TRI In The News
City to Review Law After Water-Bottle Brouhaha
From AZ Central
Original article available here
Public outcry over a Phoenix inspector’s decision to stop a woman from handing out free bottles of water because she had no city permit has prompted Mayor Greg Stanton to ask the city staff to use “common sense” in enforcement.
“With the climate that we have in Phoenix, I believe we should not discourage the community from handing out free bottles of water,” Stanton wrote Thursday in a memo to City Manager David Cavazos. “Rather, this is a practice we should encourage.”
Dana Crow-Smith of Peoria has said she was expressing her faith while handing out water to passers-by at the July 6 Friday Art Walk in downtown Phoenix. A Phoenix inspector saw her and told her she needed a mobile-vendor permit to hand out water on private property.
A mobile-vendor permit allows a vendor to sell products on private property and costs $350 to obtain.
Crow-Smith said she may have accidentally stepped on private property.
Stanton wrote in the memo that city officials will review the city's mobile-vendor permit law and consider changing it for cases such as Crow-Smith's.
Cavazos commented in an email to The Arizona Republic on Thursday: "I agree with Mayor Stanton and the City Council that we need to ensure that our ordinances and enforcement practices are reasonable and fair."
Cavazos added that he has asked deputy city manager Jerome Miller to lead further review of the issue. "I fully support the approach that Mayor Stanton and the City Council have communicated," he wrote.
Media coverage of Crow-Smith’s story has set off a barrage of national criticism against the city for its handling of the incident. Bloggers have pontificated - and residents have sent e-mails to council members - accusing the city of overreaching.
A Virginia-based Christian-rights group representing Crow-Smith, the Rutherford Institute, has said the city’s enforcement infringed on her rights of free speech and religious freedom. It demanded the city apologize for its treatment of Crow-Smith.
So far, the city has backed its inspector for issuing a warning to Crow-Smith and praised the inspector for not giving her a citation.Cavazos has said it was a "fairness" issue for vendors at First Friday who had a permit.
On his Facebook page Thursday, Councilman Sal DiCiccio wrote that if the city is going to take a hard and fast approach to enforcement, it could crack down on “lemonade stands or even handing out free candy from your front door.”
“The ordinance needs to be changed, and changed quickly,” he added.
