Tuesday, September 03, 2019

City of San Diego Shuts Down The Irenic & Street Angels Homeless Shelter for Teens

Last week, The Irenic posted a dreary message on their Facebook page:


Full Statement Link (full text here):
After nearly six years of opening the doors of our church to host All-Age events for the North Park Community, The Irenic has been ordered by The City of San Diego to cease operations, effective immediately on September 1, 2019. We believe that this order is a violation of our rights as a faith community to use our property to both bless the community and generate income to support our ministry, and are seeking legal counsel on how to proceed. It is our sincere hope that we will be able to begin hosting events again soon. We encourage you to reach out to Councilman Chris Ward's Office and Mayor Falconers Office to voice your support for The Irenic. Thank you so much for your support. 
Now, obviously I work for the Casbah and as such have worked the door for our events at the Irenic for many years now, but I have no inside information about this news. I will say my own opinion, which is that it sucks, and not just because of the lost income it means for me and our staff. There's been a neighbor hellbent on getting the venue shut down and fuck that guy. He allegedly called the police for EVERY. SINGLE. SHOW. I hear this is from Code Enforcement, but am sure Mara "Fun-killer" Elliott had a hand, as she seems to be chasing everything that makes this city cool, from shutting down Nova's derby facility with just 72 hours notice (and thus ending her derby involvement altogether) to resurrecting issues at the Observatory long thought to have been resolved and now this. It sucks. The Casbah has 10 shows with no home should the issue not be immediately resolved. Looking at Soda Bar's calendar, they also had at least 10 shows booked through the end of the year.

Update:
Casbah is working diligently to move all the previously scheduled shows. The sold-out Phora (10/13) show has been moved to House of Blues and with additional capacity means more tickets are on sale. Benjamin Francis Leftwich (9/18) has been moved to the Merrow, which unfortunately means this is now a 21+ show. Casbah will be making announcements as shows are moved.

Everyone has been covering this story, so here are some links:

GoFundMe: Save The Irenic & Youth Homeless Shelter

Statement from Councilman Chris Ward

MissionGathering Response To Councilman Chris Ward's Statement

City Pulls Plug on Irenic - SoundDiego / NBC

Youth shelter, music venue shut down by City of San Diego (Video) - CBS8

Community rallies around North Park Church that shelters homeless youth - 10News

Church fights to keep its music venue and homeless shelter open - Fox 5 San Diego

Keep The Irenic Open - Change.org Petition


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