[CIMC-work] FW: [Imc-legal] Urbana-Champaign IMC under political attack:

[Chris Kaihatsu]

----------
From: Sascha Meinrath <sascha@ucimc.org>
Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 01:34:23 -0500 (CDT)
To: imc-legal@indymedia.org
Subject: [Imc-legal] Urbana-Champaign IMC under political attack:

Hi all,

The Urbana-Champaign IMC was shut down this evening by fire inspectors.
They claim that the violations are an incredible danger to public safety
-- however, the same space was inspected last year without incident.
Basically, we're still piecing together what is going on, but there was a
secret meeting this afternoon between the mayor, fire chief, and building
inspectors and they decided to shut down the Urbana-Champaign IMC.

This is breaking _right now_ -- we have a group of folks that have had an
emergency meeting this evening and will be working over the next 48 hours
to get the word out.  We're still attempting to work with local
politicians -- I talked with the mayor this evening, but he ended up
screaming at me on the phone; the fire marshall stated he was willing to
meet with me (several city councilmembers have been calling city officials
on our behalf), but he cancelled at 9p.m. (one hour before our scheduled
10p.m. meeting).

So, it's looking like there's a concerted effort being made to shut down
the Urbana-Champaign IMC and we're trying to figure out a way to fight
this.  I'll have more information tomorrow after I meet with various city
officials.

We're holding off releasing the story throughout the Global Network until
we get a chance to meet face-to-face with local officials, but it's not
looking likely.  Below is a copy of our initial press release.

--Sascha Meinrath
Urbana-Champaign IMC

Press Release

Community Center Unexpectedly Shut Down by City of Urbana

On Thursday, May 8, 2003, at approximately 6 PM, the performance space at
the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC) at 218 W. Main St.
was closed by the City of Urbana under highly irregular circumstances.

The UCIMC was first inspected three days earlier, on Monday, May 5. At
that time, the UCIMC was given notice of six violations of the Urbana fire
code and informed that a follow-up inspection would be conducted on May
29, 2003.

On Thursday evening after business hours, the Division Chief of the Fire
Rescue Services Department returned unannounced with a building official
to close the performance space.  It is extremely unusual for an inspection
to occur after business hours and with little notice. Furthermore, the
city has thus far given no reason why the space was suddenly shut down
instead of reinspected on May 29, as stated in the original notice.

The UCIMC has already made significant progress in addressing the
violations listed by the Fire Department, and plans to continue addressing
these concerns. It is unclear why the decision to close the performance
space was made after it was determined at the initial inspection that the
organization would have 24 days to fix the problems.

The performance space at the UCIMC is Champaign-Urbana's only all ages,
volunteer operated, not-for-profit, non-smoking venue for regularly
scheduled touring and local music performances.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Zach Miller         Meghan Krausch
217-367-4678        217-390-6051
217-265-8458        217-244-4682
zach@ucimc.org      meghan@ucimc.org


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