Walking the Beat
South Phoenix is the land of tomorrow
for developers who have visions of sugar plums big time! $85 million dollars for starters is a drop in the bucket we are told for the long range development
plans for South Phoenix! The camera
pans down to gravel piles and weeds to the bottom of the canal. Sluggish brackish water stands in running
puddles in the middle of the canal bottom with sandy weedy widths on each side
of the brown water. “This”, our City representative speaker
gestures toward the dry river bottom...”This
is going to be a Wetlands Preserve Park with jogging trails and trees and
natural habitat. Waterfalls will be
pumped up to run back down the landscaped sides of the channel and it will be
beautiful.” We gaze back down at
the gravel and wet splotches of dirty rivulets called the ‘river’. “Plus,”…
our guide and speaker continues , “
Down stream at 81st avenue the Tress Rios Project is underway for a
similar segment of “The Vision” and eventually there will be miles of corridor
through central Phoenix along the river with 76,000 trees and wetland marshes
where school children can come and learn about ecology. Especially poor children from South Phoenix
schools who would not have the opportunity for such things.”
The camera zooms back up the
embankment. Outside the frame forty
students from ASUWEST marvel that a few weeks ago most if not all of us knew
little or nothing about these big plans for South Phoenix.
Banks don’t loan that kind of money for
projects without cold hard facts for future revenues. Those future revenues are not built on junky old businesses and
buildings in what is now the existing South Phoenix.
It does’nt take a rocket scientist to
know bankers look way past the PR hype about jogging trails and school kids
learning ecology. Federal money,
federal connections, why?