TEMPE, Ariz — Tempe city employees call it a “collective misunderstanding” but to Lauren Boyce-Jones, the situation she faces is far more serious — it is her livelihood.
Boyce-Jones bet all her money on a business idea when she sent nearly $20,000 to a manufacturer in China three years ago to purchase 30 electric scooters. When they finally arrived in Arizona, Boyce-Jones had $300 left in the bank.
She also had an agreement with the City of Tempe.
Her small business, EasyrideZ LLC, was permitted to rent the scooters at Tempe Beach Park. Since she took the scooters home at night, Boyce-Jones did not need the same permit that scooter-sharing giants Lime and Bird are required to have, according to emails from City Engineer Julian Dresang, and Parks and Recreation Manager Shawn Wagner.
Boyce-Jones even created a website for customers to reserve and pay for scooter rentals.
“[The City of Tempe] wanted to make sure I was not doing transactions in the park like cash, mainly that was their concern,” Boyce-Jones said.
Unlike the scooters you can rent from Lime and Bird, EasyrideZ’s scooters have four wheels and seats large enough for a driver and small child to sit on. They top out at 8 mph.
Boyce-Jones and her husband have brought a truck full of scooters to the park a few nights a week for the last two years.
“You could kind of equate us to a scooter taco truck,” Boyce-Jones said. “We do scooter deliveries, we hit the parks and our local neighborhoods.”
But in September, park rangers pumped the brakes and told Boyce-Jones to pack up the business she built her life around.
She would no longer be allowed to rent scooters at Tempe Beach Park, or any public space in Tempe. Her agreement with the city, now approaching its third year, was apparently a "misunderstanding."
“I felt like I had been kicked in the chest when I read that in the email because I had very specifically been told otherwise,” Boyce-Jones said. “I have bent over backwards to make sure I am following all of the rules and regulations.”
Months earlier, she even checked in with City of Tempe Recreation Manager Shawn Wagner.
“I wanted to be sure that we are all still on the same page and to once again extend our willingness to work with Parks/Rec and the City in whatever ways necessary,” Boyce-Jones wrote in the email.
Wagner responded the next day.
“Since you are still operating under the guidelines provided by [city engineer Julian Dresang], we should be good to go,” Wagner said.
Dresang replied to the email two weeks later, assuring Boyce-Jones that she still did not need a permit to operate her business in the park, according to emails shared with 12News.
“As long as EasyrideZ, LLC is operating out of a trailer (in a marked parking space) and none of the vehicles are “staged/stored” in the right-of-way or in the park, then an SATV permit is not required,” Dresang replied.
Dresang and Wagner would later say this was a “collective misunderstanding.” Boyce-Jones did need that SATV (Shared Active Transportation Vehicle) permit — it was not cheap.
“They come to me and they say, ‘Well, we found the name of the permit you need to have’ and I said ‘Great! You finally have a permit for me? This is awesome. This is good.’ I happily took the name of the permit and I went to the offices and I started trying to get the permit.”
Boyce-Jones was willing to pay the $8,814 application fee and $1.18 per scooter per day charge that came with the SATV permit, but there was a problem. The permit requires electric scooters to have GPS monitoring and data sharing capabilities as well as self-locking mechanisms.
EasyrideZ’s scooters don’t have either of those and it would be expensive for Boyce-Jones to update her fleet.
“That leaves me with my keys and my scooters and no app and being told I can’t operate that way,” Boyce-Jones said. “Just a small mom-and-pop shop, just local trying to make a way here.”
The scooter rental business has allowed Boyce-Jones to make a living and stay off disability. She was injured in a series of car accidents several years ago, which is why she became interested in the four-wheel mobility scooters.
“There are other people in my situation that want to have fun. Their bodies, maybe, are not as up to having fun as others,” Boyce-Jones said.
While EasyrideZ has permission to operate in Mesa and Scottsdale parks, Boyce-Jones said Tempe Beach Park is where most of the money is.
“This park, I would say over the last six years, has become the unofficial scooter park,” Boyce-Jones said. “This is where people like to ride the most.”
She has created an online petition asking the City of Tempe to reconsider the decision and allow EasyrideZ to continue operating in the park and other public spaces around Tempe.
Boyce-Jones sent letters to Tempe City Council members and is hoping for a resolution.
“I’m really happy to live here and raise my kids here and I hope I can continue to operate my business here,” Boyce-Jones said.
12News requested interviews with both Wagner and Dresang. Tempe public information officer Mary Kate Nacke said there would be no opportunity for interviews regarding this story.
In a statement to 12News, the city said:
The City of Tempe appreciates and supports local, small businesses. Ms. Boyce-Jones and her husband have created a unique business model for their scooter business. In turn, the City will need to work with EasyrideZ on a unique solution to the permitting issue. We look forward to meeting with the business owner to discuss options moving forward.
12News followed up with Boyce-Jones to get her reaction to the city's response, she said:
"That is a much more positive response than I have received as of late. As long as they are willing to back up that sentiment, I am and always have been willing to work with them in whatever ways necessary. At this time they have not reached out to me further than last we spoke. My only concerns would be my past experience in the difficulties of negotiating with them and their change of heart after the last understanding we came to.
What kind of a time frame would they be offering to get this "unique permit" sorted out? Given the amount of time I've already been unable to operate publicly in Tempe, how much more time would they expect me to hold out?"
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