News and views roundup - Dec. 2, 2006

Lots for you today! Here's the latest news and views for Chandler, Arizona and the surrounding community:

1. Chandler Mayor cuts columnist some slack.

"Now, therefore, I, Boyd W. Dunn, mayor of the city of Chandler, do hereby proclaim Nov. 28, 2006, as 'If you see Andrew J. Schwartzberg out and about acting like a giddy, careless fool, you need to just leave him be and let him go on his merry way' Day in Chandler."

2. Loan buys time for project

Developer maintains control, has year to find equity lender

Jeff Cline, the developer of the troubled hotel-condo project at Chandler Fashion Center, has obtained a bridge loan of $24 million - saving the project from a foreclosure auction that had been scheduled for February.

The loan won't be enough to get work restarted, but it buys Cline time - up to a year - to find an equity lender that would allow him to continue with construction. It also means he will retain control of the project.

3. Covance foe blows whistle

Wisconsin monkeys contracted disease

Tuberculosis was discovered in five monkeys in the Madison, Wis., facility of drug-testing giant Covance this year, an incident made public by a Covance opponent, Chandler-based Citizens Against Covance.

4. Winning Democratic duo see youth as big plus

...in November [Ed Ableser] clobbered legislative veteran Laura Knaperek. His 26-year-old running mate, David Schapira, also won — giving the south Scottsdale and Tempe legislative district a pair of twentysomething lawmakers.

5. Chandler ambulance contract in jeopardy

Arizona health officials are threatening to kill an ambulance contract in Chandler as the state wants to halt a trend that could send service costs skyrocketing throughout the Valley.

The Arizona Department of Health Services won’t sign off on an agreement between Chandler and two ambulance companies until they take out provisions that could trigger a spike in costs for ambulance trips.

6. Organic stores: 2 open, 2 close

Sprouts are sprouting in Chandler and Gilbert - and community residents and officials are delighted.

Sprouts Farmers Market, an Arizona based food retailer specializing in fresh produce, vitamins, holistic health products, fresh meats and organic products, will open its doors to customers Feb. 1, 2007 in Gilbert, at Val Vista Drive and Williams Field Road.

In Chandler, a second Sprouts will open at Alma School and Queen Creek roads the same day, to complement its first Sprouts, Ray and Dobson Roads.

7. Kyrene parents divided on unification issue: Some take sides, some still don’t see point of combining school districts (no permalink, sorry)
By Jason Ludwig, Arizona Foothills News

Lively discussion and unanswered questions were the twin hallmarks of the Kyrene School District’s most recent public forum on unification, held Monday at Kyrene Aprende Middle School in Chandler. About 30 concerned community members, many from the Chandler portion of the district, asked questions and shared concerns about the two initial unification plans proposed by the legislatively created School District Redistricting Commission.

The first plan, called the “three-into-one” plan, proposes combining the Kyrene, Tempe Elementary and Tempe Union High school districts into one mega-district. The other plan, called the “three-into-two” plan, proposes creating two K-12 districts out of Tempe Union’s current borders, divided along Guadalupe. A third option discussed at the meeting was leaving Kyrene as it is, an independent K-8 district.

8. Cost for sending your kid to KSD kindergarten: free (no permalink, sorry)
By Jason Ludwig, Ahwatukee Foothills News

Parents with youngsters in the Kyrene School District will be able to send their kids to kindergarten in the district free of charge starting next year. To start out, the district will offer 80 all-day kindergarten programs throughout the district and six half-day kindergarten programs. Both numbers could increase or decrease based on the number of students applying for enrollment, which opens in January.

“Anyone who wants half-day can have half-day, and anyone who wants all-day can get in all-day,” said district assistant superintendent Gina Taylor. “There’s no limitations.” The six half-day classes will be available on a regional basis, with regions defined by the six middle schools in the district. The regional plan was arrived at after a survey of district stakeholders revealed an overwhelming interest in all-day kindergarten as opposed to half-day.

Free kindergarten was made possible by Arizona’s budget for fiscal year 2006-07, which passed in mid-June.

[Note: All-Day K was a major initiative of Governor Janet Napolitano and was obstructed virulently by the Arizona State Legislature before it was finally passed. Senator Huppenthal, R-Ahwatukee, was one of the more outspoken opponents of the program and continues to express his reservations with it, though he did finally agree to sign the budget. -Geo]

9. Village collects Loop 202 freeway inquiries, concerns (sorry, no permalink)
By Doug Murphy, Ahwatukee Foothills News

Hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst, the Ahwatukee Foothills Village Planning Committee is continuing to collect questions on how construction of the South Mountain Loop 202 will impact area residents. “What happens to Liberty Lane and what happens to Desert Foothills Parkway and access to the post office?” asked planning committee chair Doug Cole Monday night.

The planning committee, which opposes the freeway on Pecos Road, is going to collect questions and comments from residents until Jan. 15, then review the information and pass it along to the appropriate city department or to the Arizona Department of Transportation for action.

10. Weather watchers: ADOT adds stations as part of freeway plan (again, no permalink for AFN articles)
By Doug Murphy, Ahwatukee Foothills News

The Arizona Department of Transportation has contracted to establish a temporary weather monitoring station at 40th Street and Pecos Road. The portable station will record wind direction and speed, temperatures and humidity as part of the ongoing study to determine where the South Mountain Loop 202 will be built. According to Matt Burdick, a spokesman for ADOT, comments from people opposed to the freeway being built along Pecos Road include a general feeling that the winds came from the south and pushed air into South Mountain where it stagnates, potentially trapping pollution from the proposed 10-lane freeway.

The portable monitoring station will be in place until at least the end of the year and will help provide the state with solid data to answer the question. What it won’t answer are questions about current air quality. “It’s a meteorological station – it’s not monitoring air quality,” Burdick said.