Shakespeare’s help: Give it over to the arts.
In the same way artists gentrify neighborhoods, they could bring Civic Center back to life.
Let’s try free Shakespeare plays every night during July and August. They do it in and draw huge crowds. What about a concert series featuring local string quartets, both at lunch and in the evening.
It shouldn’t be all high art, of course. Local pop bands would bring their own audiences to concerts and there are no neighbors to get mad at the music. Or even karaoke two nights a week, one in English and one in Spanish.
Here’s the thing: Civic Center already has a giant amphitheater, big enough to hold hundreds, and it has for 100 years. Only nobody uses it. Give an actor a stage and there’ s no stopping him or the energy that comes along for the ride.
