By MARION PACKIt has been over two years now since Smiths opened their big Marketplace store. The big space in the MeriMac Shopping Center is still vacant.
I was delighted to see that one of the County Council’s priorities and concerns is to work on the many empty buildings in downtown Los Alamos.
I would like to make a suggestion to them for their consideration.
There is a GREAT NEED for a performing arts center in our town, which is readily available to the community groups. We have been very blessed by the generosity of the churches in town, but one by one they have withdrawn their availability because they need the space for their own programs. I don’t think that it is fair for us to expect them to provide performing space indefinitely.
The Community Winds, Los Alamos Symphony, Los Alamos Choral Society, Big Band and Barbershop Quartet Association all need a place to give concerts, along with other groups, which perform less frequently.
The Duane Smith Auditorium seems to work for the Concert Association, but it is just too big for most of the rest of these groups and most of the time it just isn’t available because of the school usage.
I would like to suggest that our community seriously consider renovating the vacant Smiths building and making it a performing arts center. It would be ideal in many ways if it were renovated by a skillful contractor with a good plan. It has high ceilings and plenty of parking space available in the evenings. There is space enough to accommodate back stage rooms, bathrooms and other needed facilities for most of our performers. If the Little Theater wanted to join in using it, they may need additional areas for storage space and other facilities of which I am not aware.
Please consider this suggestion.