Date: December 4th, 2009

Dry River Collective
We collectively organize to create more liberated, self-directed space without hierarchy. We voluntarily associate to inspire mutual-aid, expression, education and action by providing publicly accessible resources. We do this to share and live anarchist principles in a world we see as socially, environmentally and economically unjust.

Dear friends of Dry River,
As many of you know or may have noticed, Dry River has not been having music events for the past month. This is due to a visit from the fire marshal, prompted by a phone call from a fellow Tucsonan. Upon his first visit he gave us a list of issues that needed to be corrected before we could have any big shows again. We took care of everything on the list within the first week(DIY!), except for the Certificate of Occupancy(CofO).
One must obtain a CofO, which sets an 'official' occupancy limit, from the city. Obtaining the CofO consists of getting the city an official site and floor plan and passing an inspection. After some time we had an inspector come out. He was pretty nice and gave us a couple more issues to resolve which we have now done. So one of our members made his way over to the city to request another inspection. “But you haven't applied for your CofO”, the lady proclaimed. “Uh, Okay.” “And I see here you have some violations.” “Yeah, we already made the repairs, we need the inspectors to come out and check things.” “But you haven't even applied for the permit to fix the violations.” At this point the collective member left.

So that's where we're at, caught in the ever-fateful wheels of the machine. A machine that we've avoided for 4 years. A machine which demands time, money, and a specialized knowledge of architecture, construction, zoning and permit requirements. It's pretty daunting stuff for folks who just want to share knowledge, resources and fun.

Of course, it is no surprise. It's actually a surprise that we've made it this far without interruption from the bureaucratic State. So we have a plan! We have started looking for a new space and hope to line something up by the end of the month. Our landlord may figure out how to work things out with the city, and we would love to stay at the same location but we're not going to hold our breath. We cannot afford to pay rent on a building we cannot fully use.

We do have a fairly-substantial savings(for us) which will help. But we are also planning to use some of that to make Dry River more useful and rad, not simply to stave off our demise for a couple more months. If you want to help you can inform us of potential buildings. Also, if you would like to make a one-time donation or a monthly pledge to help us secure the best possible space that would be awesome! Please contact us at info@dryriver.org with info or suggestions. Thanks for being part of the coolest thing going in Tucson.

Fight The Power,
Dry River Collective

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New Building Considerations:

Certificate of Occupancy, ask about previous occupants. 50+ good 70+ better.
Square Footage, 1000+ square feet. ~
Number of bathrooms, need sink(s). ~
Number of exits, distance between exits. ~
Location (best within 1.5-2 miles of downtown).
C2 or C3 zoning
Power, good items; three phase, 220v, (houses and DR are 110v).
Heating
Cooling, better if swamp cooler
Relation to houses, other business, look around and note the neighbors.
Price Range, $1000 is high number.
Avoid obvious liability issues.

Show space, dance floor, obstructions in show space, consider what we have and how it fits in a new space, outdoor space, parking, gardening, bike rack, kitchen, screen printing.

~ Indicates items which are important for determining maximum occupancy.