Letters & E-mails in Carlos Sotomayor Lawsuit

I respond to Mayor Greg Stanton and say you have not answered my questions

  In this letter I again tell Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton that he has not given me any of the information in the past 4 emails I sent him.

From: Carl Drega
To: toni.maccarone@phoenix.gov
CC: kelly.dalton@phoenix.gov
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton
mayor.stanton@phoenix.gov
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton
Philip Bradstock
Film Office
philip.bradstock@phoenix.gov
Phil Bradstock, Program Manager, Business Retention Division & Phoenix Film Office Community and Economic Development philip.bradstock@phoenix.gov
Date: Saturday, November 17, 2012 3:34 PM
Subject:Re: Is it legal to shoot still photos in Phoenix parks???
I already talked with Philip Bradstock in the past on this issue.

Philip Bradstock claims that Phoenix City Code G-1403 requires people that shoot static still photos in Phoenix city parks to get the $100 permit.

I got a copy of G-1403 from the Phoenix web site and read it.

The law says absolutely NOTHING about requiring people that shoot static still photos to get a permit.

The law does require people who are shooting movies for commercial reasons to get the permit.

But as I said we are not shooting movies. We were shooting just still, static, non-commercial photos. And in addition to that we are not shooting commercial photos. We are just private citizens using our First Amendment rights to shoot photos which are not for commercial use.

I suspect that Philip Bradstock or perhaps his predecessor simply made up the law to raise money for his department.

I called up Philip Bradstock and told him that I thought he gave me the wrong law because the law which he gave me said nothing about shooting static still non-commercial photos.

Philip Bradstock told me that I was 100 percent correct and that the law didn't say a word about shooting static, still photos and that the law only addressed movies or motion pictures.

Philip Bradstock told me that despite the fact that the law doesn't say a word about shooting static still photos, that the law says that his department can set the administrative details about how the law works and that his department decided to include static still photos as part of the law and decided to require people who shoot static still photos in Phoenix parks to also get the $100 permit.

If you ask me it sounds like he is giving me one big line of BS.

I am sure that if the Phoenix City Council members who passed the law back in 1974 wanted the law to include static, still photos in it they would have included static still photos in the wording of the law.

Also I made a request for public records asking Philip Bradstock for a law that covers static still photos several weeks ago.

According to the Arizona Public Records law which is A.R.S. 39 § 121 you guys are supposed to respond to these requests for public records as soon as possible.

Philip Bradstock has not given me the answer to that request for public records and I assume he is in violation of that law.

What I am asking you for now, and what I have asked you for before is this request for public records which is:

Is there any city of Phoenix law which requires a person to get a permit to take still static photos in Phoenix Parks?

I been over 2 months since I started asking that question and I can't see why you guys at the city of Phoenix are taking so long to answer such a simple question.

One more time.

Is there any Phoenix law which requires people who shoot static, still photos in Phoenix parks to get a permit?
Please give me the answer to that question as soon as possible as required by A.R.S. 39 § 12.

Last but not least this isn't the first time I have seen the city of Phoenix make up imaginary laws and try to enforce them.

In many but not all Phoenix Parks there are signs posted saying

“No Shopping Carts Allowed - CC 24-26”
When you look up CC 24-26 in the Phoenix laws you will see that there is no law that bans shopping carts from Phoenix Parks.

CC 24-26 doesn’t even mention shopping carts.

CC 24-26 simply says it is illegal to operate bicycles and skateboards and other wheeled devices in a reckless manner that endangers people.

The exact wording of CC 24-26 says:

Sec. 24-26. Prohibition of wheeled devices in public parks.

A. No person shall operate a skateboard, conventional or in-line roller skates, bicycle, wagon, or other wheeled vehicle or device in a public park where one or more signs are posted prohibiting such activity, or in a manner which causes injury to any person or damage to public or private property.

And of course prior to that my friend Ricky Duncan discover that the Phoenix used to post signs banning guns in Phoenix parks.

That was probably 20 years ago, before the courts allowed cities to ban guns in parks.

The law said something like:

No guns allowed in city parks - ARS 13-xxx
But then when you looked up ARS 13-xxx it didn't say a word about guns. It said something like "no littering".

Again please quickly respond to my request for public records asking if there are any city laws that require people who shoot static, still photos in city parks to get a permit.

Thanks

 

Letters

Park Ranger G. Sotomayor Lawsuit
Park Ranger Carlos Sotomayor Lawsuit