[Peace-discuss] N-G on Urbana vs. IMC

[David Green]

CITY CODE

Rules for IMC follow ordinance

By ADALBERTO TOLEDO

atoledo at news-gazette.com

URBANA — Following a heated discussion Monday night regarding the
imposition of rules that Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center
officials said would threaten the center’s ability to remain open, Urbana
City administrator Carol Mitten said she’s simply following the city’s code.

Mitten explained Tuesday that when the city sent a memo in March to IMC, it
was clear that new rules would apply at the venue after police found
alcohol there following an event where it wasn’t supposed to be
allowed. Those rules mean that hosts of future events there would need to
apply

for a permit 45 days in advance, pay a $100 processing fee and submit a
security plan.

Mitten said the ordinance was violated, so IMC is essentially “on
probation.”

That was the first place

(continued)


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RULES

Continued from B-*1*

“where we got off on the wrong foot,” Mitten said, because IMC thought the
new rules applied only to events with alcohol, and not all events.

Still, officials with IMC say the “probationary” requirements are an
onerous ask for a largely volunteer-based organization that books free
events catering to underrepresented communities.

“That’s my word, not anything in the ordinance,” Mitten said of the word
“probation.” “We’ve never invoked it on anyone before, so we’re figuring it
out at the same time they are. And what we’re discovering is that the
volume of events they have is taxing them, and it’s taxing us.”

Mitten wants the city to come to an “amicable agreement” with IMC as soon
as possible because, should the volume of applications continue, the amount
of processing time for them would be “quite a lot” to handle for city staff
already stretched thin.

She said she’s interested in coming up “with a streamlined process on both
sides,” but added that the provision invoked on them, which followed their
March violation, is a “requirement” under the city code.

“I regret that we’re having what appears to be a high level of animosity,
because we don’t feel that way toward the IMC,” Mitten said. “But there’s
no provision in the ordinance that allows us to waive these requirements.
So we’re trying to work within the ordinance as we have it right now and
spending a lot of staff time trying to accommodate as best we can. We’ll be
putting forward some revisions that will help on both sides.”

People who do frequent bookings, for example, could potentially be
considered with a single application, a single fee and a standard security
plan, so they don’t have to apply each time, Mitten said. She added that
maybe the city could also shorten the number of days in advance, though
“not significantly, because we still do have some internal work to be done.”

One big sticking point is having “an accountable individual on-site,”
Mitten said. “It’s hard for us not to expect that because we need a point
of contact available in real time.”

It’s clear though that the current situation can’t continue for the city or
IMC. Mitten said that in just the past 24 hours, the amount of time that
has been spent on this matter is “quite substantial,” with staff having to
process special-event permits.

Mitten also apologized for the issue “becoming so contentious,” and said
she’ll continue to meet with IMC officials to resolve the issue.

She added that the city probably won’t have the ordinance recommendations
ready for the regularly scheduled meeting next Monday, because Mayor Diane
Marlin will be out of town, but she expects modifications to come to the
city council dais in the near future.

When asked why she couldn’t just ignore the ordinance and place a hold on
probationary requirements until the issue is resolved, Mitten said she
wouldn’t want to put herself, or her staff, in that position.

“I don’t want them in the position of having to say to the council that at
some points what we do is we selectively ignore your ordinances when we
feel it’s suitable,” Mitten said. “That’s not what we do here.”
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