The 12th Street Music Festival is about way more than music, says Coun. Chuck Puchmayr.
Puchmayr, who bought a home near 12th Street in 1982, recalls a time not so long ago when the street was fraught with prostitution and crime. Puchmayr’s partner, Amber Anderson, owns Amber’s Choice on 12th Street and, as president of the West End Business Association, has been the main organizer of the annual music festival for the past few years.
On Monday, city council approved a request from the Uptown Business Improvement Association to hold the Uptown Live street festival on Saturday, July 23, 2016 – the day before the annual 12th Street Music Festival. Organizers of the 12th Street festival fear their event could draw smaller crowds and garner fewer sponsors because it will be the second festival on the same weekend.
“I have difficulty understanding why someone can’t wrap their mind around that,” said Puchmayr, who opposed the date. “A really important part of economic development is safe streets and clean streets. The 12th Street Music Festival was one component of that.”
Puchmayr said he’s already spoken to a sponsor from the 2015 event who is questioning whether he’ll support next year’s event or try to be a sponsor at Uptown Live.
Along with being a longtime supporter of 12th Street businesses, Puchmayr volunteers and performs at the festival. He’s confident he wasn’t in a conflict of interest by voting on the Uptown Live dates and funds.
“I thought about that. I get nothing from being a volunteer. Amber does all of this for free. We both have such a passion for 12th Street. She opened a business there while there was still prostitution going on, with the confidence we were going to make a change and we were going to clean up 12th Street,” he later told the Record. “It’s one of those things. I don’t believe I have breached any ethics. I feel so passionately about the struggle for 12th Street that I had to speak out on it.”
Prostitutes and pimps were once commonplace on 12th Street.
“I have had rocks thrown at my car, I have been threatened by pimps, I was punched in the head by a pimp, going back to the early 80s,” Puchmayr said. “I am so passionate about keeping the street safe and clean that I couldn’t not say anything. I certainly don’t believe I have breached any part of the Local Government Act. I gain noting from this. Actually, if the event doesn’t go on, I gain probably hundreds of hours of spare time.”
Puchmayr is concerned about anything that may undo all the positive gains made by people who worked to clean up 12th Street. He’s also upset that the city’s festivals committee met with Uptown Live organizers but not representatives from West End Business Association.
“At the very least it would have been nice to have the 12th Street executive invited to a similar meeting to articulate their concerns with that,” he said. “I think this is the third year in a row council has said, ‘No, it conflicts, you can’t have that date.’ To now suddenly change your mind and give it to them without considering the impacts that might have on a festival the very next day, I think is serious.”
City council previously rejected a request from Uptown Live organizers to hold the event on the same weekend as the 12th Street Music Festival, citing concerns about the impact on the other festival. The city’s festivals committee, which includes some council representatives, felt the two festivals were of different scales and attracted different crowds.
