The Mugging of Kiel Opera House

Civic Regress

Ed Golterman was a writer-producer of marketing and training programs, and book shows for business theater. Mr. Golterman spent ten years in radio and TV news and sports. He is a concert and show baritone and a life-long student of musical theater. His father, Edward N. Golterman, was an assistant to four St. Louis mayors (Darst, Tucker, Poelker, and Cervantes). His mother, Maria Marceno Golterman, was an operatic soprano. Eds grandfather, Guy Golterman, produced grand opera and classical performances at the Coliseum, The Muny, and Kiel Opera House and Convention Hall. Golterman also inaugurated Cleveland Stadium with a grand opera in 1931. July Fourth, 1998, Ed wrote an impassioned defense of Kiel Opera House and sent it to the Urban Land Institute in Washington D.C. A ULI panel would soon come to St. Louis to advise on what to do with the Opera House. (Apparently re-opening the great theater to help bring back a downtown seemed too simple). Kiel Opera House was going down to protect the Fox Theater on Grand Avenue and Kiel Center from what they feared as night time competition. Serving narrow self-interests hampers downtown revitalization. Citizens of the region, taxpayers and visitors deserve a better St. Louis, a better downtown. That means Kiel Opera House. A newspaper columnist wrote of Ed: He has been calling on the wrong people for two years. Yes, and they are all the wrong people. Ed Golterman believed nothing written, said, or promised about Kiel Opera House. That has given him an edge on the battlefield. As Ed learned about Kiel Opera House studies in the spring of 1998, it became clear her enemies were about to finish her off. He said: No, and went to battle. Ten years later he is still fighting