(stepping
in shit and digging myself into a hole and trying harder? What the hell
it's good exercise.
Dennis Williams DBA Casa Goofy International
1323 W. Hualpai Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85745-2051
To:
Ward Three
Judith Anderson
Karen Uhlich
In regard to our discussion yesterday about the steel
building at 3430 E. Presidio Rd., and my intention to deed that and all my
other properties into a non-profit as part of an ongoing effort to create an
art and urban agriculture resource in two neighborhoods,
I was told,
“Just because your intentions are good we can’t interrupt an
ongoing process.”
But I didn’t say my intentions are good, my intentions could
be evil for that matter, what I said was a lot of community benefit that is
already fact can be lost and existing resources damaged to satisfy the letter
but not the intent of an ordinance. And
I didn’t propose to interrupt an ongoing process. I was trying to say a statement from your
office to Planning, Code Enforcement, the Board Of Adjustment and/or Appeals could
be a necessary part of that process as your representation of community
interest.
We elect representatives to resolve rather than reinforce
catch 22s, legal fictions and “gotchas” such as:
3 legal properties when they were bought, fifteen years
later have to be considered one complex and subject to different rules than
anyone at the time could have conceived, and a sudden requirement for a
developmental plan beyond the scope of any individual purchaser.
A building that was “just there” at the time my family trust
bought the property to take care of my mentally ill sister, fifteen years later
becomes a problem that the real estate agent didn’t figure out, had no cause to figure out, and the seller
did not disclose at the time.
Code Enforcement came out on a complaint from my tenant next
door who was angry because I could not give her deposit back because cleaning
and repairs amounted to two and a half times the deposit. She complained that someone was living in the
steel building. But Planning And Zoning
told me that live/work space is the most appropriate use of that building in an
R2 zone. Also “Loft Living” has even
become fashionable in that type of building. But applying for and
pulling permits for "live/work space" can't be done because the property
is now part of a complex that didn't exist at the time of purchase.
I spent twelve hours
of my time and a draftsman’s time drawing up a plot plan on the initial word
from Planning and Zoning that that was what I should do and then when I
presented it was told that they had thought of some other requirements that
made all that work irrelevant.
If the law can’t be consistent and not contradict itself in
the view of the proverbial and fictional “reasonable person” then it seems
appropriate to me for a city council person to restore community representation
to the code by saying something more creative has to occur here or great harm
can be done.
I have worked for fifteen years to improve and dedicate this
property to the point it can be deeded in to a non-profit that is picking up
the flag dropped when the International Arts Center (the old Lohse Y at 5thAve/6th
st or MUSE) was demolished. I worked for
seven years previously at the same IAC as the HVAC guy and promoter.
It was demolished in violation of the City’s own stipulation
in trade for alternate zoning that:
“the building will always be used as a cultural resource”
And in violation of its own ordinance, issued a demolition
permit on what some engineers were saying was a perfectly sound historic
building.
And with promises of landscaping and help in other areas
still not kept by the City, Mayor and Council “bought” the developer’s “Overlay”
type excuse that he would “give us” a
sculpture garden.
But instead of even that cheap grace the developer said,
“OOPS! Made a mistake! My bad! The market just isn’t there
for condos.”
So the community got an eyesore, a hole in the ground, for 7
years until some of the ugliest student housing in the country got put up in its
footprint in a process called OVERLAY in which a commercial development plan
such as the one I can’t afford is laid over existing code and cosmetic remediation
is proposed for the general area.
Now I, the recipient and last man standing of that legacy of
shame am proposing to restore some of that promise to the community and I get
the responsibility for remediating a problem that "didn’t exist" for a building
that "didn’t exist" at the time of purchase by a legal entity which no longer exists and in which I had only
a minor vote. But
“No good deed goes unpunished.” And as Henry Kissinger said,
“The infighting is so bitter because the stakes are so
small.”
So if creative interpretation at this point makes the law
applicable and helps it work in context then the community need for
representation is served.
On the other hand I am seeing a situation where any jealous
neighbor or disgruntled tenant can file an anonymous complaint creating a
situation where there is no right for a person to confront his accusers, I am
seeing Code Enforcement Officers making instead of enforcing law, and tricking old
people into signing demolition agreements under duress and misinterpretation,
their houses bulldozed and themselves put in nursing homes where they die of
loneliness, I am seeing neighbors having to spend money that no working class
person has to make their properties compatible with developer’s plans (for the
El Rio Golf Course and Neighborhood), I am seeing the City make deals behind
closed doors bypassing all neighborhood input for this very purpose as proven
by Bill Risner’s suit on behalf of El Rio Coalition II and to top it off the
Deputy City Attorney according to the judge in that case, suborned perjury.
So what community purpose is served and where does the moral
authority come from to tell me my non- profit can’t have grandfathered rights
for a building so far out of public view it’s practically invisible?
So if Mayor and Council can get creative to serve the
interests of money why can’t they get creative to serve justice?
I didn’t just suddenly invent this rationale for the purpose
of protecting an endangered building. My non-profit, developed through fifteen
years of work since the fall of the IAC, is called CASA GOOFY INTERNATIONAL in
keeping with a philosophical set which I developed while studying legal
fictions and semantic absurdities such as those listed above. You can see our profile at WWOOFUSA, the
website at wix.com, two Facebook pages and blogs in blogger.com. As such it has ongoing relationships with the
Cabrini Neighborhood Associations, The El Rio Neighborhood Association,
Neighbors For Safer Wireless, the El Rio Coalition II, the Casa Maria Soup
Kitchen and Los Amigos Childcare. We have
worked in the capacity of a program under Artfare, a 501c3 and are now ready to
formalize our own non profit activities on our own.
Finally I am saying this is a win win situation if we just
let it be one.
Dennis Williams
(Chief Cook, Janitor and Bottle Washer For Casa Goofy
International)
CC: Mike Wyneger, Steve Leal, Marc Haberman, Ceci Cruz, Sal
Baldenegro, Treeful Realty
