Local Laveen Summit Update

Sorry I've been away from this blog for the last three weeks. During that time, I've taken three trips out of town, received an industry certification (crammed/took test during the days after our Summit), taken care of a minor baby surgery, and had some major housework to do. But enough excuses.

Our Local Laveen Summit was a huge hit. After what I can only describe as a brilliantly pleasing but tiring collaborative effort, we were rewarded with great attendance and an enthralling panel discussion. The temperature was far above what I thought it would be in the "shaded" (ya, right) outdoor space we used, and yet we had about 70 people show up to listen and express their thoughts about our community. So aside from my poor planning of the space requirements, everything went well. *and yes, we will plan differently next time....

Thanks to Krag Klages, our incoming LCC president, I even have some notes to share:

*Business Growth/Development

Keeping Laveen prosperous and growing
Medical facility/hospital is top priority
Roller rink, Bowling alley, Youth center(s) are being considered
LA Fitness at 51st Ave. and Baseline is very close, but negotiations still ongoing – stay tuned

Get groups working together – mentoring new business owners, creating partnerships to drive new business together
Increase businesses in Laveen
Future small business workshops planned
Residents have “the power to invite people”
Word-of-mouth and referrals is best way in this kind of economy
Call Mike Moreines directly if you have any ideas for new businesses (Terrazona Properties)
Grassroots business growth

Keeping Laveen “rural” is still a high priority, even with growth

*Traffic Growth/Development

202 Freeway/Parkway Project
Environmental Impact Statement has yet to be done – 8 years going
Should be a meeting in next 2 months to decide direction of project
They are facing $1 billion deficit
Definitely TOP priority and biggest project going on in Laveen
People of Laveen need to band together – Fight to make this happen!

Other projects
Hold up on street work due to three things:
lack of funds
county islands
US canals – somewhat unique to cities like Laveen – a lot of red tape
Bridge to new police precinct at 91st Ave. not happening until freeway decisions finalized

*Community Issues and Events

First and foremost, making this Summit a quarterly meeting is a priority
58th Laveen BBQ is on as scheduled – as is Turkey Trot, Easter Egg hunt, etc.
Bike Busters and blighted areas
Citizens are being trained in 4-day programs to issue citations as they see fit
A kind of “Blight Task Force”
Citizens need to “take back their neighborhood”

Schools being built/School renovations
Two Laveen schools built first
Then renovations will be done
These are scheduled as planned

Keeping kids in Laveen busy/Getting kids involved
Youth centers are a high priority for the city and are aggressively being looked into
Parents, get your kids to VOLUNTEER – this is best-case scenario
kids are busy and community is helped
Call Mike Moreines – he can try and find jobs for high schoolers w/ his retail tenants

_____________
That's about all I've got, although I can't possibly say thank you enough to our panelists (see previous post) and all those who helped make this happen. We couldn't have done it without the backing of Councilman Nowakowski's office, Terrazona Properties, and all those who donated goods/services. They are Damian Rufus (DJ), for his sound system; Ace Hardware for the space and tables/chairs; Safeway and Fry's for food; Starbucks for coffee; and Corona Ranch for table linens. Also, I want to thank Randy Schiller for being our MC/host, Debbie Zapatka for her design skills, and Janet Gidney for helping run the event. (And then there's always Randy Jones, Claudine Reifschneider, and my lovely wife Catherine, who were my primary sounding board).

One more thing....

Here's my shout out to Laveen MOMS. You guys (gals?) rock! I hope that plenty of you come out to the Local Laveen Summit tomorrow morning (see below). For the kiddos, you'll be happy to know that Terrazona Properties is hosting a carnival right across the street. Plus, your gearhead husbands can wander across the parking lot to the classic car show, and then stick around for an olympic-style boxing event. Fun times, indeed!

Local Laveen Summit Is Tomorrow!!!

For those of you who follow all the happenings in our community, you should already know about this. We have a great event lined up tomorrow morning; and it's possible thanks to the collaboration of several wonderful people, including the Laveen Association of HOAs Retail Committee, the LCC, the SoMo-Laveen Chamber, Councilman Nowakowski's office, and of course Jenna Raskin-Moreines and her husband Michael, of Terrazona Properties. To steal Claudine's quote from the last LCC meeting, "You have to attend this event, or else you have no right to complain about what's going on around here."

It's been exhausting, but well worth it so far. If I didn't have the real life competition for using the phrase, I'd say this has been my baby for the last month or so (so in reality--I'm sure at the risk of offending someone--it's like I've had twins but only one real baby to show for it).

Now I'm just about able to proudly set this baby free...... Questions for panelists are done, all other arrangements have been made..... all that's left is the potential for putting out a couple of fires--fingers crossed that it won't be necessary...... But enough about that. Here's the email that just came out from the LCC (quite similar to the one I sent out earlier in the week, and the Chamber sent afterward):

Laveen Community Council

May 7, 2009

LOCAL LAVEEN SUMMIT May 9, 2009 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Laveen Pavilions Center NE Corner - 35th Ave. & Southern FREE & Open to the Public Laveen residents are invited to this event spotlighting the current economy and its effects on Laveen's retail and commercial development. Local leaders are taking a proactive stance to look at our community's market response and opportunities following recent trouble in the real estate and financial markets. A panel of community leaders will answer questions and discuss local planning and transportation happenings and their potential impact on the Laveen area. The moderator will be community leader Randy Schiller, and the panel includes the following: Councilman Michael Nowakowski, City of Phoenix Timothy Tait, Arizona Dept. of Transportation Eric Anderson, Maricopa Assn. of Governments Mike Moreines, Terrazona Properties Jeffrey Garza Walker, SoMo Development Steve Glueck, South Mountain/Laveen Chamber of Commerce Stefany Scovell, Laveen Citizens for Responsible Development Kimber Lanning, Local First Arizona Interested community members are urged to attend and bring their questions for this expert panel. Panelists will make brief introductory statements and then entertain submitted questions.

This event is FREE, open to the public and brought to you by the Laveen Association of HOAs', with help from Councilman Michael Nowakowski and his staff, the Laveen Community Council, South Mountain/Laveen Chamber of Commerce and Terrazona Properties.

Coffee and light refreshments will be served.

Just Discovered: South Mountain Villager

As I scoured the Internet for an unrelated tidbit of information, I happened across the South Mountain Villager, which is a blog for "positive news about the Laveen and South Mountain villages." This is a great idea for a blog and, judging by past entries, it has some great content. Therefore, I am adding it to my list o' links to the right. Enjoy!

And we're back....

After a rather long hiatus, I am pleased to announce the arrival of my son, born last month to Catherine and me, following a long weekend in the hospital. He is our first and we expect that he will inspire us to have a second, third, and so on.

During this break from posting, there's been quite a bit of activity in the old farm fields of Laveen. Most notably, here's what has been observed on the commercial real estate front: MidFirst Bank is a go; LA Fitness is a maybe. Also, there's talk of a hospital, we've seen at least two new specialty businesses open recently, and now Denny's wants in on the action, along with other restaurants. So here's the play-by-play for each intersection:

51st and Baseline
Denny's signed a lease for the space at the westernmost end of the Safeway shopping center. I know, bummer.... I wanted something better, too. But this way, at least we have another option that is poised to successfully demonstrate our pent up demand. Also, Pappa John's has agreed to enter the same shopping center, leaving only two more spaces to fill. Across the street, MidFirst Bank is preparing to break ground, along with yet another fast food restaurant (Yum brands combo concept?) and a strip mall. As for LA Fitness, we have yet to see what will happen; their preferred local developer, Diversified Partners, has closed its doors and left the site's primary developer to negotiate with the gym directly.

51st and Southern
Reportedly, a new running store is opening here this weekend. The Runners Store is having a grand opening celebration, featuring free foot analysis on Saturday.

Dobbins and 63rd
HOSPITAL??? A Tempe-based developer named Habitat Metro has submitted speculative permit requests to attract one of three local hospitals: Banner, John C. Lincoln, or Catholic Healthcare West. None of the hospitals have committed, although they have each allegedly expressed interest on the condition that we build a freeway. To add credibility, there are also rumors floating around about a group of doctors planning to build an office condo development nearby (although they could probably get a great lease rate instead). Here's my concern about this: Habitat Metro has never completed this type of project in the past. Their largest development to date was a residential project in downtown Phoenix. Add to that the outraged claims of one of the property's neighbors that they have no actual plans for a hospital, and you will understand my skepticism.

We all know that it's just a matter of time, but let's not get too excited yet. We can't even get a definitive answer about the freeway, which is absolutely a prerequisite for any type of trauma center to be economically feasible in such an area as Laveen (those things are quite expensive, and we have yet to provide the immediate population density or demonstrated demand for emergency services--despite showing an absolute demand from the broader region). See also the Banner hospital underway in Queen Creek for an indication of their investment appetite at the present time (hint: they say it won't open anytime soon, despite being nearly complete). Let's see what happens with national health care reform and the state budget outlook for infrastructure improvements, and then perhaps I'll change my tune to something more along the lines of, "I'm a Believer."

27th and Southern
Much to my surprise, the small shopping center on the northwest corner is filling up, with the newest tenant selling weight loss shakes and supplements. Their neighbors include a preschool and barber shop.

35th and Baseline & 27th and Baseline
Still empty. That's right, two great new shopping centers that are completely empty. They were speculatively built when rents were considerably higher and better guaranteed. Now, it looks like they can't afford the cost of tenant improvements or the ability to discount leases in order to generate activity. Now, I'd have to guess that it's only a matter of time before one or both of these properties is sold for pennies on the dollar. Let's hope that there's still a bright future in store for both of them and they employ a savvy strategy as the market begins to stabilize.

That's all for now, but stay tuned. I have some exciting news about the upcoming public roundtable event, titled "Local Laveen Summit." Here, we will seek and find answers to many of Laveen's most challenging questions. More info to come soon, I promise.

To get a Trader Joe's.......

First, let me point out that my blog is green and my name is Patrick--all in anticipation of this day, March 17th. Happy "wear green and drink dyed Budweiser products" Day!

On now to business..... I just read an article on one of GlobeSt.com's blogs about a Florida man who undertook a petition process to bring a Trader Joe's to his town: http://globestcommercialgrove.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/courting-trader-joe%E2%80%99s/

I must say that I like it. This sort of direct guerrilla-style approach is vaguely reminiscent of our Chipotle email campaign (or Chipatopolis, as Catherine and I call it--no clue why), and frankly, the best way for community members to be heard by the large national chains. Many people don't realize it, but this is exactly how our retail committee can work with members of the Laveen Association of HOA's and its members. As ideas bubble up from the masses, we can vote on where to concentrate our efforts and then begin a focused campaign.

As you will see in my yet-to-be posted article about the Local Laveen event in May, I would prefer to focus on small mom n' pop businesses for now. But that doesn't mean we can afford to forget a proactive approach in guiding national retailers who will inevitably end up here as well. Even die-hard independent types, like myself, have a few standby options for groceries, department stores, or whatever the case may be. So we should make sure that they move here before their less desirable counterparts; and a petition campaign is a great way to do it.

Interim Post: How About that Freeway?

It seems that the powers that be in Ahwatukee are back at work to oppose our beloved Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway again. And they should be since it's one of, if not the, largest public works projects awaiting funding in Arizona. And that means that it would be a great target for federal stimulus dollars because it has the ability to create so many local jobs for our deeply impacted construction workers.

So what do they offer as an alternative? A parkway. Yes, that's right--a Michigan style parkway that has intersections, but no left turns. This is hardly a compromise, when you consider the following:

1) Insufficient capacity relief for cross-Phoenix traffic.
2) More frequent stops for regional and local traffic, which means more air and noise pollution.
3) No left turns means greater trip distances for local traffic.
4) Greater regional traffic overflow onto neighboring residential streets.
5) Insufficient relief for Ahwatukee residents' complaints.

At the end of the day, we know that the right answer is to build the freeway. It's clear that ADOT and MAG have convinced Ahwatukee community leaders and other local holdouts that some kind of bypass is needed. So I can't imagine why these same leaders have reverted to a proposed plan that we already turned down back in 2003.

Here's the original article, from Ahwatukee Foothills News:

Parkway may edge out freeway for Loop 202

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March 2, 2009 - 3:31 PM

By Doug Murphy

Ahwatukee Foothills News

The idea of parkways replacing freeways is starting to gain some traction in Arizona's transportation community, mainly due to massive budget woes, more than $5 billion in Maricopa County alone, that make traditional freeways too expensive.

And the South Mountain Loop 202 may be the guinea pig in the parkway debate.

"We still have to make certain we're in a situation where we don't create more problems than we solve," said Bob Hazlett, a senior traffic engineer with the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), who said there still needs to be a lot of study on the parkway concept.

The idea is to duplicate what is commonly called a "Michigan parkway" design, where traffic isn't allowed to make left turns at intersections. (See an example here.)

Instead, motorists travel past the intersection, then move into a turn lane in the median, where they in effect complete a U-turn then move to the right and exit onto the cross street, thanks to the large gaps in traffic that the no-left turn rule creates.

An added benefit to a parkway, Hazlett said, is that by eliminating left turns at intersections, the number of crashes are reduced because there are only 16 possible movements at an intersection instead of 32.

While a parkway isn't a magic bullet in the transportation engineer's arsenal, it does have advantages, including:

* Less land is needed because there are fewer lanes and water retention can be contained in the 60-foot-wide median.

* They generally require basic signalized intersections instead of expensive on and off ramps, as long as traffic volumes are low on the cross streets.

* A parkway carries more traffic per day than an equally sized surface street because there are fewer delays due to no left turns.

"I like the concept," said Councilman Sal DiCiccio, although he wants more details.

Jim Jochim, an opponent of the Loop 202 on Pecos Road, is wary of the parkway substitute because he said there are many questions that haven't been answered, including:

* How a parkway would cut through ridges in South Mountain Park that the Gila River Indian Community consider sacred.

* How a parkway with 90,000 vehicles a day could fill the requirements for a freeway that the Arizona Department of Transportation said was needed to carry an estimated 190,000 vehicles a day.

* What impact a parkway would have on schools that back onto or are within a block of two of the proposed road.

Hazlett also admits there are questions that need studying.

The Pecos Road stretch of the proposed Loop 202 has no cross traffic. So if signals are installed preventing left turns from 32nd Street or 40th Street onto Pecos Road it would seem superfluous.

At the same time, there are major streets, including Van Buren Street and Lower Buckeye Road, that cross the proposed Loop 202 in the West Valley that would require the more expensive traditional freeway interchanges.

But it's not clear if even a parkway design can cut the cost enough to save the Loop 202.

Originally priced at just under $1 billion, by 2003 it was up to $1.1 billion and is now estimated to cost $2.4 billion, a 40 percent increase in two years and a 120 percent increase in roughly five years.

And with all projects in the voter-approved Proposition 400 more expensive than expected, some projects may have to be abandoned.

MAG will look at the transportation projects included in Proposition 400 and consider maintaining the current schedule, but extending it over more than the original 20-year timeline, reducing the scope of projects or blending both ideas.

Hazlett said a final decision on revamping the Valley's transposition plan may not come until fall.

Then the Arizona Department of Transportation would need to re-write some portions of a draft environmental impact statement it has been working on over the past few years to take into account any changes to the scope and design of the Loop 202 before asking for federal approval and seeking public comment.