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The City of Phoenix vs. First Friday
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below is a message I received from Greg Esser and the Roosevelt Row galleries. Please keep checking back @ ARTish for more info as this story unfolds...
It is with great and deep sadness that I am writing to inform you that on First Friday, August 5, 2005 the City of Phoenix launched a massive and intimidating enforcement initiative against artists and galleries along the Roosevelt Street corridor during the free and highly popular monthly artwalk organized by Artlink, Inc.
Two battalions of police officers were dispatched and present throughout the evening including mounted officers on horseback between Seventh Avenue and Seventh Street along Roosevelt Row. 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.
As you know, the artists of eye lounge and other downtown art spaces have been struggling against crime in our neighborhoods for years without police or city assistance. This new police initiative is, ironically, targeting us after we have helped to reduce crime in the area by more than fifty percent over the last several years.
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 Red Dog artist studio collective located at Second Street and Roosevelt was issued with a similar code violation notice citing „change of use‰ and has been given one week to comply. The majority of artist studios and galleries in the downtown area are in historic buildings that have had continuous legally nonconforming uses for generations and will not meet current city building code requirements. 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.
This a far more sweeping and concentrated enforcement initiative than the City of Phoenix uses to combat crime, slum and blight enforcement or regulate any other industry.
The building codes and business regulations that we must comply with are approved and adopted by the Mayor and City Council. I encourage you to contact these individuals and ask them to address this issue through the establishment of regulations that do allow for the adaptive re-use of existing buildings by artists for studios, galleries and other arts-related uses. This is election season for the even numbered Council Districts in Phoenix. Most of the art venues are located in District 8 represented by Vice Mayor Michael Johnson. The current council members face re-election on September 13, 2005. 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.
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/
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.
Sincerely,
Greg Esser
