Need info about city Attack on First Fridays

In an intimidating, unwarranted, and heavy-handed move, several city and county agencies, including the Phoenix Police Department, collaborated on August First Friday and descended on the artwalk in a maneuver that many are characterizing as an outright attack on First Fridays.

I organize First Fridays with Artlink, the artist-run non-profit behind the event. If you have information about what occurred on Friday, I would like to know in order to formulate an official Artlink response to the city. You call Artlink at 602-256-7539 or you can reach me directly at vaidenboyer@yahoo.com.

This information will also allow D-PAC (Downtown Phoenix Arts Coalition), other arts organizations, and ultimately, every one of us who cares about the arts in Phoenix, to create responses to the city. We will be better able to create a strong response with solid information about what occurred.

In particular, I am looking for information on what government agencies and departments were present at the event on Friday. If you can tell me, for example, that you saw the Health Department at a particular gallery or Tax Enforcement officers at a street vendor’s booth, this would definitely help. I would like to know what your interactions were with the officials, including the police, if any; if you were offered information, asked questions, received a citation, etc.


I also encourage you to contact your city representatives listed at the end of this email. Remind them that you, and thousands upon thousands of other people, attend First Fridays and that this is a good thing. Remind them that Phoenix has the largest artwalk in the entire nation and how truly extraordinary that is. Remind them that you value the arts and culture that exist in Phoenix as witnessed on First Friday and that exist ALL of the time. Remind them that any measure to impede the success of this vibrant culture is unacceptable. Then remind them of some things you think of on your own. It also probably wouldn’t hurt to remind them that you vote.

Thank you for your assistance and please distribute this widely.


Vaiden Boyer
Artlink, Inc.
First Fridays Coordinator
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Mayor Phil Gordon
phil.gordon@phoenix.gov
(602) 262-7111

District 8 - Vice Mayor Michael Johnson
michael.johnson@phoenix.gov
(602) 262-7493

District 1 - Councilman Dave Siebert
cdist1@phoenix.gov
(602) 262-7444

District 2 - Councilwoman Peggy Neely
council.district.2@phoenix.gov
(602) 262-7445

District 3 - Councilwoman Peggy Bilsten
peggy.bilsten@phoenix.gov
(602) 262-7441

District 4 - Councilman Tom Simplot
council.district.4@phoenix.gov
(602) 262-7447

District 5 - Councilman Claude Mattox
council.district.5@phoenix.gov
(602) 262-7446

District 6 - Councilman Greg Stanton
greg.stanton@phoenix.gov
(602) 262-7491

District 7 - Councilman Doug Lingner
doug.lingner@phoenix.gov
(602) 262-7492

If you live within the City of Phoenix, the following link will provide you with your City Council representative:

http://copwww05.phoenix.gov/mydistrict/

Artists furious over city's First Friday patrol

Here is the transcript of the article that was in Monday's Arizona Republic(an)

Artists furious over city's First Friday patrol

Ginger D. Richardson
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 8, 2005 05:35 PM

Many Phoenix artists believe the city went too far Friday when it sent more than a dozen police officers, as well as health inspectors and code enforcers, to look for violations at the popular First Fridays art walk.

A police presence had been expected at the event, which routinely draws more than 10,000 people to the downtown area. But gallery owners now say they were blind-sided when officers and city inspectors arrived, taking notes on everything from food trays to possible building code violations.

"It was the way they did it," said Susan Copeland, a spokeswoman for the Downtown Phoenix Arts Coalition. "It almost felt like a raid - like they were raiding a Speakeasy or something."

The breakdown in communication between the city and the downtown artists couldn't have come at a worse time. The two groups have recently formed a tenuous partnership as they work - in their own ways - to bring much needed vibrancy and life to Phoenix's downtown.

Monday, that alliance appeared to be severely damaged, with artists flooding city offices with dozens of angry phone calls and e-mails.

They say inspectors entered their galleries and pointed out violations that ranged from serving vegetable trays without a food handler's license, to not having proper permits for operating a commercial business in a residential building.

No one was cited, but the artists fear that's the next step.

"There's a lot of hurt - and it's really a lot of mistrust too - that's out there now," said Kim Moody, who runs an art gallery called the Alwun House. "We have invested so much time in working with the city to develop Phoenix's vision for downtown, and now we're wondering what their real intentions are."

Phoenix officials, including Mayor Phil Gordon and City Manager Frank Fairbanks, spent most of the day in high-level briefings, scrambling to reassure the arts community that their studios and gallery spaces would continue to operate and be welcome downtown.

"We're a little embarrassed; we didn't know all of those departments were going to be there," City Manager Frank Fairbanks said. "I think the intent was to do an educational effort . . . but I am afraid that the appearance wasn't good."

City Council members, who have been advocating for a pedestrian-friendly city core and more events like First Fridays, also expressed regret over what they termed "heavy-handed" and "Gestapo" tactics.

"I am just speechless - and infuriated," City Councilman Tom Simplot said. "They asked us for our help with parking violators and underage drinkers, and somehow, somewhere down the line it ballooned into this horrible event.

"A lot of goodwill has been shattered."

Exactly how many city and county inspectors were wandering about First Fridays is in dispute. Artists claims that as many as six different city divisions were represented; Phoenix officials say they are aware of one or two different individuals from two different city departments, plus a representative from the county health department.

What is clear is that the original intent of the educational campaign - finding workable solutions to the crowd control issues that have started to crop up at the art walk - has been overshadowed by anger and hurt feelings.

One point of agreement seems to be that the extra police presence did help curb underage drinking and the number of people walking around with open containers of alcohol.

"To be fair, the police department did do what it said it was going to do," said artist Greg Esser, who owns the eye lounge gallery on Roosevelt Street. "The police presence was very noticeable and people did respond to that."

More than 80 galleries and studios from as far north as Osborn Road, to as far south as the Warehouse District participate in First Fridays, which currently boasts five different art walk routes.

But most of the crowd control issues - which include everything from the lack of portable bathrooms to trash clean-up after the event - are particularly noticeable in the Roosevelt Row area, on the northern edge of Copper Square in downtown Phoenix.

Arts backers are scheduled to meet with the police department again at the end of August to discuss First Fridays, but it is likely that city officials will host a community meeting in the next week to 10 days to try to soothe all the hurt feelings from last weekend.

Whether it works remains to be seen.

"There is a lot of mistrust out there right now," said Kimber Lanning, who owns Modified Arts. "But I am trying to give them (the city) the benefit of the doubt."



Reach the reporter at ginger.richardson@arizonarepublic.com or at (602) 444-2474.

"I am just speechless - and infuriated," City Councilman Tom Simplot said. " They asked us for our help with parking violators and underage drinkers , and somehow, somewhere down the line it ballooned into this horrible event.

i am just curious - who was the "they" that invited the city to send cops down there?