THE MESA CITY COUNCIL HAS DECIDED RYAN COLEMAN WON’T BE ALLOWED TO OPEN A TATTOO PARLOR AT DOBSON AND BASELINE ROADS (Tribune file photo).
I don’t have any tattoos, never wanted any. But several members of my family do. None of them are gang members or are living a life of crime. And all of them would fit comfortably into the lifestyle of west Mesa’s Dobson Ranch subdivision.
So I am thinking of my own family when I say I’m shocked that only Mesa Mayor Scott Smith seems to understand the troubling discrimination behind the CIty Council’s rejection of a new tattoo shop at Dobson and Baseline roads. Tattoo artist Ryan Coleman met all of Mesa’s zoning requirements and he seems quite sensitive to the seedy reputation of his industry, as he pledged to not ink gang or racist tattoos on anyone.
But the Dobson Ranch Homeowners Association is adamant that allowing one more tattoo shop next to a massage parlor, a hair salon and a manicurist would drive their community into a tailspin. Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh focused on the “nearby” locations of two other tattoo shops, ignoring the fact that Mesa has a 1,200-foot buffer zone in part to avoid an undue concentration. Should tattoo parlors be kept a mile apart instead, or maybe five miles apart? Maybe Mesa finally would be “safe” if we allowed only one shop in the entire city.
The Angel Tattoo case seems ripe for a winnable lawsuit, given that the City Council approved another tattoo shop in 2006 that was within 1,200 feet of a school, of all places. The Goldwater Institute already is going after Tempe for adopting a similar “just say no” attitude.
A Tribune editorial on the subject points out that tattoos are a popular cultural phenomenon, not a perverted habit better kept to the shadows. If government can get away with refusing to allow this legitimate business to operate because of public pressure, I just hope that your neighbors don’t come to hate what you do for a living or your business could be next the target.
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Thank goodness for Mayor Smith. The Kavanaugh crowd have forgotten what the law is and how Mesa is supposed to obey it. It was Kavanaugh and his posse of political cronies that got Mesa into the serious fiscal and mismanagement its currently in. Smith is the future and Kavanaugh and is way of thinking is the past.
Yet the payday loan stores can be built practically on top of each other…
Is Tattooing iprotected by the First Amendment?
Mesa City Council voted 6-1 Monday night to deny a special use permit for Angel Tattoo Parlor offering tattoo and piercing services at Baseline and Dobson roads in west Mesa.
Tattoo parlor caused anxiety for Mesa City Council as Mayor Scott Smith was the only one to vote in favor of the special use permit.
Carrie Ann Sitren, a lawyer for the Goldwater Institute, told the council her group has sued Tempe over that city’s refusal to approve a tattoo parlor.
There are still six tattoo parlors in the city of Mesa, among them Sage O’Connell owns two Urban Art Tattoo & Piercing shops and has been in the business 19 years in downtown Mesa.
Supporters assert that Angel Tattoo would fit right in with the massage parlors, pawn shops, and check cashing joints. The trouble is, we don’t want that trash in the neighborhood either. In previous years a less conscientious and less assertive City Council allowed that stuff in, and we’re stuck dealing with it now. This is the proverbial “camel nose under the tent” that one Council Member referred to.
Of course, out the other side of their mouth, supporters claim that tattoo parlors are nothing like pawn shops, check cashing joints, plasma centers, and strip clubs; and they are offended at the comparison.
A mile down Alma School Road are the remnants of the previous tattoo parlor, Damage Ink. The Council really stretched the rules to allow them in a year or so back. The Tribune’s editorial writer would do well to review the facts surrounding that case. Part of the Council User Permit process is to consider neighborhood input and the appropriateness, and impact, of a business for a given area.
Because Damage Ink was on the outskirts of the area, and received less homeowner concerns, granting the C.U.P. amounted to the Council’s generous interpretation of the 1200 ft rule measured from Dobson High School. In the end, the Council agreed to give Damage Ink a pass on that requirement. The business opened, and it soon failed anyway. (We’re now left looking at the ugly “TATTOO” sign that remains on the building.)
Before the Tribune starts preaching that Dobson Ranch is “turning their backs on their neighbors”, please consider that Mr. Coleman is NOT our neighbor. Coleman lives in FRANCE. Several of the missteps involving this proposed shop are due entirely to him being an absent business owner and the poor choice he made in selecting his local managers.
Coleman (or his *previous* local managers) rented the space and did extensive–and costly–remodeling without going through any of the normal building permit or inspection process (required of all businesses), much less obtaining the C.U.P (required for certain businesses). Once the City intervened, the shop was closed and–after much delay–the C.U.P. process began. It would appear that this took two or three times longer than normal, in part because Coleman lives in France and had to hire an expensive local consultant.
Coleman might have been able to mitigate the bad feelings toward this shop had he bothered to appear at the Neighborhood Meeting that is part of the C.U.P. process. Instead he sent the consultant and a new pair of managers (cousins?), one of whom was openly hostile to the 15 homeowners that attended to express their concerns. There were no neighborhood supporters attending.
When Angel Tattoo’s case went before the Planning & Zoning Board, Coleman was again a no-show. P&Z had many questions for Coleman about his haphazard attempts to open the shop that the consultant, brought in after the fact, couldn’t answer.
(The P&Z Board has its own set of problems, including at least a member or two who seem to think their only responsibility is to rubber stamp applications that meet the technical requirements for a permit. Sorry, but that a *Staff* function. It is expected that P&Z exercise discretion and judgment in making its recommendations. Otherwise, why do they exist?)
In the end, Coleman spent much time collecting paper petitions from supporters, that frankly were misrepresented to the Council as being “from the neighborhood”. The vast majority of the signatures were from people living far *outside* the Dobson Ranch area, and many from other cities (including Phoenix and Peoria).
In a further strange move, while several of his supporters were scheduled to speak at Monday night’s Council Meeting, as they were called, Coleman went around and preempted them. Who knows what impact hearing from them directly might have had, but this preemption came off as very strange.
(In the end, perhaps the best measure of several of these supporters came *after* the meeting. Both sides had conducted themselves professionally inside, and when the vote was taken there was no whoops and hollers as often occurs.
However, after the meeting as people exited the Council Chambers, many homeowners were subjected to vulgar comments thrown at them from numerous supporters. These were the very people, only minutes earlier, were claiming they were being judged by their appearance. In the end, actions *do* speak louder than words.)
As presented at the Council Meeting, Mesa has nine tattoo parlors; why should three of them be aggregated into just a one-square-mile area of Dobson Ranch? The process described by Coleman for obtaining a tattoo is *not* an impulsive task that might justify the need for a neighborhood shop. Often days or weeks pass while the recipient contemplates the details of the design, and researches the background of both the artist and the shop. Having to drive a few extra miles to get inked, is not an unnecessary burden and–despite the Goldwater Institute’s assertions—does not infringe on anyone’s rights to “free speech” or “equal access”.
“It just doesn’t fit the neighborhood,” said Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh.
Apparently what fits the neighborhood is cash checking places and massage parlors.
I am tattooed…I am a professional…I didn’t get tattooed because I was “a biker” or “a meth head”, some of these Mesa homeowner’s think these are the only people that have tattoos. I know people from all walks of life that are tattooed…and tattooed heavily.
Being I am a woman and 20% of the tattooed generation, hear my words and reap what value they have. In all actuality body art is an expression of pride and love of the human body. The human body is a beautiful piece of artwork that when emblazoned with color is even more beautiful.
In my experience of being tattooed, I have never had an infection and always used the same tattoo artist. I trust him and no one else with the art that I am having put on my body. And it is just that art. I wear my tattoos with pride, I don’t hide them, I am not embarrassed by them and I am a professional. They are my jewelry; they all mean something and were put on my body with care.
Tattoos have been around for centuries, women have adorned their bodies with them. Women with tattoos are beautiful. Period. Men have adorned their bodies with them…they are beautiful, strong and defiant. I think God made a good choice in making us with a blank canvas, we are some of the most colorful people in the world, the tattooed. He would have been proud we used ourselves in such a way. There are artists who may choose canvas, the Sistine Chapel or any other media…but those that create art on the human body are some of the most awesome artists I have ever been in contact with.
If you could only understand the spiritual experience that is behind getting a tattoo, the shear embodiment of who you are exudes from your pores. I was 30 years old before I got my first tattoo, I was not unhappy nor was I self-loathing in getting it. I had entered a chapter of my life that left me refreshed and renewed. Thus, the first of my tattoos was a Phoenix. Forward in time each of my tattoos has been a culmination of a new chapter in my life. They tell a story of me and only me, who I am as a person and where I am traveling to.
Tribune,
I know that times are tough, but do you think you could do us the courtesy of a few paragraph breaks here and there?