Three years is a long time to wait for anything, especially if that anything happens to be part of your livelihood. After being told that they could not open a tattoo shop in a Tempe, Arizona strip mall and being denied the necessary permit to do so back in 2007, Tom and Elizabeth Preston decided to fight the Tempe City Council in court.
The first lawyer that the couple hired told the Preston’s that the case couldn’t be won, that it would cost too much to fight the City Council and not to bother trying. Fortunately for the Preston’s, they didn’t listen to such advice and instead joined forces with Goldwater Institute attorney Clint Bolick. Not only did Bolick win the case, but he will be among the first people to be tattooed when the Preston’s Body Accents Tattoo and Piercing Studio has its grand opening. Bolick plans on getting a small scorpion tattooed on his index finger – the finger he uses to type his legal briefs. According to Bolick, it will be his first and last tattoo.
‘”This is the ultimate David-versus-Goliath story,” Bolick said. “The city of Tempe acted in a . . . heavy-handed manner to keep a legitimate business out of a strip mall that has lots of vacancies. When the Prestons move in, it will be a signal that the little guy has rights, too.”
Preston considers the settlement an opportunity to show Tempe neighbors who fought his permit that the tattoo industry is an upstanding trade.
“This shows you can’t just shut down a business because you don’t like it. We want to show people what we’ve already done in Mesa, that our studio is a place where police officers and working people come for tattoos because it’s safe,” he said. “All kinds of people have tattoos; we’re not going to bring any (negative) effects to the neighborhood.”
The Prestons own Virtual Reality Tattoos in Mesa.”
Way to persist with something that you truly believe in, Tom and Elizabeth. I wish you all the best with your new studio.