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** Special Events, Services, and the Referendum to Protect Our Parks
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On July 2, in the early hours of the morning, Tempe City Council voted unanimously to approve a new “Special Events” Ordinance after hours of vocal opposition from concerned locals and their supporters.

At that meeting, I joined 76 Tempe residents and comrades from the Phoenix Metro chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the Aris Foundation, Tempe Really Really Free Market, the Sharing Food is Not a Crime Coalition, Organized Power in Numbers, Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders for Equity, Tempe Neighborhoods Together, and the Arizona State University chapter of the Yoing Democratic Socialists of America to speak in defense of first amendment rights, mutual aid, our unhoused neighbors, and public access to Tempe’s public parks.

In my short speech to the council ([link removed]) , I stated clear concerns that “this ordinance will, without question and by its actual language, unreasonably and unfairly prohibit Tempe residents from using the public parks that our taxes fund.”

I was very disappointed that my city council would even consider an ordinance which so clearly subjects businesses, churches, nonprofits, and organizers to criminal liability for organizing public events. I was equally disappointed that a handful of speakers used their limited time to dehumanize Tempe’s unhoused residents who suffer from addiction and mental illness.

But the most surprising disappointment of the meeting was how our city attorney, the lawyer who wrote the ordinance and receives a base salary of $240,000.00 per year, struggled to defend his work product and failed to provide direct answers when asked direct questions about possible impacts of the ordinance.

As a lawyer and as the author of the referendum to repeal the ordinance, I am happy to provide my legal analysis of the new special event permitting rules. The following rules would have gone into effect early this month, if not for our coalition’s commitment to gathering 4000 signatures from registered Tempe voters in the brutal July heat. Please note that these rules could still be enacted if the council refuses to reconsider their unanimous July decision or a majority of Tempe voters vote in favor of the ordinance during our March 2026 city elections.

Based on its actual language, the city’s proposed “special events” ordinance creates a new set of excuses for the city to infringe our first amendment rights by imposing fees and criminal liability on organizers of “public events” that are held on public property OR on private property if the event represents a “deviating use” of that private property (like using a parking lot for a mobile shower, using a lawn for a swap meet, etc.).

If you are planning a birthday party, a family reunion, a church picnic, a corporate team building exercise, a walk, a bike ride, a march, or any other event or activity in a Tempe park that could potentially include 30 people or that is open to the public or that the unelected city manager or their unelected designee subjectively considers to be sufficiently “public” in nature, you will need to pay for the privilege of applying for a permit and hope that the city manager or designee grants your request (which they are not required to do under the ordinance, even if you have done everything right), at which point you will be required to pay additional fees of varying amounts depending on how the city manager or designee classifies your event. The same applies if you are a child running a group chat with 30+ classmates for the purpose of playing basketball at the park, or a politician bringing 30+ people to the park for a campaign launch, or a protestor planning a march against the violent
resurgence of America fascism if your action is not sufficiently spontaneous in the opinion of Tempe’s Police Department.

Even after you receive a permit, assuming you receive one at all, the city can arbitrarily revoke your permit at any time and expose you to criminal liability under the ordinance.

When confronted about the possibility of this ordinance being used to silence dissent or burden Tempe residents with unmanageable fees for using our parks, the city attorney stated that the city manager, her designee, park rangers and police would essentially be empowered to use their best judgement when choosing who was violating the new rules and who was not.

In my opinion, that is an admission of intent to arbitrarily enforce the ordinance.

It should also be noted that, according to the city attorney, this ordinance has been in the works since September of 2024. That means the city had at least nine months to engage with community stakeholders, make requested edits, create carve outs for first amendment activities like mutual aid, and remove typos from the ordinance before it sending it out for consideration by the council.

None of that happened, and I think I know why.

In her July community update ([link removed]) , while explaining Tempe’s decision to push through the new “special events” permitting ordinance ([link removed]) without any real community engagement, city manager Rosa Inchausti said that she has received a "number" of complaints regarding "drugs, drug paraphernalia and weapons in the parks." The city manager said “some” Tempe residents “have seen violence,” and do not feel comfortable allowing their children to go to the parks."

The city manager admitted that, “it is hard to determine the exact cause of all of the negative issues in the parks,” before speculating that a national “increase in homelessness” is the ultimate cause.

She provided no evidence to support her opinion, possibly because the existing research refutes her claim.

In 2022, a research presentation by Oxford’s Nuffield College Centre for Social Investigation in collaboration with Seattle Pacific University titled Property Crime and the Social Control of Homelessness ([link removed]) found that (1) increased rates of homelessness do not result in increased property crime rates or increased violent crime rates and (2) individuals experiencing homelessness do not commit theft, auto theft, or violent crimes at a higher rate than the average person.

According to this data, increases in our unhoused population cannot truly be blamed for increasing crime rates.

Upon reflection, the entire argument feels a bit stretched. Even if our city manager has noticed an increase in reports of visible homelessness from Tempe residents, these reported horror stories smell distinctly of political exaggeration.

During all my time in Tempe’s many public parks, I have never noticed the extreme issues that our city manager invokes in her July community update. I have always found our parks to be pleasant, well-maintained, and inclusive spaces. I have never felt threatened by the presence of our unhoused neighbors. Wherever picnics or parties left behind trash, city maintenance crews and volunteer clean up groups were never far behind.

If we take the claims of outrage at face value, our parks are now urban wastelands, torn straight from scenes of the Emmy winning drama Breaking Bad. Our swing sets are lined with needles. Our water fountains pour malt liquor. Children weep at the sight of our parks, for the sandboxes overflow with shattered shards of crystal meth.

This sort of rage-baiting is, of course, ridiculous. Deflecting criticism by complaining about visible homelessness or heaping unearned praise on the city’s underfunded and ineffective housing programs will not make Tempe any safer.

In both the city’s 2023 ([link removed]) and 2024 ([link removed]) community surveys, Tempe residents identified “services for individuals experiencing homelessness” as their top priority for the following year. However, that specific input has been conspicuously omitted from the “Importance-Satisfaction Analysis” sections two years running.

Tempe’s failure to follow community input is tied to the city’s deadly lack of shelter beds and cooling stations. If Tempe spent taxes in the manner that taxpayers consistently advised, we might not need generous private residents like Austin Davis and Katherine Kouvelas-Edick or nonprofit volunteer programs like the Really Really Free Market or the New Deal Meal to provide life-saving services like clothing, cooling supplies, and food to unhoused Tempe residents.

Tempe residents deserve public servants who listen to their concerns and adjust

course accordingly.

That is why am running for Tempe city council. If elected, I will always uphold our commitment to community engagement and use my platform to fight for unhoused and at-risk residents of Tempe.

If you want to live in a city that is affordable for everyone, accountable to residents, and accessible to all, please support my campaign by making a donation, volunteering, or signing my virtual candidate petition.

See you at city hall this evening!

Bobby Nichols ([link removed])

I’m Bobby Nichols. I have lived in Tempe since I was 6 years old, I want to raise a family of my own in my hometown, and I need your help to make Tempe affordable for everyone.

As a state protective services attorney, I have learned that social services and affordable housing are essential to preventing homelessness. As a public policy expert, I have learned that Tempe has the tools to address its cost-of-living crisis. As a democratic socialist, I have learned that when working people unite, we win!

If you want to live in a city that works for workers, please contribute to my campaign for Tempe city council at this link ([link removed]) , and visit my website ([link removed]) to sign my petition (remember to grab your driver's license) and volunteer with my campaign.

I do not accept donations from real estate developers, land use attorneys, corporate landlords, or their lobbyists. So any money or time that you can contribute will help make Tempe affordable for everyone.

Will you support my campaign for an affordable Tempe?
Contribute to Bobby’s campaign here ([link removed])
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