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Youth club seeks home, or reprieve on cancelled lease By DAVID PRESZLER The future of VIBES remains unclear, despite support among community leaders for the 21-and-under dance club. Co-founder Mike Keating said Wednesday that he and partner Tom Cole haven't decided what to do after their temporary lease on a building at South Gateway shopping center was canceled last week. "We are exploring all our options," Keating said. "The shame of it is that each week we aren't open we lose momentum with what we are trying to do." VIBES moved into the former Ernst Home Center building last month. But last week, the club's lease was terminated by TRF Pacific Real Estate, which manages the property. Keating and Cole claim pressure from retail giant Fred Meyer forced TRF to abide by a 1992 agreement between South Gateway stores restricting certain uses, including entertainment-based businesses. Fred Meyer had also raised safety concerns surrounding the dance club. TRF President Bob Kaczor said Wednesday that the lease was canceled solely because VIBES' activities weren't allowed under the agreement -- not because of complaints or safety concerns. "We made a mistake when we gave them the lease," Kaczor said. "We didn't realize that what they were doing would violate the restrictive agreement of the center." Kazcor denied that pressure from Fred Meyer was behind move -- although he admitted it raised concerns. "The story is not that Fred Meyer shut down VIBES," he said. "We had something that didn't fit in the center and we had to take it out." That explanation doesn't satisfy Keating, who insists that the lease could easily be reinstated if Fred Meyer would drop its complaints. "To us, the quickest solution would be for Fred Meyer to allow us to exist," he said. Keating pointed out that the center's ice rink is also an entertainment business. He and Kaczor both noted that Fred Meyer itself violated the restrictions by leasing part of its parking lot to an auto dealership. Don Burt, the Medford Urban Renewal Agency's director, who helped craft the restrictions, said it's fairly common for shopping centers to allow ice rinks. "It's nightclubs, bars -- things that generate night traffic -- that they are concerned with," he said. An amendment to the restrictions is pending to allow the ice rink to remain open. Keating said it easily could include VIBES, and he isn't alone in that belief. "If they can do it for (the ice rink), they can do it for VIBES as far as I'm concerned," said Medford City Councilman Skip Knight. "I'm not happy with the attitude Fred Meyer is taking with them," said Knight, who plans to raise the issue at today's noon City Council meeting. Police say there have been few problems surrounding the club. Before it opened, police worked with VIBES and neighboring businesses -- including Fred Meyer -- to address potential problems. In a statement this week, Fred Meyer did express support for VIBES -- just not next door. "We understand and endorse VIBES' efforts to provide appropriate evening activities for the community's teenagers and we wish them the best of luck in finding an appropriate location," the statement said. Knight said VIBES provides a service by giving teens somewhere to go on the weekends. "If they are there, they are not drinking and racing up and down the streets and that's good for the community," he said. "They are the only program I know of in the valley that really reaches out and connects with the kids," agreed Gigi Michaels of the West Medford Community Coalition. Her two daughters regularly went to the club. "I feel it's a safe place for them to go." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA