Good luck John. I hope they listen to you. I will sending letters to city council asking them to support you.

If the lease was held by someone other than the City, and it was cancelled, what would they do. A lease is a lease. If it has been terminated, then thats it.

The City has no more obligation to extend this lease than any other leasor in the City.

The Cadillac was and should remain a popular nightspot. We lost Viva's. We don't need another backwards step in this city.

I am undecided. Part of me says, "Let them plead their case, they made a mistake. Allow them the opportunity to act on it."

The other part of me says, "Yes, they made a mistake. Every other business owner that makes such mistakes usually ends up costing them their business."

Any good business owner will tell you that you can't walk away from your business for a minute. You are married to it. You have to babysit it every minute. If you are going to get out, then get out completely and let the new owner take their chances. Once they own it, it is their money at risk, not yours. They are likely to make decisions in such a way that it does not negatively impact their business.

Palopu makes a very good point.
The city is under no obligation to hear their story, and where were the owners when the problems were happening ? Why do we only hear from them 2 weeks before they have to be out ?

Lease agreements are a management tool for exactly this kind of scenario.

Some businesses have even been refused renewed leases because the property owner wants to change things up or move in some other business. They didn't even do anything wrong.

The Cadillac Ranch was not run by mr. Van Ord prior to Aug. 2007. It was run buy a lady who was hired by Van Ords, father in 1981. She ran the Rock Pit, Old Generator and Playgirl, later the Pit changed to country in 1990. She ran a clean operation with little liquor infractions. She had the respect of the public, RCMP & City Hall. Drugs were not allowed in the club, get caught and you were barred. What happened outside was no concern of hers, RCMP looked after the street. She and all her staff were fired in Aug. 2007 when John paired up with Sam. I say get her back and she will show you a good club. Loud yes, but a lot of fun.

CENSORSHIP...SHAME SHAME BEN. THOUGHT BETTER OF YOU, ESCPECIALLY HOW CONTROVERSIAL YOU HAVE BEEN OVER THE YEARS

I think the city DOES have more responsibilities as a lease holder than the general public. I think the up shot here is not just that the ranch will close but that it will not be alloowed to open somewhere else. This is clearly more power than the average landlord has. As well, loss of the ranch will mean loss of the liquor licence. When last i checked, liquour licences were tightly regulated and thus worth a lot of money.

Perhaps Mr. Van Ord should have been a little more concerned about the place before the city called his bluff. Good Riddance! We often criticize politicians for sitting on their hands...not this time. I'm sure there are enough smart business people out there to realize the city could use a new country music bar.