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BLOODY FRIDAY
OK YOU HEARD AUGUST'S FIRST FRIDAY WAS GOING TO BE A FRIENDLY "EDUCATIONAL" DRIVE BY POLICE - NONE OF US KNEW IT WAS REALLY A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE, "With a multi-tiered and multi-jurisdictional initiative to eliminate the use of our buildings as art spaces." (Roosevelt Row e-notice)
TV, Radio, AP wire service, even on the cover of the Arizona Republic gave heads-up the Thursday before. re:Phoenix Police will "educate" Artlink's Aug 5 First Friday's patrons and visitors (no parking, under-age drinking, vendors blocking sidewalk, pedistrian traffic safety (Artlink's First Friday attracts between 10,000 to 15,000 artwalker's visiting over 80 art spaces, spread out between Roosevelt Row's 7th Street to Grandevelt's 15th Avenue, Grand Avenue from 7th to 16th Ave.
We were expecting to have a pleasant follow-up meeting with police, to discuss the results from Aug 5 First Friday police "educational" drive-by's and together we were looking at working together to develop a long-range strategy for a successful outcome of downtown's "Strategic Vision": we were told, police "don't want to kill First Friday, it's a needed component for downtown vitality."
THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW!
OK we're responsible citizens, creative business types, and family-friendly folks - we are downtown, we live and breath downtown, we have staked our livelihoods on our entrepreneurial vision to evolve a livelihood from our creative passions... we've already paid our dues with years of sweat blood and tears. So why can't we stay on the same page, evolved and recorded by Council approved "DOWNTOWN PHOENIX: A STRATEGIC VISION AND BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE (12/14/04)
What shock and awe we experienced Bloody First Friday: we witnessed Downtown Art Galleries assaulted by police-escorted multiple-agency types, each with educational brochures, citation books and notepads, AND BADGES.
The Following are excerpts from Roosevelt Row Gallery Owner, Greg Esser's Sunday Aug 7th e-notice:
On Thursday, August 4, 2005 the police held a press event and stated that their purpose and intent was to monitor underage drinking, open container violations and parking issues related to the event. This was essentially the message that was reported in the local media. The enforcement effort that the City of Phoenix actually launched and that is currently underway is in fact far broader.
Various inspectors and enforcement officials from the City of Phoenix and Maricopa County entered our business regularly throughout the evening each accompanied by armed police officers.
The inspections we received through the course of the evening included:
The Fire Marshall in plain clothes
Maricopa County Health Inspectors (food)
Zoning Enforcement officials (occupancy regulations)
Tax Enforcement officials (privilege and sales tax)
Neighborhood Services (blight violations, various City of Phoenix code violations)
There were others who would not disclose their affiliation when asked directly.
Further, we were officially notified by a City of Phoenix citations investigator from the Development Services Department on Thursday, August 4, 2005 that our use of our building as an art gallery is illegal. Despite the fact that our building has been used as an art gallery for more than thirty years as evidenced by documents submitted to the City of Phoenix, the citations investigator has arbitrarily stated that our continuing use of the building as a gallery is a “change of use.” The “change of use” requires a new Certificate of Occupancy. In order to obtain a new Certificate of Occupancy, a building must meet current city building code which is not possible for our structure given the historic nature of its construction and the size of our lot. Our situation is typical of many of the art studios and venues downtown now being targeted for code enforcement by the City of Phoenix.
The “change of use” citations are a new and questionable tactic being used by the City of Phoenix as part of a multi-tiered and multi-jurisdictional initiative to eliminate the use of our buildings as art spaces.
If you are a registered voter in any of these districts, please let your elected representative know now that this is an important issue that affects not only the arts in downtown but the health and vibrancy of our state’s capitol.
If you know a bureaucrat or manager within the city - or a news reporter - please...Talk To Them; seek out information... who's initiating this crack-down? is there a bigger developer behind this? (call Greg at 515 Gallery, or your Artlink Representative, or reply to this e-mail your interest to help resolve this crisis).
This incredibly blunderous shake-up shatters our confidence in the "comprehensive consensus building" touted by Mayor Gordon our 21st Century 6th largest city, with 2004's Council Approved, "DOWNTOWN PHOENIX: A STRATEGIC VISION AND BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE..." a vision that looks pretty hallow right now. Perhaps we should reconsider our support for next Fall's Bond Election... Remember the Stadium we stopped?
We will continue to provide you with updates and let you know what you can do to help us through this plight and protect the flourishing arts in downtown against this government intrusion and attack.
Concerted & Concerned
Kim Moody
Alwun House Foundation
building a stronger community through the arts
Purple, Italic Text above, was extracted from yesterday's e-mail notice from Greg Esser, 515 Gallery owner, Roosevelt Row association.
OK YOU HEARD AUGUST'S FIRST FRIDAY WAS GOING TO BE A FRIENDLY "EDUCATIONAL" DRIVE BY POLICE - NONE OF US KNEW IT WAS REALLY A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE, "With a multi-tiered and multi-jurisdictional initiative to eliminate the use of our buildings as art spaces." (Roosevelt Row e-notice)
TV, Radio, AP wire service, even on the cover of the Arizona Republic gave heads-up the Thursday before. re:Phoenix Police will "educate" Artlink's Aug 5 First Friday's patrons and visitors (no parking, under-age drinking, vendors blocking sidewalk, pedistrian traffic safety (Artlink's First Friday attracts between 10,000 to 15,000 artwalker's visiting over 80 art spaces, spread out between Roosevelt Row's 7th Street to Grandevelt's 15th Avenue, Grand Avenue from 7th to 16th Ave.
We were expecting to have a pleasant follow-up meeting with police, to discuss the results from Aug 5 First Friday police "educational" drive-by's and together we were looking at working together to develop a long-range strategy for a successful outcome of downtown's "Strategic Vision": we were told, police "don't want to kill First Friday, it's a needed component for downtown vitality."
THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW!
OK we're responsible citizens, creative business types, and family-friendly folks - we are downtown, we live and breath downtown, we have staked our livelihoods on our entrepreneurial vision to evolve a livelihood from our creative passions... we've already paid our dues with years of sweat blood and tears. So why can't we stay on the same page, evolved and recorded by Council approved "DOWNTOWN PHOENIX: A STRATEGIC VISION AND BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE (12/14/04)
What shock and awe we experienced Bloody First Friday: we witnessed Downtown Art Galleries assaulted by police-escorted multiple-agency types, each with educational brochures, citation books and notepads, AND BADGES.
The Following are excerpts from Roosevelt Row Gallery Owner, Greg Esser's Sunday Aug 7th e-notice:
On Thursday, August 4, 2005 the police held a press event and stated that their purpose and intent was to monitor underage drinking, open container violations and parking issues related to the event. This was essentially the message that was reported in the local media. The enforcement effort that the City of Phoenix actually launched and that is currently underway is in fact far broader.
Various inspectors and enforcement officials from the City of Phoenix and Maricopa County entered our business regularly throughout the evening each accompanied by armed police officers.
The inspections we received through the course of the evening included:
The Fire Marshall in plain clothes
Maricopa County Health Inspectors (food)
Zoning Enforcement officials (occupancy regulations)
Tax Enforcement officials (privilege and sales tax)
Neighborhood Services (blight violations, various City of Phoenix code violations)
There were others who would not disclose their affiliation when asked directly.
Further, we were officially notified by a City of Phoenix citations investigator from the Development Services Department on Thursday, August 4, 2005 that our use of our building as an art gallery is illegal. Despite the fact that our building has been used as an art gallery for more than thirty years as evidenced by documents submitted to the City of Phoenix, the citations investigator has arbitrarily stated that our continuing use of the building as a gallery is a “change of use.” The “change of use” requires a new Certificate of Occupancy. In order to obtain a new Certificate of Occupancy, a building must meet current city building code which is not possible for our structure given the historic nature of its construction and the size of our lot. Our situation is typical of many of the art studios and venues downtown now being targeted for code enforcement by the City of Phoenix.
The “change of use” citations are a new and questionable tactic being used by the City of Phoenix as part of a multi-tiered and multi-jurisdictional initiative to eliminate the use of our buildings as art spaces.
If you are a registered voter in any of these districts, please let your elected representative know now that this is an important issue that affects not only the arts in downtown but the health and vibrancy of our state’s capitol.
If you know a bureaucrat or manager within the city - or a news reporter - please...Talk To Them; seek out information... who's initiating this crack-down? is there a bigger developer behind this? (call Greg at 515 Gallery, or your Artlink Representative, or reply to this e-mail your interest to help resolve this crisis).
This incredibly blunderous shake-up shatters our confidence in the "comprehensive consensus building" touted by Mayor Gordon our 21st Century 6th largest city, with 2004's Council Approved, "DOWNTOWN PHOENIX: A STRATEGIC VISION AND BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE..." a vision that looks pretty hallow right now. Perhaps we should reconsider our support for next Fall's Bond Election... Remember the Stadium we stopped?
We will continue to provide you with updates and let you know what you can do to help us through this plight and protect the flourishing arts in downtown against this government intrusion and attack.
Concerted & Concerned
Kim Moody
Alwun House Foundation
building a stronger community through the arts
Purple, Italic Text above, was extracted from yesterday's e-mail notice from Greg Esser, 515 Gallery owner, Roosevelt Row association.
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