[Source: Arizona Republic, June 19, 2008] — One of the recurring controversies between central Phoenix small businesses and their city’s government is the question of flexibility. Just how flexible is the city when it comes to new uses of older buildings in the central core? Entrepreneurs are finding new ways to adaptively reuse older, central-city facilities for new shops and restaurants. Everyone, citizen and city government alike, wants to see that energy happen. But is the city too inflexible toward businesses seeking to use older facilities in innovative ways?
A guest columnist for the Phoenix Republic edition of The Arizona Republic, Tom Jenney, recently related a parable from Phoenix’s recent history that should trouble City Council members. Jenney wrote of MacAlpine’s Soda Fountain at Seventh and Oak streets, which in 2003 began offering “swing dancing” events. They were a smash. Loud 1940s music. Poodle skirts and zoot suits. And lots of dancers.
And, as the owners discovered after a former employee filed a complaint, a violation of a recently enacted city ordinance. By offering dancing, the MacAlpine’s owners had changed the “occupancy” of their soda fountain from a designation of “mercantile” to one of “assembly.” And, so, they would have to install a sprinkler system – at a cost of $75,000 – if they wanted to continue letting customers dance. Bye-bye, swing dancing. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]
Downtown Voices Coalition 