Olympia -- Gallery 701

[emerging.me]

The whole Gallery 701 saga in Olympia is interesting. It's a great building and would be a nice compliment to the revitalization going on there. The guy just can't afford to fix it up and he'd rather go to jail for two months than sell it. Crazy stuff...

From TheState.com...

Gallery owner must repair roof

Man faces jail time if he doesn

[ResearchMan]

Isn't his non-maintenance an issue with the firm on the other side of the building? Sounds like him not fixing it has hurt them both since the city has said it's not livable.

[emerging.me]

Yeah, it seems like it would be. The guy doesn't sound ticked though. Weird situation. I just can't get over the owner being willing to go to jail instead of sell. This is definitely putting the new livability court to test.

[ResearchMan]

You are right and there appears to be more to it than the State's story. A friend of mine is a big shot in the Arts community..I'll see if she knows the story behind it.

[emerging.me]

Yeah, it does seem like there's more to it! Keep us posted.

[Don_Quixote]

Yeah, it does seem like there's more to it! Keep us posted.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, there is a lot more to the Gallery 701 story:

From The State: http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/...ts/10541837.htm

Posted on Sat, Jan. 01, 2005

Community help needed to save Gallery 701

By JACK GERSTNER

Guest columnist

The State

[Spartan]

Thanks for posting this update, and welcome to the forum Don_Quixote!

[LSyd]

that's sad, i never knew the roof'd collapsed.

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[waccamatt]

I think the building should be saved. It seems like a small sum to raise in the city, but I don't know alot about the people that run the gallery.

[emerging.me]

Well, it looks like Jack is going to jail. I'm a fan of the arts and I'd love to see something like this return to Olympia, but I have doubts about this guy's ability to get the job done. I think another non-profit like the River Alliance has a better shot at doing something special with the building and preserving it.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/11566755.htm

Gallery promoter to serve 30 days

Repairs begin on Olympia building

By JEFF WILKINSON

Staff Writer

A Columbia Municipal Court judge sentenced Gallery 701 executive director Jack Gerstner to 30 days in jail on Wednesday for not repairing the roof of his historic Olympia village building.

Gerstner, who offered to serve 60 days if he didn