The Tempe City Council unanimously ended its controversial special events permit ordinance on Sept. 2 after local advocates gathered enough signatures for a referendum to potentially reach voters' ballots.
The ordinance, which passed in July, was meant to change permit requirements for gatherings of 30 or more on city property. It was rescinded by a 6-0 vote, with Councilmember Randy Keating absent.
"I appreciate how important this issue is to many of our residents, our business community, city staff, as well as my fellow council members," Tempe Mayor Corey Woods said at the City Council meeting on Sept. 2. "As such, we need to make sure that everyone feels safe … and welcome in Tempe's 50 neighborhood and community parks."
After the City Council unanimously passed the ordinance, a referendum effort was started by the Phoenix-Metro Democratic Socialists of America chapter and other local advocacy groups.
Rajat Arora, a graduate student studying law, is a member of the Phoenix-Metro DSA and was the chair of its Protect Tempe Tenants campaign. Groups like the Phoenix-Metro DSA have used Tempe parks for aid and charity events where food and services were provided to people in need, according to the organization's website.
"The ordinance was really affecting some of our other DSA members from doing mutual aid work," Arora said. "(Tempe) passed this ordinance that was going to greatly restrict their ability to do mutual aid."
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The Phoenix-Metro DSA and other advocates have faced pushback before. During canvassing efforts to gather signatures for a repeal, advocates dealt with petition blockers.
Phoenix New Times first reported the petition blockers were members of Groundswell Contact — a paid political outreach firm that provides services like voter registration, signature collection and campaign strategy.
An anti-petition flyer was passed out calling the Phoenix-Metro DSA an outside group attempting to dictate what happens in the city of Tempe.
"Why are those in Phoenix trying to tell Tempe residents what to vote on?" the flyer said.
The Phoenix-Metro DSA represents people from all over the Phoenix metropolitan area, Arora said. Tempe has the second-most members in the organization behind Phoenix.
Some of the Groundswell Contact petitioners, though, were not from Arizona, Arora said.
"It was really ironic for them to be calling us out-of-towners who were from Phoenix, when, in reality, a lot of the people that were running the campaign, a lot of our canvassers on the ground were from Tempe," Arora said. "They were hiring out-of-towners."
Arora also said Tempe residents received text messages urging them to not sign the referendum.
"The funny thing was that it ended up driving a lot of people out to sign the petition," Arora said.
Bobby Nichols, an attorney who recently stepped down as a long-time organizer with Phoenix-Metro DSA to run for Tempe City Council, wrote the legal language for the referendum.
"I've been involved with this referendum effort since its inception," Nichols said.
Advocacy groups were able to collect about 5,000 signatures to put the referendum on the ballot in March, Nichols said. According to the city of Tempe, they only needed 2,440.
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The original ordinance was passed after a large number of people spoke out against it during the July City Council meeting, which contributed to efforts to repeal it.
"We wanted them to take community input, which they weren't taking," Arora said. "We wanted them to delay it so that people can get their voice in, and they didn't."
Carsten Oyer contributed to this story.
Edited by Senna James, George Headley, Katrina Michalak and Pippa Fung.
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Emma Bradford is a junior studying journalism and mass communication and political science with a minor in business. She has previously worked at the Cronkite News Washington, D.C. bureau as a Politics and Money Reporter. Bradford is in her fourth semester with The State Press and on the politics desk.
