because the Post Dispatch hasn't bothered to cover it yet).
Last Updated 8/2/2007 9:41:28 AM
Higher electric costs contributed to a nearly 38 percent increase in Ameren Corp. profits for the first half of the year compared to 2006, the St. Louis utility reported today. The $266 million profit from January through June amounted to $1.29 per share compared to the $193 million, or 94 cents per share, last year.
“Our second-quarter earnings benefited principally from higher power prices for sales from our non-regulated generation business segment and warmer summer weather,” chairman, president and CEO Gary Rainwater said in the report.
The report does not include a $1 billion rate relief package for residential customers of Ameren and Commonwealth Edision recently approved by the General Assembly in reaction to power bills that shot up following the end of a statewide rate freeze Jan. 1.
The legislation is awaiting action by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

New ESTL Casino Queen Opens Thursday August 2

From Belleville.com:
BY SCOTT WUERZ
News-Democrat


With less than two days to go before the new, land-based Casino Queen's grand opening, the sound of power saws and hammers began to give way to the familiar chimes of slot machines.
Workers on Tuesday were frantically attending to the finishing touches of the casino -- from installing the last of 1,100 slot machines and putting together the blackjack tables on the gaming floor to preparing hundreds of appetizers that will be served at the unveiling of the new addition.
"Right now I'm trying to roll with the punches and not get too excited while they finish up the last-minute things," Casino Queen General Manager Tom Monaghan said. "But we're really looking forward to opening what we believe will be the premier facility of its kind in the state of Illinois."
Monaghan said the Casino Queen invested $90 million in the first phase of what will eventually be a $160 million expansion project to try to stay ahead in the ultra competitive casino industry. If he had to boil the reason for the investment down to one word, it would be convenience.
"When you are limited to a water-based casino, there are certain things that you can't do," Monaghan said. "But when the law was changed to allow boats in moats, by building this wonderful, new facility we were able to make it much more convenient and accessible to people. We can be closer to parking and, while the gaming area and other facilities were spread out over several floors on the boat, they will all be on one floor here."
Also within a short walk on one floor is a food court twice as large as the one at the old casino. It includes the Market Street Buffet, the Prime Steakhouse, the Gateway Cafe and a coffee shop called Java Junction."The differences between the restaurant facilities between the old casino and the new one are night and day," especially behind the scenes, said executive chef Alex Lazella. "Basically, the old boat had been holding facilities for use when it was cruising, and it was built on, bit by bit, after that. Here, everything has been done first class right from the start."Monaghan said the configuration of the new gaming facility will make it easier to navigate for senior citizens. But he said he hopes that the nicer restaurants, the entertainment stage on the south end of the gaming floor and the upscale look will help attract younger clients, too -- especially women.
More than 2 million people come to the Casino Queen every year, producing $10 million in local taxes. Monaghan said he couldn't estimate how many people would come to the new place because of the new smoking ban in Illinois and the impact of the new casino being built on the St. Louis riverfront. But he said he expected to produce $12 million in local taxes its first full year of operation.
Casino spokeswoman Julie Hauser said the old casino will close at 3 a.m. Thursday. At 3 p.m., a ribbon cutting will officially open the new casino. It will be followed by an invitation-only VIP party. At 8 p.m. the doors will be opened to the public for a grand opening party that will include fireworks, a light show and Las Vegas showgirls.The old casino riverboat, which has been in place for 14 years, is for sale. Monaghan said he is negotiating with a pair of companies that are interested in buying the boat and rehabbing it to extend its life as a casino.
Contact reporter Scott Wuerz at swuerz@bnd.com or 239-2626.

Experts Sour on Rushed Illinois "Rate Relief" Bill

From Belleville.com:
BY MIKE FITZGERALD
News-Democrat


What's not to like about the electricity rate relief package that Gov. Rod Blagojevich is poised to sign?
Once it becomes law, the bill would shower $1 billion worth of rebate checks and credits on Ameren and Commonwealth Edison customers, while slashing their 2007 electric rates.But energy experts interviewed -- citing sobering lessons from California and Canada -- contend the deal could boomerang badly, shooting up power rates and leaving taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars' worth of soured deals. How could this happen?
Because the rate relief bill sets up the Illinois Power Agency. In theory, this new arm of government could flex its immense purchasing muscle to negotiate low electricity prices, selling power with little mark-up to Ameren and ComEd, which would pass on the savings to customers.
David Kolata, the executive director of the Citizen's Utility Board in Chicago, compared the new agency to Costco or Wal-Mart in its buying power.
"I'm cautiously optimistic this will work and produce lower prices," Kolata said.
But economist Robert Michaels predicted a different outcome in Illinois, based on the track record of the California power authority.
"Basically, you're simply putting a lot more of ratepayers' money on the table and saying, 'Let's let the state government gamble with it,'" said Michaels, an economics professor at California State University-Fullerton.
Panicked by a power crunch in 2001 -- which was manipulated by rogue traders with Enron -- California's power authority signed long-term electricity deals at huge mark-ups that taxpayers there are still paying for, Michaels said.
"This is just unbelievable," he said of Illinois. "You're basically looking to make the same blunders California did. You have an incredible train wreck to behold."
State Rep. Tom Holbrook, D-Belleville, argued that a state power authority makes more sense than what it replaces -- the reverse power auction in September that Ameren and ComEd designed.
The auction sent their profits soaring, but also triggered a harsh public outcry as electricity bills doubled and even tripled for many residential customers when new rates took effect Jan. 2.
"You can debate it all day. That's the system we have here, and that's the relief that's in there," Holbrook said of the new power agency. "And it's better than what we had, and I don't hear anyone putting any better alternatives on the table."
Jeff Mayer, the president and CEO of MXenergy, of Stamford, Conn., predicted that Illinois' power authority will backfire, based on the experiences of California and the Canadian province of Ontario, which set up a power agency in 2004.
"All this is going to do is add another layer of cost, and it's going to drive consumer prices higher, not lower," said Mayer, whose firm supplies natural gas and electricity to customers in the U.S. and Canada, including Illinois.
If the rate relief bill has a "saving grace," it is that it puts government in the middle of the pricing process, defusing the populist reaction to high power costs, Mayer said.
"The prices aren't going to change," Mayer said. "But at least the utilities won't be cannon fodder anymore."
House Speaker Mike Madigan proposed the power authority three months ago. With the help of Emil Jones Jr., the Senate president, Madigan sent the rate relief bill racing through the General Assembly in record time.
The measure, which spans more than 300 pages of text, landed on lawmakers' desks on Wednesday.
A day later it sped through both statehouse chambers with no public hearing or legislative scrutiny. The final bill resulted from secret talks between a small team of lawmakers headed by state Sen. James Clayborne, D-Belle-ville, and Ameren and ComEd.
Scott A. Cisel, the president of Ameren Illinois, called the bill the product of an "open process" that benefited from the input of lawmakers and utility experts.
"And so I think an adequate amount of time has occurred enabling all the parties to carefully consider the various different scenarios that we can face," Cisel said.
Patty Schuh, a spokeswoman for state Sen. Frank Watson, R-Greenville, disagreed. Senate Democratic leaders allowed only four members to speak on the bill Thursday before voting on it, Schuh said.
"So instead of allowing a full public hearing on the issue and on the implications of this package, they rushed it through, and that's a mistake," Schuh said.
A decade ago, the General Assembly moved too fast when it passed the electricity de-regulation law that led to the problems the current rate relief bill is trying to fix, Schuh said.
"We should've learned from that," she said. "You cannot rush utility legislation, and that's what this is."



Contact reporter Mike Fitzgerald at mfitzgerald@bnd.com or 239-2533.



© 2007 Belleville News-Democrat and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.belleville.com

No Price Roll Back, No Rate Relief, Plus New Giveaways to Illinois Utilities

From Belleville.com:
By RYAN KEITH
Associated Press Writer

A $1 billion relief package for consumers fed up with high electric rates sailed through the Legislature, but not without criticism that highlighted two different ways of looking at the complex, emotional issue.
Most lawmakers saw it as a "glass half-full" solution - not perfect but much better than doing nothing. It refunds some of the rate increases consumers have endured and creates a new agency to minimize future price surges.
But others view the plan, passed by the Legislature Thursday, as half-empty. It fails to roll back rates, it allows more increases and it halts legal efforts to determine whether power companies colluded to inflate prices.
The critics say their constituents deserve more.
"They see through this," said Sen. John Jones, R-Mt. Vernon. "The general public's not dumb. They understand what's going on up here more than some people think they do."It's fitting that disagreements would continue even after the relief package was sent to the governor's desk. Nothing polarized legislators this year like the problem of electric rate increases.
Prices spiked in January, when a 10-year freeze on electric rates ended. The outcry from angry consumers forced legislators into action. But agreeing on what action took months.
House Speaker Michael Madigan pushed for rolling back rates and freezing them again, while Senate President Emil Jones wanted to negotiate a rebate from the power companies and was willing to settle for much less than $1 billion.
In the end, the two leaders agreed to make Ameren and ComEd return about half of the increases over four years and to set up a new state agency to negotiate better power prices in the future.
Democrats, utilities and consumer groups take the "half-full" approach to the compromise. No, it didn't roll back rates as much as they wanted. But if nothing else, it did something to deal with consumers' complaints they were paying too much for power.
"I think most people are positive that something happened and that finally something got done after all this time," said Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion.
The relief package gives Ameren customers at least $100 back this year, and many will see much larger checks. ComEd customers, who saw smaller increases, will get about $80 back this year.
Advocates say $1 billion is a better deal than a rate freeze, which sounded enticing to consumers but might have placed the utilities in financial peril and been tied up for years in costly court battles.
And it's much more than the $50 million and $150 million the utilities originally offered in negotiations, they note.
"I think this is what we had to do and I think it was the best thing for everybody," said Sen. Dale Risinger, R-Peoria.
Even better than the rebates, they say, are the long-term moves to keep prices reasonable.
An auction process that was used to set rates last year is being thrown out. Instead, a new Illinois Power Agency will use independent experts to negotiate deals, much like buying clubs for bulk purchases of prescription drugs.
Even if the new agency isn't able to get consumers cheaper rates, at least the old auction - which some argued was rigged to bilk ratepayers - is dead, they say.
The agreement also ends several lawsuits filed by Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office contending collusion and fraud by the utilities. Advocates say giving up on those lawsuits provides certain relief instead of uncertain and costly court fights.
But for some Republicans, the deal was too much show, too little go.
The $1 billion, while certainly large, amounts to only a few bucks a month for people hit hard by increases. That's only a fraction of the billions of dollars the utilities and power generators will collect over the same period in rate increases.
"No one in my district has contacted me who was fooled by this proposal," said Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington. "Everyone that has talked to me thinks that it's laughable."
Rates will slowly go up over the next several years, and could go up even more if the new state agency can't negotiate good deals. And critics argue the new power agency will essentially duplicate work done by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Some even compared the agreement to utilities paying a bribe. Consumers get some money, but the electric companies get out of lawsuits that might have shown whether the utilities engaged in bad business practices.
"The consumers should be protected, not the utilities," said Rep. Carolyn Krause, R-Mount Prospect.
Lawmakers on both sides expect the issue will play a role in next year's elections. Supporters will blast the lawmakers who voted against $1 billion in rebates for consumers, and critics will play up consumer disappointment in getting back only part of their rate increases.
The next few months could help determine which side has the advantage.
If consumers can live with the money they get back and rates don't jump much, the "half-full" group will look good. But if rebates don't go smoothly and prices continue to climb, critics will have a better argument.
One top lawmaker predicts both sides will be able to make their case to voters.
"There's an explanation on all sides as to how and why you did what you did," said Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville.

Illinois Legislature Sells Out to Utilities - No Price Roll-Back Planned As Utilities Rape Illinois

OK, if you have been following the saga of Faces you know that the Illinois State Legislature allowed Ameren and ComEd to more then double their utility rates since Janaury 2007. Both utitities have been pouring money in the legislator's pockets to insure that they (the utilities)will collect over $8 billion in additional profits over the next 3 years. Small businesses like Faces have been crippled by these utitity increases. One of the primary reasons that we were forced to close was because our electric bills would have exceeded $8000 to $10,000 a month this summer. Illinois legislators have failed the people and it looks like there will be no relief in sight. According to Stltoday, both utilities will be allowed to continue to charge the increased prices with no roll back or freeze. Their concession to the people of Illinois will be some sort of credit or rebate over 3 years of less then one billion dollars. So to be clear...the utitilites have bought the legislature like cheap whores and will be allowed to continue raping the people of Illinois to the tune of over $7 billion. Without some sort of fair and equitible roll-back of these prices, it becomes that much harder for us to develope a business plan that would insure that Faces could survive or prosper. We do not see how any Illinois small business will be able to survive without doubling or tripling the prices that they charge their customers.

Happy Pride!

HRC - The Truth About Hate Crimes

Former East St. Louis Official Guilty of Environmental Violations in Building Demolition Case

Regular customers may have noticed the tall,vacant building a few hundred feet from our front door, The building, known as the Spivey Building, has some historic significance as the tallest building in southern Illinois. It was set for rehab a few years ago but sadly got caught in the middle of political corruption and EPA enforcement cases. If you read our previous postings on our recent closure, we told you about the money we spent on lawyers to force the clean-up of a collapsed building next door. The owners of building next door hired a demolition crew owned by a local politician people to clean up their property as well as ours. According to Robert Patrick's article in ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH on Saturday, Jun. 16 2007
" A former local political boss faces the possibility of 15 or
more months in prison — on top a 21-month sentence for election fraud — after
admitting Friday that he committed federal environmental violations.
Charles Powell Jr., former East St. Louis councilman, St. Clair County Board
member and head of the Democratic Party in East St. Louis, pleaded guilty in
U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to a conspiracy charge and a charge of
failing to notify authorities before removing asbestos.
Powell admitted that he had been hired to renovate the Spivey Building, at 417
Missouri Avenue in East St. Louis, and that he had hired a man named Isaiah
Newton, court documents say.
Although both men knew the building contained asbestos, they improperly removed
and disposed of hundreds of feet of asbestos-covered pipes and other
asbestos-containing material in early 2002, documents say...Workers, who were paid in cash, threw building materials out the windows, scattering debris down Missouri Avenue, and were told to lie and tell anyone who asked that they were not tearing out walls and removing pipes, the indictment says.
Prosecutors agreed not to charge Powell for "activities concerning violations of the Clean Air Act for demolition procedures at the Roy Weiss Building . . . and the facility at 17th and Broadway (sometimes referred to as the 'Cahokia Common Fields')," both located in East St. Louis."

Illinois EPA Cleaning Up Illegal East St. Louis Dumps

From Belleville.com:
BY CARA ANTHONY
News-Democrat


EAST ST. LOUIS --State crews on Tuesday began cleaning up areas in the city that have been used as illegal dumps.

The workers are concentrating on the 5500 block of Summit Ave. Crews will be in that area until June 29.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency initiated the cleanup that targets trustee property, alleys and ditches. Areas used as illegal dumping sites often contain household garbage, abandoned vehicles and tires.

"The cleanups happen all across the state of Illinois," said Jill Watson, a spokeswoman for the IEPA.

A recent state cleanup in nearby Venice collected 1,306 tons of waste and nearly 67 tons of abandoned tires. Improperly managed used tires provide a breeding ground for mosquitos, which carry the West Nile virus.

"We are making the effort to turn East St. Louis around and make it a cleaner town," said Joe Zappa, a project manager for the Illinois Removes Illegal Dumps program. Washington Park also will be included in the I-RID program's cleanup efforts.

The state hires local contractors to clean up the illegal dump sites after the responsible parties cannot be located or areas that present imminent threats, such as fires or hazardous waste, are identified.

"Illegal open dumping around Illinois can potentially pose health and safety hazards to both people and the environment, but the I-RID program has begun to tackle those environmental eyesores," IEPA Director Doug Scott said.

The I-RID program became law in 2005 and gives the IEPA additional authority to combat open dumping and clean up existing dumps.

Where We Are Today - You Can Help Us

Thank you to everyone who has completed our Faces online survey. The survey is still open and we could still use your help. Ask your friends to complete the survey too. We need everyone's thoughts on St. Louis nightlife to help us decide on the future direction for Faces. We will share the results a little later but one thing that we find a little disconcerting...70% of our respondents said "I generally know what is going on at Faces before I walk in. I keep up with Faces events." Our own experience, while anecdotal, doesn't really support that. On any given night, I would estimate that as many as 75% of our customers do not know what event is going on when they walk into Faces. I base this estimate on interaction between customers, our door man, and myself as well as participation in events. There is rarely a night when customers don't come to the door and ask what is going on that night, ask why we are charging the cover, or ask me if there was something special going on. These are not the questions of people who know what is going on when they walk in. One of our most popular events according to your survey answers is our Lights Out/Underwear Party, yet our last few parties have been poorly attended with very little participation. When asked why people weren't participating, most answered that they didn't know it was an Underwear party and hadn't worn underwear or hadn't worn nice underwear. Basically, it appears that the people answering our survey think they know what is going on at Faces but they don't, which means we have a problem we didn't know we had. If you think you know what is going on, then you probably aren't going to read our ads, visit our website, or read our emails. You won't know when we do something new or do something that you will enjoy if you don't check up on us occasionally.
Our impression is that many of the surveys responses are coming from people who have not been to Faces in years. While we are interested in their thoughts, their impression of Faces seems frozen in time, their answers based on the way Faces was the last time they were here, rather then on how it is now. This makes it kind of hard to evaluate the responses.
It has been a little more then a month since we closed our doors and we have to say that we miss you guys. We miss the people, we miss the music, we miss entertainers, we miss the nightlife and we hope you miss us.
We wanted to let you know that we are still reviewing the online survey results, still considering our options, and still formulating our plans. We don't know when we will be back yet but we wanted to let you know that we won't be ready by Pride Weekend. We encourage you to keep us in your thoughts as you celebrate St. Louis Pride Weekend in Tower Grove Park on June 23 & 24.

Every Republican Presidential Candidate Supported "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in Last Night's Debate

More Alice in Wonderland from Bush: Surgeon General Nominee Says Gay Sex is Hazardous - Supports Gay "Cures"

From HRC:
For Immediate Release:
Monday, June 4, 2007

HOLSINGER’S ANTI-GAY VIEWS MAKE HIM ‘UNWORTHY’ OF SURGEON GENERAL POST

‘It is essential that America’s top doctor value sound science over anti-gay ideology,’ said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

WASHINGTON — The Human Rights Campaign spoke out today in opposition to President Bush’s nomination of Dr. James Holsinger to the position of surgeon general. Among other things, the U.S. surgeon general is charged with educating Americans about public health.

“Dr. Holsinger has a record that is unworthy of America’s doctor,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “His writings suggest a scientific view rooted in anti-gay beliefs that are incompatible with the job of serving the medical health of all Americans. It is essential that America’s top doctor value sound science over anti-gay ideology.”

In a document titled “Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality,” Holsinger opined, in his capacity as a physician, that biology and anatomy precluded considering gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality in his denomination. The opinion very clearly states that this is his scientific view, stating that theological views are separate.

Additionally, Holsinger and his wife were founders of Hope Springs Community Church which, according to the church’s pastor, ministers to people who no longer wish to be gay or lesbian. The pastor, the Rev. David Calhoun, said that the church has an “ex-gay” ministry. “We see that as an issue not of orientation but a lifestyle,” Calhoun said. “We have people who seek to walk out of that lifestyle.” This type of “ex-gay” conversion therapy has been condemned by almost every major, reputable medical organization — including the American Psychological Association, which issued a condemnation more than 10 years ago.

“Although the church’s theology isn’t being nominated, this discredited practice purports to be a psychological and medical service, and if Dr. Holsinger is involved in any way, it conflicts with his duty to accept and promote sound science in the interest of public health,” continued Solmonese.

“We are hopeful that during the hearing process Congress will fully examine Dr. Holsinger’s background and part of that examination will include issues affecting our community, including his stance on conversation therapy. Too often, we have seen President Bush send nominees to Congress that have proven their inability to separate their personal beliefs from their professional duties. As the nation’s chief medical doctor, the office of surgeon general is an extremely important position that has an impact on the lives of gay and lesbian Americans and the hearing process should involve a discussion about where Dr. Holsinger stands on medical issues relating to our community,” Solmonese concluded.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

Gay.com Parent Company May Run Out of Money

Verne Kopytoff, Chronicle Staff Writer

After becoming the dominant media company for the gay community, PlanetOut Inc. is now just trying to survive.

The San Francisco owner of Gay.com, along with the Advocate and Out magazines, disclosed this week that it will run out of money before the end of the year without an infusion of cash.

The dire situation is a consequence of PlanetOut's declining subscriptions for personal ads, a shortfall in advertising revenue and trouble booking passengers on its gay-oriented cruises.

A dismal first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday hammered the reality home. Virtually every piece of the business needs fixing, according to management.

In the report, PlanetOut said it lost $6.9 million in its fiscal first quarter, compared with a $132,000 loss a year earlier. Revenue totaled $16.8 million, down from $17.6 million during the same period a year ago.

Spooked by the results, investors sent PlanetOut's shares tumbling 33 percent over two days to close Friday at $1.64, the lowest point since the company's initial public offering three years ago.

"This is deeply disappointing and concerning to me and the rest of the management team," Karen Magee, PlanetOut's chief executive officer, said in a conference call with analysts Wednesday.

"We've got major work to do at PlanetOut to generate the healthy revenue growth and solid earnings performance that I believe this company is capable of producing."

Magee, who joined the company in 2006, described the problems as years in the making. A turnaround, she said, will take up to 24 months, during which the company plans to fix creaky technology, reorganize and sell some assets, including its adult publishing business.

Allen & Co., a consulting firm, has been hired to explore various options.

PlanetOut is under the gun to come up with an additional $15 million to meet the terms of an existing loan, or face default.

If it's unable to get the financing, the lender could foreclose on PlanetOut's assets, a potential death knell.

The company, which had $11 million in cash and short-term investments at the end of the first quarter, said it would run out of money by year's end without additional financing.

Magee laid part of the blame for PlanetOut's poor performance on its RSVP travel agency, which offers cruises to destinations such as the Caribbean.

Passenger occupancy has been less than expected and, as a result, the company has had to offer steep discounts to attract travelers and pay penalties to cruise lines.

Separately, PlanetOut's advertising sales, both online and in print, have been disappointing. Subscriptions to online personals have also lagged amid growing competition from other gay-oriented Web sites in addition to social networking giants MySpace and Facebook.

In a note to investors, Richard Ingrassia, an analyst for Roth Capital Partners, said it's possible that PlanetOut would sell its travel business. Overall, he said, the company is still unchallenged in terms of reaching the gay demographic.

HRC Announces 08 Dem Candidates Unanimously Support Extending Federal Benefits to Gays

For Immediate Release:
Saturday, June 2, 2007

’08 DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES’ RESPONSES TO QUESTIONNAIRE ON GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER ISSUES RELEASED

Human Rights Campaign Issues Report Card for Pro-Equality Voters

WASHINGTON — Today, the Human Rights Campaign released its 2008 Democratic presidential candidate questionnaire outlining where the announced candidates for president stand on issues important to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay civil rights organization, released the questionnaires along with a report card based upon the candidates’ responses in order to assist pro-equality voters in determining the public policy positions of the candidates.

For the first time ever, all of the announced Democratic candidates stated their support for extending federal benefits and equal tax treatment, currently only available to heterosexual married couples, to same-sex couples who are parties to a union legally recognized by their state. Additionally, the candidates express unanimous support for extending federal benefits for same-sex couples and their children.

This groundbreaking and unified position of all Democratic candidates would override Section 3 of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,” which provides that for federal purposes, "The word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.” (1 U.S.C. Section 7)

“These candidates have expressed a unified belief and echoed the majority of the American people by stating that same-sex couples deserve federal recognition,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “It is extremely encouraging to finally see the focus of the debate around the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans center around extending the American value of equality to all people. 2008 is not 2004, and the American people have already put out the warning that divisive, wedge politics that pit neighbor against neighbor will not be tolerated.”

The questionnaire focused on the following questions of importance to the GLBT community:

Federal recognition of state-level same sex unions
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Federal hate crimes legislation
Support for marriage equality
Support for civil unions
Extend federal benefits to same-sex couples and their children
Extending coverage of the Family and Medical Leave Act
Extending access to survivor benefits
Equal tax treatment
Domestic partner benefits for same-sex employees
Adoption/foster parent issues
Immigration equality;
Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
HIV/AIDS funding
Comprehensive sex education
2008 Democratic presidential candidates responding to the questionnaire include: Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. John Edwards, Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Joe Biden, Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

View the report card showing where the candidates stand on these important issues.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

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