Learning From South Phoenix
 

Behind the Scenes of the “Beyond the Banks” 

            The “Beyond the Banks” project is full of controversy, including the good and also so much of the bad.  From the mission statement of “bringing more to the community” as well as “bringing the community” to Steve Brittle’s flip side of bringing in more disease, there is too much to say about bringing the Salt River back to life.

           

            Many who will feel the effects of the “Beyond the Banks” project include South Mountain Village, (south of the river) downtown Phoenix, (north of the river) target area B, (new single-family housing yet to be built) and Baseline Road Corridor (golf courses and shopping). Over 100,000 million dollars is planned to be spent on the restoration of the Salt River, the redevelopment of South Phoenix and miscellaneous expenses.

In contrast to many developments all over this county, “Beyond the Banks” is trying to bring people to the jobs instead of bringing jobs to the people. With downtown so close by, instead of sprawling even more new housing developments about, Beyond the Banks wants to redevelop existing run-down areas closer by. This makes perfect sense. What no one saw coming was that those who are happy with the community  being run-down and cheap are not as happy about these changes occurring as one might think.  One great example of this would be the golf course planned to be put in near the Salt River restoration area. Many believe what really would benefit this community would be a park, not a golf course. Many of the current residents could never afford to go golfing at the “Del Rio Golf Course.”

Steve Brittle, an environmental activist of “Don’t Waste Arizona”  feels that the Salt River project is going to create more bad than good. Starting with the debate on where the water is coming from to the wetlands where more and more mosquitoes will be produced. Brittle is concerned and is trying to involve the community in educating them of the issues at hand. 

Bringing the salt river back to life is a huge task and a big debate of whether it is worth all the bad it brings. “Bringing a community” and “bringing more to that community” many would argue is a very positive outlook on restoring a lost part of the city that had been forgotten about for so long, but is it really for those who have spent their lives living here already?

 

 

Houda Home Page   Contact: Jill Houda (jilebel@cox.net)