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What’s in a Name? An Interview with Vera McClain
In my first conversation with Vera McClain, she corrected me. The area is called South Mountain Village, not South Phoenix. I had been reading about the identity associated with the name of residential subdivisions in Kevin Blake and Daniel Arreola’s article Residential Subdivision Identity in Metropolitan Phoenix (Landscape Journal 15 (1) 1996:23-35). A change in identity is what a large group of residents had hoped in adopting the name South Mountain Village. Ms. McClain explained that the area was known for high crime. She added that many crimes that happened elsewhere in the valley were blamed on the South Phoenix area because of the high percentage of minorities. She related a time many years ago in which a television news program related a tragic story of the killing of two young African American girls who had been killed in South Phoenix. The story pinpointed the location as 35th Avenue and Missouri. Ms. McCain note, “Well, that’s about as far away from South Phoenix as you can get.” One of her reasons for starting a local newspaper was to tell the good things about the area.
A friend
agreed with the mission and the couple went to a local restaurant,
Bev’s Kitchen to write the first addition. At inception, the
South
Mountain Villager had four pages. The March 2006 issue has twenty
eight. The paper has been in operation for twelve years in
October. Her partner quit after the first year, but Ms. McCain
continues to deliver thousands of issues of the South Mountain
Villager to the Post Office, restaurants and local businesses.
We agreed to meet at Poncho’s on Central to have a late lunch and talk about the changes Verna McCain has seen take place in South Mountain Village. I arrived early and told the hostess I was waiting for someone. When I mentioned it was Vera McClain, the hostess took a few seconds and said, “Oh, the little lady with the papers.” Poncho’s Restaurant is quite the local gathering place. In the narrow entry there were copies of news stories from the Arizona Republic about President Clinton’s visit to the restaurant. Ms. McCain arrived with her long-time friend, Miky Shaffer. They related stories of the commotion of the President’s visit. Mr. Clinton had not planned to visit South Phoenix. At the time, there was a severe dust storm and Clinton’s plane was unable to take off. When he requested a good local restaurant for Mexican food, Poncho’s was recommended. Streets were blocked off and the neighbors quickly spread the news. Ms. McCain’s landlord came to her with the news. News spreads fast here. We talked about the characteristics of small town that South Mountain Village displayed before the influx of people. Ms. McCain noted that both she and Ms. Schafer really care about the people and direction of the village. That is the reason they are so involved with the community. She stated, “Miky and I are involved in everything.” Ms. McCain began that community involvement with the American Cancer Society. In 1969, Ms. McCain and her husband moved to Phoenix from Ohio because of his arthritis. They began by managing apartments on Roeser Road. Her husband began to improve immediately, but died in 1972 at age 53 from a heart attack brought about by all the medications he had taken for the arthritis. Ms. McCain noted that she has been a widow for 35 years, a longer period of time than her marriage. After her husband died, Ms. McCain continued to manage the apartments. When Ms. McCain started to become involved with the community, the apartment complex owner suggested she start with the American Cancer Society. She also had a young nephew who died of cancer. That is when she met her friend, Miky Shaffer, who was already involved with the organization. They were both instrumental in starting the “Walk up the Mountain”. In 1983 a group of 45 people walked up South Mountain to raise $4,500 for cancer research. She noted that now thousands participate in the walk and raise many thousands of dollars for the cause. Ms. Shaffer notes that the biggest change she has witnessed is the new buildings, stores and homes as a result of the growing population. She is grateful for the interest of the business community. Ms. McCain agrees and adds that there is the addition of a new college, performance center, a new YMCA and many good things for the new residents to appreciate. Neighborhoods are changing because old houses are being replaced with newer models. She added, “The neighborhood is being upgraded.” Her biggest disappointment is the disappearance of the Japanese flower gardens and orange groves Among other causes, both Ms. Shaffer and Ms. McCain are active in programs through their churches, a November community festival, Block Watch and the welcoming ceremony for new citizens of the United States. Every Fourth of July there is a program of celebration after new citizens are sworn in. The last program had grown to amazing proportions. This growth has attracted interest in ceremony. They started out having fireworks for the first three to four years and Ms. McCain was in charge of raising money for that portion of the celebration. The police decided there would have to be security for the gathering at a cost $3.500. Soon the cost grew to close to $10,000. The fireworks were dropped from the program. The event committee arranged for speakers, a master of ceremony, free cookies and punch were offered as well as other food for sale. Two years ago the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) which had always been a participant, called to say that they wanted Michael Brown (former head of FEMA) as a speaker. Ms. McCain said, “We kind of saw the handwriting on the wall.” Last year the INS called to say they had another speaker arranged from Homeland Security. The committee was not given a choice in the matter, but they still were able to handle other aspects of the program. Ms. McCain related that this year, the committee has been notified that they will not be involved in any part of the ceremony. The INS will handle everything down to the singer of the national anthem. The previous master of ceremony and the national anthem singer were deemed too political. Ms. McClain added, “The clincher is that we had invited the governor to speak and they said that we can’t have the governor because that would be too political.” Ms. McCain stated, “Two years ago President Bush put all the INS and FEMA under Homeland Security. So now we are being told by the government what to do and I am mad. I am really mad. So I went to a meeting yesterday and I said, ‘You know this a grass roots thing. We started this and we have done it for seventeen years.’” Ms. McCain noted that there were people at the meeting who just wanted to withdraw and not participate in the program at all, if they were not allowed to have any say about the program. When I remarked that this would be the first Fourth of July program in eighteen years in which she would have no involvement, Ms. McCain replied, “Isn’t that something!” Some members talked about arranging a “meeting with the Feds.” Another did not think a meeting would be effective. Ms. McCain related, “I said, well we wouldn’t have that college sitting there if it wasn’t for people who persevered. And we wouldn’t have a police station and we wouldn’t have a YMCA. There is a dozen things that we wouldn’t have if we hadn’t gone to city counsel and the governing board and all this, you know and said that we want this. So I said even if they say that we can’t do anything about it, I think that we should meet with them and tell them how we feel.” The committee now has a meeting scheduled for the 28th of March with the people from Homeland Security. Before leaving, Ms. Shaffer tried to recruit me for some program participation. It was a persuasive argument and I imagine they do not have many people who say no to their requests. After our visit, the couple were off to a Festival committee meeting and then over to a meeting about fund raising for the YMCA after school program. The office of Homeland Security should brace themselves. |
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