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The Bird covers the waterfront on Sheriff Arpaio’s racial profiling patrols and demands freedom for First Friday bohos

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Published on April 01, 2008 at 5:10pm

Jennifer Delgado, president of the Roosevelt Row CDC, declared in a recent Arizona Republic "My Turn" column that "the free ride is over." She, Esser, and others kvetch that vendors, some of whom sell snow cones or wallets — as opposed to artier products — are a safety hazard and pay no taxes.

These painters, jewelry-hawkers, and tchotchke-peddlers are getting special treatment, claims Delgado, albeit for one day out of the month. On the other hand, so are the galleristas, Jenny. The city's offering art-fart burgomeisters as much as $100,000 in reimbursements for renovations to their galleries. When's the last time some barefoot boho type peddling wares on Roosevelt scored $100K from the city?

Also, the City Council will probably have approved an Arts, Culture and Small Business Overlay District by the time this issue of New Times hits the curb. That means gallery owners will be able to set up their card tables outside their storefronts to sell shwag, as long as money is exchanged inside the biz.

The reason The Bird and others gravitate to Roosevelt on First Fridays is for the very libertine, Fellini-esque atmosphere that the Esser-Delgado axis wants to kill, not to ogle the pricey baubles at Esser and partner Cindy Dach's boutique, MADE.

Stop being greedy, and let the artists and vendors set up wherever the hell they see fit. So we have an exception 12 days out of the year to some of the city's rules. Phoenix still carves out its pound of flesh every other day of the calendar, and gallerists still get their gravy in other ways.

There's a small-town mindset in this megalopolis that freaks out whenever it sees a crowd gather. Take a deep breath, gallery goons, count to 10, and leave the artists and vendors be. They ain't hurtin' your commerce, and without them, First Friday will shrink. Then the the next bitchin' you'll be doing is that no one gives a furry Fig Newton about First Fridays!

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