Business & Tech

Online Petition Urges Maintenance of Senator Theatre

James "Buzz" Cusack, who manages the Art Deco Cinema, said the building was in "sad shape" when he took over operations in 2010.

Does the Senator Theatre need better maintenance?

Friends of the Senator Theatre, a group that has advocated for what it believes is best for the historic Art Deco cinema, has launched an online petition urging better maintenance of the Senator. 

“Baltimore's historic Senator Theatre (1939) is an iconic landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it deserves to be enhanced, restored, and preserved in perpetuity. The Senator has been under new management for over a year, and it's become necessary to insist that the management perform professional routine maintenance on the building,” the online petition reads.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

As of Friday afternoon, there were 345 signatures on the petition with a listed goal of 500 signatures.

On the Friends of the Senator Facebook page it lists Tom Harris and Laura Perkins as the group’s “officers.”  Perkins writes the blog AstroGirl’s Galaxy Guide and has been a consistent critic of the city and Baltimore Development Corporation’s handling of the Senator Theatre since taking the property from former owner Tom Kiefaber, and then leasing it to James “Buzz” Cusack and his daughter Kathleen Cusack.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

In a message via Facebook Perkins wrote that residents from surrounding neighborhoods and businesses have been complaining about the maintenance of the theater.

In Perkins message she writes issues such as replacing light bulbs on the theater's marquee have spawned the petition requesting better maintenance. In her message she writes that Friends of the Senator Theatre donated 300 light bulbs in March to replace all the lights on the marquee once. But she said so far the theater's operators have not done so. 

"These issues have been raised by people in the local community, at community association meetings, and by members of the local business community. Many are concerned about the appearance of the theatre, which simply is not receiving routine maintenance," according to Perkins' message.

James "Buzz" Cusack, who owns the Charles Theater and manages the Senator Theatre, admitted that the building is in rough shape, but maintained it was in rough shape when they took control of the building more than a year ago.

“I guess the best thing that we can say is, it was in very sad when we got it, it’s in very sad shape now and will be in very sad shape until we can fix it up,” Cusack said. 

He also said there’s no current maintenance being done on the building because they are waiting for state funds and city approval to begin a rehab of the structure.

The renovations to the theater include plans to add more screens the single screen theater so it can compete against other theaters. 

Follow North Baltimore Patch at Facebook and Twitter.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from North Baltimore