Tempe, AZ, June 30–A wide range of community members who reside or volunteer in Tempe are organizing in advance of the Tempe City Council’s meeting on Tuesday, July 1, where council members are scheduled to vote on a new special event ordinance that would create new bureaucratic hurdles and costs and increase the risk of criminalization for charitable outreach efforts in city parks and private property.

At 5:30 p.m. outside City Hall people will hold a  rally. People opposing the ordinance will be wearing black. Organizers have been calling for the city to pause their efforts and instead work cooperatively with a broad group of stakeholders rather than ram through the legaleze designed by city lawyers and city staff with no community input.

At 6 p.m.Opponents will then attend the council meeting where  the measure is on the City Council agenda as 8C7, near the end of their agenda, though sometimes agenda items with a large public presence are sometimes moved earlier. Individuals from a wide range of organizations are planning to talk in opposition to the ordinance–all share a common goal–meeting the needs of those most vulnerable, while respecting their humanity.

This builds on what occurred at the first public hearing where the city never even bothered to make a public presentation on the ordinance (the proposed ordinance was on the council’s private executive session agenda with the city attorney  before the regular council meeting). On June 5th, nine community members spoke in opposition to the proposal and only 1 person spoke in favor of it. (go to City Council – Regular Meeting – Jun 5th, 2025 and click on 8B4 to view public comments).

The city’s existing special event ordinance is already problematic as on Friday, for the second time, the city warned one of the volunteer respite centers for the homeless, the Native Action Program Center, that if a shower trailer was brought on site by Cloud Covered Streets, they would be subject to a $1,500 fine for failure to have a special event permit. The shower services scheduled for today were subsequently canceled. This occurred even though the site was on private property with no shared users. Dr. McIntosh who operates the Native Action Program Center which provides holistic trauma services to help people overcome drug and alcohol abuse plans to be present at the Council Meeting. 

The proposed Special Event Ordinance would create even more bureaucratic hurdles for any group that publicly advertises or expects to have 30 or more people attend an activity–and this would include activities on private property. The city’s ordinance will make it harder for people to use underutilized parks (such as Moeur Park or Gaicki Park) than parks that already have reservation systems like Daley Park or Kiwanis Park. 

Full details on the current and proposed special event ordinance can be found at https://SharingFoodisnotaCrime.org/faq

Past news releases on the right to use public spaces to engage with people who are homeless can be found at https://SharingFoodisnotacrime/blog

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