July 22, 2006
The Reek Of Entitlement
Damage control. Within a day, the "Unsafe To Occupy" sign comes down, the "Renovation" sign goes up. Photo taken Saturday, July 22.
by Jerome du Bois
Today's Arizona Republic reports that Bentley Projects has been shut down because it has failed to comply with the most basic city occupancy and safety codes, even though the owners have been warned repeatedly about the violations for almost a year.
Phoenix wrote the property owners three citations for doing work without a permit, for occupying the building without the appropriate certificate and for not correcting unsafe conditions.
Part owner Bentley Dillard whines, "We've always been willing to do that," sounding like a teenager who's been told ten times to clean up her room. Willing isn't doing, dear.
Our own disastrous experience with Glen Lineberry, Lisa Greve, and Bentley Projects convinced us of their dishonesty. (Catherine King's six-part series of that sad saga begins here.) But we had no idea that Bentley Projects would treat the safety of their visitors so cavalierly, and put the artworks onsite in jeopardy. I don't know if Lineberry and Greve are still part of the Projects --neither are mentioned in the article-- but I vividly remember how proud they were showing off all the construction and expansion during our own tours of the place. And all along, apparently, they were cutting corners while cutting out walls.
It's also hard to believe that the owners of Poisoned Pen and Arcadia Farms, both of whom have been around a lot longer than Bentley Projects, would have knowingly allowed this state of affairs to persist as long as it has. Perhaps, like us, they were kept in the dark with smooth reassurances that everything was fine.
Why do these people think they're above the law? Bentley Projects even got outside money to help with their renovations:
Phoenix . . . helped finance the art gallery with money from a federal program that aids businesses investing in low-income areas.
The whole thing reeks of entitlement attitude --as if desperately slummy downtown should just be damned grateful the Scottsdale snobs would even deign to be there. Why should they have to comply with these silly codes? That stuff's for places like Honey Bear's BBQ and Schlotzsky's, isn't it?
Then, naturally, Kimber Lanning has to get her big mouth running.
Kimber Lanning, a leader in the local arts community, said this situation is a symptom of a much bigger problem that small-business owners encounter when they move into such decades-old warehouses.
She said the city needed to overhaul its zoning and code regulations for such buildings.
"It's not possible to have a cultural and vibrant downtown until we make these older buildings more accessible," Lanning said. "We're not asking the downtown inspectors to pass things that are considered unsafe, but we can cite a million unreasonable demands."
A million, huh? I believe the number was three, all of them about public safety. Lanning's own Modified Arts, which opened in 1999, was still in violation of at least two of these codes in August of 2005. (I don't know if it's in compliance now.) And when the city tried to enforce them, that infamous First Friday, the downtown clowns got all up on themselves about it, calling the officials fascists. This was over two years after the tragic "Great White" fire at The Station in Rhode Island, where 99 people lost their lives, and over 200 were injured.
It really isn't hard to imagine some poor art patron at Bentley Projects, rushing to find an exit during an electrical fire, getting crushed by a toppling Jun Kaneko sculpture.
Nobody's above the laws of nature. And, Lanning, if you're "not asking the downtown inspectors to pass things that are considered unsafe," then shut up. They're doing their jobs.
Posted by Jerome at July 22, 2006 02:25 PM | TrackBack