Bouchercon -- the latest
I wrote recently about a local union's push to disrupt the mystery writers convention in Baltimore, by asking attendess to boycott the convention hotel. At risk is an October event that could draw as many as 2,000 attendees, including Lawrence Block and Laura Lippman.
This week, I talked about the issue with Jon Jordan, who with his wife Ruth (they also run Crime Spree magazine) organized Bouchercon 2008. He said the contract for the hotel was signed in early 2005. After the hotel changed hands and became the Sheraton City Center, the union dispute broke out, and the convention was caught in the middle.
Reneging on the contract would be disastrous, he said. "This has nothing to do with us being unsympathetic to the union. We can't afford to breach this contract. ... It would bankrupt us."
The Jordans, who live in Milwaukee, are not some deep-pocketed corporation. Ruth is a pharmacy technician; Jon is a machinist. But they love mysteries; in fact, they met at the 1999 Bouchercon.
They also attended the 2004 Bouchercon in Toronto, and when few people came forward to organize future conventions, they stepped in. "It's such a big part of our lives, we wanted to make sure there would be one," Jon said. A few months later, they were in Baltimore scouting locations, and settled on the hotel that then was a Wyndham.
The Jordans don't get paid for organizing, and any money left over goes to the next Bouchercon. That's why the union pressure, which has included phones calls and emails to attendees, is so maddening. Jon said, "It's unfair to put us in the position of having to takes sides. We just want to have our convention."
Categories: Bouchercon/Charmed to Death
Comments
Clearly the Jordans, as you say, are caught in the middle of a bad situation that they didn't create. But there has to be some kind of middle ground for them to take, even if it's only to help give them some peace, e.g. allowing the union to distribute literature at the Con in exchange for the union not giving them a hard time about holding the event there. Or, perhaps, holding some event that would ordinarily have been at the hotel at some other nearby venue. Picture Laura Lippman doing a Q&A/book signing in the busker's zone at the Inner Harbor. I don't know; I'm just spitballing here. But you get the idea.
This is the sort of thing that could inadvertenly kill any future conventions (if they decide that it's not worth the hassle anymore), and could poison Baltimore as a convention-worthy venue.
Posted by: Claude | July 15, 2008 10:21 PM