<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2716.2200" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Fellow IMCistas,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I hope that you have had an opportunity to read the
open letter Danielle sent the IMC list Friday night detailing the capricious
punishment levied on the volunteers of the Bookmobile for daring to bring a
display of books to the downtown streets. If you have not, I encourage you
to go back into your e-mail to read it, or read it in the IMC list archives ( <A
href="http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/mailman/archive/imc/2002-June/002886.html">http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/mailman/archive/imc/2002-June/002886.html</A> ).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Danielle articulated well the issues that are at
hand, and so I won't attempt to do so here. But as the co-organizer of
Bookmobile visit and the accompanying events I want to let you know how
absolutely embarassed I am for Urbana, and how badly I feel for the treatment
the Bookmobile volunteers received from our neighboring downtown business and
our City's police force. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Bookmobile visited Urbana because several
people, including me and Sarah Kanouse, contacted the organizers telling them
what a neat, active and progressive town this is. Impressed by what they
heard they decided to schedule a visit to Urbana _instead_ of Chicago.
That's right -- we made such a case for Urbana that they decided it would be
cooler to come here instead of the 2nd largest city in the US. As far as I
can judge Urbana is the second smallest city on the Bookmobile tour (the 1st is
Bowling Green, OH, which hosted the Underground Publishing Conference) of 38
cities across North America.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>People seemed to be excited for the visit, and so
was I. We had a nice article about the 'mobile in this week's Cityview
along with lots of airtime given to a PSA on WEFT announcing the visit on.
The Bookmobile really looked to be the big event for the weekend.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I also visited the Underground Publishing
Conference last weekend, and so many people I talked to from all over the US
were starting to hear about Urbana -- our reputation is starting to precede
us. They were hearing about the IMC, and then saw that we were one of the
cities on the Bookmobile tour, and even screening one of the films (DIY or DIE)
that was being shown at the conference. Several artists, authors and
publishers from Chicago told me that they're really excited to come down south
and visit Urbana because of all the cool stuff going on.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And all those things are true. But man, what a
fucking buzzkill it was to see the Bookmobile given a $75 ticket for
"obstructing traffic" and then to have the day manager of the Office come out
and hysterically scream at the Bookmobile volunteers on Saturday
morning. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It makes me wonder if perhaps we oversold this
place. I wouldn't blame the Bookmobile volunteers for thinking they'd been
duped into coming to a small-minded little town and hung out to
dry. And, </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>I will be very surprised if
the Bookmobile folks will be rushing to repeat the experience next year.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What a tremendous reception we give our
guests! (Unless, of course, they're thirsty Bears fans. We welcome
them with open arms and open liquor stores on Sunday morning! Gosh, I hope
they don't try to park their trailers downtown.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now, the weekend was not a disaster, and lots of
people came to puruse the Bokmobile's books and to participate in the workshops
inside the IMC. While inside the 'mobile reading some zines I
heard a group of women come up and exclaim "We read about this in Bust magazine,
and now it's here! That's so cool!" That makes me very
happy, and reminds me that the trouble was still worth the results.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Yet, I'm still amazed at how absolutely pointless
all the trouble was. I cannot possibly believe the Bookmobile harmed
anyone or anyone's business. In fact, I can only believe that the
Bookmobile drew many more people to downtown Urbana than would otherwise be
there during a sleepy, hot and humid June weekend. On any given weekend
afternoon or evening downtown Urbana is usually deserted save for a few
people walking about, doing their business, or some drunken bar patrons
stumbling down the street as the taverns close (unless, of course there's an
event at the IMC!). The Bookmobile changed that for an evening and an
afternoon, and I guess that was too much for the City to bear.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have no intention to exaggerate the importance or
impact of the harassment of the Bookmobile. Everyone's life will go on
and the IMC will still throw kick-ass events. And, indeed, I've learned
some things from it -- including some pointers on how to do things better next
time, and that I overestimate the reasonableness and good will of our downtown
neighbors. But that doesn't stop me from being disgusted and quite
hesitant to make the effort to bring another similar event to town in the near
future.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>But that will not be the end of things for
this. I do intend to see something positive out of this if at all
possible. Most immediately, I'll be contacting the City's legal department
to see if we can't modify the ticket so that it's charged to me rather than the
Bookmobile volunteer who cannot reasonably return to contest it, or even see it
dismissed. If they change it to me, I will contest it, based on the
fact that the ticket was nothing but capricious punishment having no relevance
to safety or anyone's actual ability to use the damn sidewalk.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I will also be attending the Urbana City Council
meeting this Monday evening, July 1, at 7:00 PM, to take advantage of the public
comment section to let our elected officials know just how disappointing this
treatment was. I invite everyone to join me and make it clear that we are
sincere about revitalizing downtown with something besides the Captain Morgan
Party Van and the Hooters girls.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks for taking the time to read this. If
you want details, I've written a full chronicle of the events that I'd be glad
to share with you. It's long and dry, but it's complete and gets them out
of my head. I'll also be posting something more public to the Newswire for
everyone to see. It may take a day or two because I'm pretty tired of
thinking about it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>--Paul</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>