Saving H.O.P.E.

By: Gonzo

On a recent edition of “Off The Hook,” I was quoted as saying the Hotel Pennsylvania, site of the H.O.P.E. conferences, was “…a fleabag, but our fleabag.” That’s true, too, but now we’re faced with the grim prospect of bullshit corporate interest tearing the landmark hotel down.

My stomach dropped when I first heard the news. Hackers’ home away from home was to be taken away from them. My first thought was about all the memories I had of the place.

I’ve been staying there for all the H.O.P.E.s I attended, but one. There were panels I’ve hosted, and people I’ve talked to. One person in particular comes to mind. After one of the panels I did, a German guy came up to me, and told me about how much he likes the site. I spent time with him just talking. I always have time for Reprimand’s readers, but I didn’t know we made it to Europe. I also thought about all the times I’ve stayed up all night talking to people like when I was talking to my friend, Scientist, at the last H.O.P.E. and he told me how he was reading L.O.S.’s text files back in the mid-90s, and how ahead of the curve we were, and it helped him get his start. As many of you know, I was in L.O.S., but I never thought I would come full circle in that respect.

Of course, there are other things that have gone one there, and it will remain between those of us involved.

I also thought about the people who work at the hotel. Vornado, the company that will tear the hotel down so they can build a corporate center, is going to heartlessly turn people who have made careers there out to the street, but what do they care. They have jobs, even if it means others don’t.

Countless time I’ve stood on the 18^th floor, in the back of the main lecture area, and looked down at 7^th Ave. We were doing the right things at the conferences. The hacker community was coming together to share information, and further hacker culture. It can’t end here. We’ve come too far, and done too much.

I was wondering what would happen to the Hacker Community if the hotel goes. I predict that smaller conferences will spring up, at times, literally, at someone’s house. This may be a good thing because it will be a real grass r00ts movement in the community, but we will be cut off from our hacker brothers and sisters-in-arms around the world, and that is not how information is spread.

There still may be hope, though. We can do things. If enough noise is made, history can be preserved, as it should be.

Anyone with interested in helping can go to the H.O.P.E. forums on talk.hope.net. Call the hotel, and let them know you support them. Respectfully, call Vornado and tell them how you feel about this. Call John Gambling’s show on Fridays at 10 a.m. EST on WABC, 770 am. N.Y.C mayor Bloomberg is on for that hour, and calls are taken. Call, and let him know that the hotel should be saved, and ask what can be done.