WATCH: Tempe advocates challenge new city ordinance with ballot referendum

By Copper Courier Staff

July 24, 2025

A coalition of advocacy groups is canvassing for voter signatures to challenge Tempe’s new ordinance with a ballot referendum.

The controversial new rule requires a permit for gatherings of 30 or more people on city property or in parks. The city says the new process will streamline things and make it easier to keep track of events, but advocacy groups worry that the ordinance undermines their work and makes it harder to provide critical resources to unhoused populations in need of help.

If the group succeeds in getting the 2,440 necessary signatures by Aug. 1, 2025, the rule will be on the ballot for the next City Council election on March 10, 2026.