Tensions flared Tuesday afternoon at a public meeting at the Downtown Phoenix Inc. offices regarding the controversial light rail extension in Phoenix.
“This is our house and we have invited everyone to come,” Executive Director of the Downtown Phoenix Partnership Dan Klocke said at the meeting. “We expect that everyone treats each other with respect here.”
At the meeting, Valley Metro CEO and former Mesa Mayor Scott Smith explained the details of the light rail extension, its future and the controversial ballot measure that might put a stop to all of it.
The ballot measure, according to Valley Metro, would stop any new development and projects of the light rail in Phoenix. Cities like Mesa or Gilbert could still develop and extend the light rail.
“In these debates, the first casualty, such as in war, is the truth,” Smith said in his opening. “I’m going to give you facts and you can decide how you process those facts.”
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Smith began by explaining the importance of the light rail, claiming that the Downtown Phoenix ASU campus would not exist without it. Smith credited the light rail with connecting the Downtown and Tempe campuses and explained how helpful the it has been for revitalizing the Downtown area.
Klocke previously explained that the number of restaurants went from 100 to 200 from before the 2008 start of the light rail to the present.
After that, Smith explained the extension would go through the South Central area and create a multi-line system ending at Baseline Road. This plan had been in the works for several years before anyone protested.
Smith claims the funds Phoenix received from the government would be sent to other cities with rail projects.
“The last thing I want to do is kill the light rail in Phoenix,” said Mel Martin, the chairman for Building a Better Phoenix Political Action Committee and the person who filed the petition for the ballot initiative. “All we’ve ever asked for is the same thing that North Phoenix got. A lot of business people down there, like myself, are sick of it. This all could have been avoided.”
The South Central community expressed concern about construction of the light rail, which is set to be finished in 2023. They are troubled about narrowing Central Avenue down to one lane after the extension and how emergency services vehicles will manage to help people during and after construction.
But Smith said the light rail is not going to be a detriment to Central Avenue.
“Over 350 million dollars of that money going to south Phoenix is paying for upgrades and utilities and the complete rebuilding of Central Avenue,” Smith explained. “We’re putting in new sewer lines, new electric lines, new water lines, new gas lines. They’re all going to be improved.”
There is a hearing set for April 10 where the Association of General Contractors will make the claim that the writing is not specific enough and voters did not have a clear idea of what they were getting themselves into with the extension initiative. A judge will either decide in favor of the AGC, effectively killing the vote in August, or they will decide against AGC and the vote will continue as normal.
The light rail extension is the kind of issue that gets people excited either for it or against it. The question and answer portion of the meeting took about 40 minutes. There were people on both sides of the issue making heated claims and several times someone said something along the lines of, “Please let me finish.”
Joseph Larios, a South Phoenix native and former executive director at Poder in Action, discussed the idea of environmental racism in the city. He explained that he sits on a public health board in the South Central area and brought up a document called the geography of despair.
“It’s a 2006 document that explains how Phoenix was built to be a segregated society and it says that it’s important to consider environmental racism such as acts of unwanted land use regardless of whether or not there was specific intent to harm people of color,” he explained.
Larios said that Valley Metro and the city of Phoenix only paid attention to the displacement of businesses, not people.
“Where is the tension around race and development?” He said. “How many more of these conversations do we have to have before you, yourself realize that we have to step into these conversations as well?”
Smith responded by saying, “What happens when we invest? Communities change.”
He agreed that there could have been a more vibrant dialogue about these concerns.
“The city of Phoenix got a couple million dollars from the federal government to do the very thing that you’re talking about to have the discussions.” Smith said. “That’s something I would encourage you to keep pushing with because you should have those discussions.”
The meeting broke multiple arguments, and the discussion had to be interrupted by Klocke.
“I think we often overlook the human factor,” said Steven Miskell, a man that cited the light rail as his main form of transportation other than his wife’s assistance. “I’m disabled. I can’t get around by car. I depend on the mass transit system to be able to get to places.”
Miskell highlighted that this is not just an issue of money or construction, but that people’s lives will be affected no matter what the decision is in August.
According to Smith, the meeting was a success.
“The idea is to have a discussion that’s fact-based,” he said. “Those with a different opinion were able to voice their opinions. Any time you have a meeting like that where people can digest the information, it’s a good meeting.”
Contact the reporter at nhthomps@asu.edu.
Update: On April 3, this story was updated to include Mel Martin’s full title as well as Joseph Larios’ previous positions.
