I am seeking to share accomodations for the AAA meetings.  I will be
arriving Thursday, and need Friday and Saturday night.  Sorry about the
crosslisting.  Please reply to [log in to unmask]
Thanks,
Sophia Vackimes


>From: Julie Collins <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: FOR AAA ATTENDEES ONLY
>Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 13:04:39 -0600
>
>The Blackstone Hotel has not been condemned, but closed for building
>violations.
>
>http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/hotel12.html
>
>Blackstone Hotel shut; guests told to
>                vacate
>
>                November 12, 1999
>
>                BY SHU SHIN LUH AND FRAN SPIELMAN STAFF REPORTERS
>
>                Citing a series of building code violations, the city shut
>down the historic Blackstone
>                Hotel, leaving dozens of employees jobless and forcing
>scores of guests to flock to
>                neighboring facilities.
>
>                Management of the hotel at Michigan and Balbo avenues,
>which
>is famous for
>                presidential stays and the birth of the political
>"smoke-filled room," notified more than
>                80 employees Wednesday of the shutdown and their dismissal.
>
>                That evening, managers delivered memos to guests' rooms
>telling them to vacate the
>                hotel.
>
>                Since 1995, the Blackstone has been run by North
>Carolina-based Heaven on Earth
>                Inns Corp., owned by transcendental meditation guru
>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
>
>                City inspectors uncovered the violations this week during a
>routine annual inspection
>                required by city ordinance. On Tuesday, inspectors closed a
>basement office in the
>                hotel because of cancer-causing asbestos that threatened to
>contaminate employees
>                and guests.
>
>                In addition, inspectors reported an electrical system that
>was "totally inadequate,
>                totally outdated," said a high-ranking Building Department
>official who asked to
>                remain anonymous.
>
>                Annual building reviews have taken on a heightened sense of
>importance since a
>                string of high-profile facade and window problems at
>downtown buildings. The city
>                conducts 25,000 inspections a year.
>
>                By Wednesday night, most of the Blackstone's guests were
>re-booked at nearby
>                hotels, but some were lingering in the hotel lobby Thursday
>morning.
>
>                Ela Gibbons, a 71-year-old visitor from Columbus, Ohio, was
>one of many guests
>                who arrived at the hotel Wednesday night only to learn that
>she had no room.
>
>                "A hotel doesn't just close, especially not in the downtown
>of a big city," said
>                Gibbons, who has been planning her trip since January.
>
>                Hotel spokesman Dan Wasielewski estimated the hotel will be
>closed for a year to
>                remedy the situation.
>
>                The adjoining Merle Reskin Theatre isn't part of the
>shutdown, according to Lynn
>                Stys, company manager for the long-running comedy "Shear
>Madness," currently
>                playing at the theater.
>
>                Last year, the hotel was designated a Chicago landmark and
>granted a "Class L" tax
>                break to pave the way for an $80 million renovation that
>would have restored
>                everything from the building's historic exterior to its
>interior lobbies, 325 guest rooms
>                and Crystal Ballroom.
>
>                Host-Marriott Corp., manager of international five-star
>hotels, was due to take over
>                the hotel. But the sale never went through because of
>last-minute haggling over the
>                price, according to Thomas Samuels, development manager of
>the project.
>
>                Samuels said that developers knew "some amount of
>remediation" for asbestos was
>                necessary, but they weren't aware of the magnitude of the
>problem.
>
>                Blackstone employees were still trying to digest the news.
>
>                Workers also were frustrated by hotel management's
>hesitancy
>to disclose details of
>                the closing and the short notice.
>
>                Blackstone Hotel management hasn't offered employees any
>severance pay other
>                than unused vacation time because "this happened too
>quickly. We haven't had a
>                chance to address that yet," Wasielewski said.
>
>
>At 11:06 AM 11/12/1999 +0000, Carol Mayer wrote:
> >Hello,
> >I have just been informed that the Blackstone hotel has been condemned by
> >the City of Chicago.  so if you are booked there you will need ot book
> >elsewhere.  I have been rebooked into the Silversmith hotel which is more
> >expensive ($ca. 140 for first two nights and 150 for second two nights-
>Nov
> >17-21)..   Is there any female out there who has also been tossed out of
> >the Blackstone who might want to share a room?  Or...does anybody know of
> >another (cheaper)hotel near the conference hotel ?
> >
> >Many thanks
> >please reply off list.
> >
> >Carol Mayer
> >
> >
> >
> >Carol E Mayer, Ph.D
> >Curator
> >
> >UBC Museum of Anthropology
> >6393 NW Marine Dr.
> >Vancouver, B.C. Canada
> >V6T 1Z2
> >
> >Tel: (604) 822-8224
> >Fax: (604) 822-2974
> >
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