Petitions calling to improve streetscape, safety, and trees and shade guidelines were debated at a Phoenix City Council meeting Wednesday, leading to city actions related to both.
The petitions heard at the meeting were created following concerns with programs already in place and looked to improve overall livability and regulations.
Complete Streets Petition
The first citizen petition, submitted by Connor Descheemaker*, called for the city to adopt Complete Streets Design Guidelines immediately rather than making them pass through a lengthier committee process to reach City Council.
The Complete Streets program, adopted in 2014, aims to help Phoenix become more walkable, bikeable and public transit friendly. Descheemaker is a part of the Complete Streets advisory board.
“Really, it’s designing various aspects of what a complete street should look like in the urban environment,” Maria Hyatt, Phoenix’s street transportation director, explained.
Arizona’s pedestrian fatality rate, the highest in the nation, spurred members from the Complete Streets Advisory Board to speak out on behalf of the petition. Mayor Greg Stanton also acknowledged how the structural issues of Phoenix’s streets pose a danger to pedestrians.
“Our arterial streets, in part because of the history of the city of Phoenix, were designed as almost de facto freeways,” Stanton said. “People speed more quickly on our roads, and that leads to a potentially more dangerous situation.”
City staff argued that the review process would prevent any discrepancies or unintentional negative outcomes as a result of the guidelines.
Adrienne Udarbe, the executive director of Arizona nonprofit Pinnacle Prevention, contended the manual was a guideline that didn’t need the scrutiny of a law.
“These guidelines are intended to be flexible,” she said. “They are just guidance, so I would hate to continue discussions over and over when they are not prescripted.”
RELATED: Phoenix Rising: Complete Streets provide safety for all instead of speed for suburbs
Descheemaker also spoke to the Council, discussing the five boards and commissions the complete streets guidelines had yet to pass through and citing 42 meetings that had already occurred concerning the guidelines.
“I encourage you to adopt these guidelines today,” he said. “Our most vulnerable Phoenicians cannot afford for you to wait.”
The Council voted 6-1 to expedite, but not bypass, the approval process.
Tree and Shade Petition
The other citizen petition, submitted by Dwayne Allen, requested the City Council create a Citizen Tree and Shade Committee and to operationalize guidelines created by a self formed citizen committee.
Earlier this year, after trees were taken out at Renaissance Square, concerned residents led by Rogue Green and Urban Phoenix Project came together to form their own committee and set guidelines and recommendations for the city. The petition was spurred from of this.
RELATED:Thousands sign petition to save downtown trees
The Tree and Shade Master plan, implemented in 2010, aims to increase shade canopy across the city of Phoenix to 25 percent by 2030. The current canopy cover is 6.1 percent.
Karen Peters noted that after Master Plan’s implementation the city was unable to replant trees for a number of years.
“Hundreds of trees are lost every year due to storm damage, vehicle accidents and so forth,” Peters said. “For a number of years even after the Master Plan was adopted, we were not in a budgetary position to replace them.”
The Council voted 5-1 for the creation of a subcommittee overseen by the Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission to address the issue.
The motion bothered some advocates who felt that the city wasn’t following through and that their committee wouldn’t include the variety of experts the Citizen Shade Subcommittee could provide.
“Those people who serve on that commission have not made tree and shade their priority,” Nicole Rodriguez, a Phoenix resident, said. “We need other people to come in and open the dialogue. We need more experience than the people who are on the commission, because that’s not where their experience is at.”
Stacey Champion, a local activist and founder of Rogue Green, also disagreed with the Council’s vote.
“This is not what your plan called for, and due to the lack of priority given this plan for the past eight years and given that our city is in the bull’s-eye of climate change, I view this as trying to put a tiny bandaid on a gaping axe wound,” Champion said. “The city must start viewing trees as the public health infrastructure that they are.”
*Editor’s Note: Connor Descheemaker was previously a member of the Downtown Devil staff. He did not contribute to the reporting or editing of this story.
Contact the reporter at Rebecca.Speiss@asu.edu.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Kate Gallego will lead the subcommittee. This has been updated to reflect that the subcommittee will be a part of the Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission.
