Sigh …

Man, I hate being the bearer of bad news. And this is seriously bad news indeed. The following is an email that went out to various press outlets this morning from Meg Hammond and Ben T. Matchstick at the Langdon Street Café. 

To all the friends, family, community, and performers of the Langdon Street Café,  

After doing business in downtown Montpelier for six and a half years, the Café has faced a difficult decision.  Due to increasing financial difficulties and circumstances, the Langdon Street Café will permanently close its doors on May 28th.  This decision has not been an easy one for us.

We would like to thank everyone who has participated in the Langdon Street Café over the years—especially the Café’s founders and all of the employees past and present who have worked so hard and volunteered extra efforts to keep it going.  We would also like to thank our families, tenants, and volunteer crews who have helped reinvent the space numerous times.  A big thanks goes out to all the Café’s customers for feeling right at home, keeping us afloat, and for recharging our spirit.  Finally, thank you to the downtown business community and to the City of Montpelier for making this town the most brilliant little star on the map.

We will greatly miss hosting you at the Café.  Please come in and enjoy the Café throughout the month of May. Visit our website and Facebook pages where you can share your photos and stories.  langdonstreetcafe.com 

Sincerely,

Meg Hammond, Owner/Manager

Ben t. Matchstick, Booking & Events

 

Comments

[Robert Wagner]

This is why fundamental tax reform is needed in Montpelier, a la http://ProsperVermont.com ...not a partisan 'Blue Ribbon Tax Commission' to recommend squeezing business & workers harder.

The Commission avoided reform, and recommended a continuation of policies that are scaring capital investment and young people out of Vermont. This pleases the Democrat/Republican party bosses, it pleases AIG, Middlebury College & Felix Rohatyn. Those whom it displeases simply leave Vermont, quietly... or wind up on the dole.

Vermonters need opportunities, not the dole.

The solution is to shift tax off of structures, improvements and community gathering places like Langdon Street. And shift tax onto natural resources and the UNIMPROVED value of land. Large potential revenue: http://prospervermont.com/potential-revenu/

Failure to reform, a failed Legislature that serves corporate interests and major parties, is why the Langdon Streets of Vermont are closing, vacancies are proliferating even though developers keep building sprawl, starbucks and other ticky-tacky... but absentee real estate investors can make a clear 16% tax-free profit yearly.

Does anybody actually think Vermont is 'green' when you have to drive for just about everything? This is the basic situation that we must change !