For now, the residents and developers of a 20-story retirement community recently built in the heart of ASU’s flourishing entertainment district have silenced live music at a popular club, but the owners of Shady Park Tempe promise to appeal.
Mirabella at ASU is located across the street from Shady Park, a popular eatery – dance club where live music has been offered since 2015. But on April 13, a Maricopa County judge imposed several restrictions on the business, making it impossible for Shady Park to hold live music events, according to a company statement.
For its part, Shady Park sees an appeal of Judge Brad Astrowsky’s ruling as the only option to save the business after all these years.
“We remain hopeful that the court system will correct this injustice and that our appeal will allow us to once again host live music and provide a bit of joy and happiness to thousands of people every week,” the statement reads.
And owner Scott Price warns Shady Park will be forced to close down for good if Astrowsky’s ruling is upheld on appeal.
“This is because the revenue from shows is vital to our ability to pay for the other business operations,” Price said of the ruling, adding that “the power and influence of ASU was too much for us to overcome.”
Shady Park and other clubs in along East University Avenue have been in operation long before the Mirabella at ASU project broke ground. And there is no one who does not know that clubs and noise go hand in hand, particularly in a college community.
But ASU President Michael Crowe saw an opportunity to attract developers interested in taking advantage of ASU’s property tax exemption. Mirabella opened in December 2020 while several restaurants, clubs, theatres, and other “nightlife” businesses remained shuttered due to the economic effects of Gov. Doug Ducey’s various public health executive orders.
Once Shady Park reopened in May 2021, the folks at Mirabella complained about the noise. Price shutdown the live music while a canopy was constructed to help with the noise, but more complaints flooded in once live music started up again in September.
The lawsuit filed in October sought a preliminary injunction against Shady Park to prevent live music events which exceed Tempe’s “community standards” for noise. Then just before Astrowsky conducted a trial in February, Mirabella at ASU offered Shady Park “a large sum of money to close down and agree to let them take over our lease,” according to Shady Park.
The trial left many legal observers comparing the Mirabella residents to those who complain about noise after moving into a neighborhood that is in an airport’s well-established flight path. But the judge sided with the newcomers, ruling that residents made a substantial showing of harm caused by the Shady Park live concerts.
Astrowsky also faulted the efforts Shady Park took to address the noise complaints, saying there was “no credible evidence” that the canopy mitigated the noise.
“Shady Park never consulted an acoustical engineer or acoustic consultant,” the judge ruled. “Further, Shady Park did not perform any testing to determine how effective the canopy was at containing sound.”
Astrowsky was also not impressed with Shady Park’s arguments of the financial damage to the business if forced to turn down its music or construct an enclosure “to acoustically seal” the venue. The evidence presented about the impact was merely that of “speculative harm,” he ruled.
To rub salt into the wound, a post-ruling statement by Mirabella at ASU noted the “relief” Astrowsky brought to its residents and the surrounding community.
“We hope the court’s ruling results in peaceful coexistence moving forward and a celebration of a community that is inclusive and respectful of all,” the statement reads in part.
Shady Park says it has ceased all live music operations, “as the restrictions mandated make it impossible for us to hold live music events.” It could take a few weeks before an expedited appeal can be heard, leaving the company without vital revenue.
In the meantime, the ASU Foundation is benefiting richly from Mirabella at ASU, despite the impact to the local community and culture. It is a situation that is garnering scrutiny for other decisions by ASU, the Arizona Board of Regents, and President Crowe for using public tax-exempt property to benefit private businesses.
The Arizona Supreme Court recently ruled that a lawsuit filed by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich against the Regents and ASU can move forward to trial. In that case, the attorney general contends the 16-story Omni Hotel Tempe built on tax-exempt public property violates the Arizona Constitution’s Gift Clause prohibition on providing public monies for the benefit of non-public enterprises.
A jury trial about the ASU – Omni deal could be held as early as Spring 2023.
How to interpret changes enacted in 2011 to Arizona’s development impact fee law will be heard by the Arizona Supreme Court, it was announced last week.
At issue is Arizona Revised Statute 9-463.05 which was amended in 2011 to redefine the circumstances under which a municipality can lawfully assess development impact fees. The Legislature noted its intent that courts would “narrowly” construe a town or city’s privilege to assess development fees.
Specifically, the 2011 version of ARS 9-463.05 prohibits impact development fees on new residents to pay for “a burden all taxpayers of a municipality should bear equally.”
In 2018, the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association (SAHBA) sued the Town of Marana after town officials spent more than $16 million in 2013 to acquire a water reclamation facility formally operated by Pima County. At the time, the facility only had capacity to serve current residents.
Marana then spent more than $17.5 million as part of a multi-phase Capital Improvement Project (CIP) to expand, upgrade, and modernize the facility, including compliance with environmental regulations. 20-year bonds were issued to cover the costs, with bond payments coming from impact fees charged on new homes and other development projects.
SAHBA’s lawsuit contends the expansion of the water reclamation facility and other upgrades undertaken as part of the project benefitted all existing residents as well as new residents. As a result, much of the impact fees violated ARS 9-463.05, the lawsuit argued.
The town, however, contended there was already sufficient water resources and wastewater treatment capacity to serve existing residents. It only acquired the Water Reclamation Facility and expanded the facility in order “to meet the needs” of future development, town attorney’s argued.
Marana also argued the project was developed “over years of careful consideration” by engineers, consultants, the public, and the Town Council. SAHBA was among the stakeholders involved in a planning process which started years earlier but took no action until 2018, according to town attorneys.
A Pima County judge and later the Arizona Court of Appeals sided with Marana’s position. Attorneys for the town later argued that review by the Arizona Supreme Court is “unwarranted” because the two lower court ruling were rightly decided.
“The trial court and the court of appeals evaluated whether the Town’s impact fee ordinances met the statutory requirements under A.R.S. § 9-463.05,” Marana’s response stated. “Both courts held the statutory requirements were met.”
But on April 5, the Arizona Supreme Court announced it will take up the case later this year, representing the first time the amended law will be subjected to review by the justices. The questions to be addressed during oral arguments are:
Did Marana violate A.R.S § 9-463.05 by making future development bear 100 percent of the cost of acquiring the Facility?
Did Marana violate the same statute by making future development bear nearly all of the cost of upgrading, modernizing, and improving the Facility?
Did Marana further violate the statute by failing to take into account what could or could not be included in development fees under that statute, and by failing to make any proportionate allocation of costs between existing and future development?
The Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, which is a trade association representing nearly 500 member companies engaged in residential construction and development, filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in support of SAHBA’s case.
The governing board of the Buckeye Elementary School District is coming under fire after the Arizona Auditor General discovered the superintendent of the 5,100-student district received about 100 percent more in compensation than the superintendents of Arizona’s three largest districts made on average.
Kristi Wilson became superintendent of the Buckeye District’s seven elementary schools in 2013. From July 2016 to December 2021, she received total compensation of more than $3.2 million under the terms of three employment agreements, according to a report released April 12 by Arizona Auditor General Lindsey Perry.
Of that, roughly $1.7 million is categorized as “additional compensation,” including nearly $570,000 which Perry’s auditors believe was not owed to Wilson.
The report also contends the District “omitted critical information” and records associated with two of the three employment agreements. The auditors expressed concern that there was a lack of transparency which “did not enable the public to monitor the District and superintendent’s performance.”
Any overpayment could constitute a violation of the Gift Clause in the Arizona Constitution, while violations of Arizona’s public records law can be prosecuted in some instances. As a result, the Auditor General’s findings have been referred to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for investigation.
Data provided by the Auditor General shows 16 percent of the Buckeye District’s students come from families at or below the poverty rate. And nearly 70 percent of all students qualify for free or reduced lunches.
Furthermore, four of the seven schools had a D or F grade in Fiscal Year 2019. This has resulted in the Arizona Department of Education working with District officials to create an integrated action plan to improve student achievement.
Equally concerning, according to the audit report, is that District students performed below their peer group and students statewide on State assessments in the four fiscal years ending in Fiscal Year 2019. Yet at the same time, the salary and benefits package for Wilson worked out to 54 percent more in per pupil spending for executive administration than the statewide average.
In addition, the average teacher salary in the District was $44,536, about 15 percent below the average in Arizona.
Jane Hunt, the president of the District’s governing board, responded earlier this month to Perry. Hunt did not agree with several of the audit’s findings, but Perry’s staff contends the District’s response contains “certain inaccurate or misleading statements” about the situation.
In one instance, the District contended it had agreed to pay Wilson “a retirement credit” sufficient to cover all tax liability associated it with. Such an arrangement was expressly authorized by the Arizona State Retirement System through the use of post-tax pay, Hunt responded.
But that is not what happened, according to the audit report.
“The District’s assertion that the superintendent’s retirement credits were purchased using post-tax pay is wrong,” the report notes. “ Rather, per the superintendent’s election, the District deducted and sent to the ASRS the superintendent’s retirement credit payments through pre-tax deductions.”
This is an important distinction, Perry’s staff noted, because the District’s failure to correctly apply pre-tax status when calculating Wilson’s additional compensation led to a significant overpayment “to and on behalf of the superintendent.” And that could lead to legal problems for Wilson and the District Board.
The audit report notes that four of the District’s five current governing board members held such positions in April 2016 when the first of the employment agreements was approved to provide the superintendent with additional compensation.
Residents living in unincorporated communities across Arizona have a streamlined process for seeking to become a city or town, now that Gov. Doug Ducey has signed House Bill 2455 into law.
Under HB2455, the process will require those seeking incorporation to provide public notice at least six months prior to formally publishing a Petition to Incorporate. The requirements for making that notice are also detailed in the new legislation which Ducey signed April 6.
Another important change related to HB2455 is the ability to include “large areas of uninhabited, rural or farm land” into the incorporation plan under certain circumstances. But the biggest change is that those directly impacted by an incorporation plan can still object and be removed from the boundaries, but it is harder for them to outright kill the effort.
The change is intended to allow affected local qualified electors to vote on the proposed incorporation without having their interests overshadowed by others.
HB2455 was introduced by Rep. Neal Carter who represents parts of Gila and Pinal counties. He lives in San Tan Valley, where residents have tried three times in the last 12 years to incorporate the area which is home to nearly 97,000 people in northern Pinal County.
“Each time, the effort has failed without ever going to a ballot because of objections from outside interests,” Carter said after his bill was signed into law. “I believe people who live within a community should have a chance for their voices to be heard on matters of local governance. Any decision of whether a community becomes a town or city should be made by its residents, not by out of area interests.”
Carter was appointed last fall by the Pinal County Board of Supervisors to fill the remainder of Rep. Frank Pratt’s term following Pratt’s death. HB2455 was the first bill Carter introduced which the governor has signed into law.
HB2455 takes effect 90 days after the end of this legislative session.
This week, Twitter silenced another prominent conservative voice — this time, one relied on heavily by parents and older generations distant from today’s social media fads. Libs of TikTok, the social media account that offered parents insight on what the world was exposing to their children through educators and pop culture, was suspended for 12 hours on Twitter. The social media giant said that the account’s content violated rules on hateful conduct: promoting violence against, threatening, or harassing other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliatoin, age, disability, or serious disease.
Effectively, Twitter implemented its “account-level enforcement” of “placing an account in read-only mode.” Twitter noted that it saved these account-level tactics for “particularly egregious” or repeated violations of its rules.
The account launched in November 2020, reposting videos from the Chinese social media app TikTok in order to display a more comprehensive view of the left’s political ideology. It began to pick up more popularity last summer, jumping from under 100 likes to several hundred to thousands within months. The account owner’s identity remains anonymous, but virtual anonymous interviews revealed that the owner is female.
According to social media analyses, Libs of Tiktok’s most-used words included, in order: teacher, students, school, parents, and kids. At the time of her suspension, she had close to 612,000 followers. The highest number of retweets achieved on one tweet revealing that a school nurse was suspended over “transphobic comments” reached over 6,000, while the highest number of likes reached over 26,000 on a clip of Fox News host Tucker Carlson praising her work.
Twitter just censored @libsoftiktok, locking the account for “hateful conduct.”
News of the account’s suspension came from Seth Dillon, CEO of The Babylon Bee: a satire news company that was banned from Twitter. The satire site’s ban occurred after it published the story, “The Babylon Bee’s Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine,” poking fun at the current U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) assistant secretary of health.
As evident, the offending content of both Twitter accounts remain available. However, Twitter stipulated to The Babylon Bee that it must remove the offending tweet before it may access its account. Twitter placed no such stipulation on Libs of TikTok — the suspension functioned as a warning to moderate future content.
AZ Free News has relied on Libs of TikTok and even TikTok itself for our reporting. In October, we discovered that the teacher nominated by Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs for a national youth leadership award was pushing the vast majority of popular left-wing political ideologies in her elementary school classroom. Libs of TikTok helped notify Arizonans and the world of the three female students at Arizona State University (ASU) who harassed two fellow students for being white males with perceived conservative attire in their multicultural center.
Most recently, Libs of Tik Tok revealed an American government class at ASU telling students that state efforts to require voter ID, get rid of permanent early voting lists, restrict early voting, remove mail-in voting, and close primaries were forms of voter suppression.
Although Libs of TikTok was banned from Twitter, versions of the account exist elsewhere: Instagram, Rumble, GETTR, YouTube, and Gab.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A Phoenix special education teacher, Kareem Neal, moved up in the world of honors bestowed on educators: this year, he became Arizona’s first teacher inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame. Neal, the 2019 Arizona Teacher of the Year, teaches at Maryvale High School and also works as a restorative justice trainer at Phoenix Union High School District (PXU).
The face you make when you realize you were just named the first AZ Teacher ever inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame. I’m super proud of my 20+ years of work and wish I could share every piece of the plaque with the 100s of students I’ve taught in my career. pic.twitter.com/0M9dBe32RN
Neal would qualify as “woke” in the modern political landscape: he supports social justice efforts like anti-racism and LGBTQ+ normalization. In an August 2019 article, Neal argued that teachers must do more than teach — they must support and affirm lifestyles and community. Neal attributed that realization to the moment when he discovered Maryvale High School’s social justice club, Panthertown, having an annual “camp” with activities encouraging students to “break free of the things (race, gender, sexuality, ability, etc.) that prevent[ed] them from connecting with their peers.” Neal serves as the club’s sponsor currently.
Neal said that experience prompted him to “break out of [his] comfort zone” of only engaging with his special education students and branch out to the other students outside his class.
“To be truly effective, teachers must do more than simply teach students. They have to become a real part of the community,” wrote Neal. “I am positive that I could not teach at a school where all of the teachers just taught lessons and went home. I need for my school and its surrounding area to be my community.”
In the wake of the George Floyd riots, Neal declared that white supremacy could exist among even “nice, white folks” if they don’t commit to anti-racism. Neal also said that teachers shouldn’t be teaching black children if they reject anti-racism.
“We need [white people] to sacrifice the privilege, comforts, and advantages that comes with whiteness to FORCE our systems to distribute power differently. We don’t need your niceties. We need your sacrifice,” said Neal.
All white supremacy needs to keep that knee on our necks, is simply for most white people to go along being non-racists… Again for the folks in the back, we can have a white supremest society with a large majority of nice, white folks who are not individual racists.
Neal’s remarks fit nicely with President Joe Biden’s campaign, and he was featured in an August 2020 campaign video. Neal criticized former President Donald Trump’s call to reopen schools, casting Trump as reckless and unempathetic while characterizing Biden as caring and knowledgeable.
When the video aired, Neal bragged about how he forced Biden’s campaign to make the commercial.
So, I forced the Biden campaign to make this commercial featuring me and one of my AMAZING former students! It only has 107 DISLIKES so far. I’m feeling pretty good about that. 😊 https://t.co/SCHpjYqgmZ via @YouTube
For all the social justice beliefs he’s defended, Neal has denied that Critical Race Theory (CRT) is being taught in the classroom. Last August, Neal gathered with other states’ teachers of the year in a seminar discussing how CRT was misrepresented, noting that concepts like social justice and anti-racism were separate from CRT. Arizona State University (ASU) Project Humanities founding director Neal Lester organized the event.
In an ASU panel last February dedicated to explaining “anti-racist parenting,” Neal revealed that he discusses racism with his students through skits, writing activities, and community-building circles. Neal said that everyone is racist and that America is a racist society.
Amid his frequent bouts of activism, Neal was fined and disciplined in 2018 for engaging in political activity for Invest In Education, a national progressive campaign abbreviated to #InvestInEd, on the taxpayer’s dime, as the Arizona Daily Independent reported. Neal promoted the campaign by displaying one of its signs in his classroom. His district ordered him to pay $225 and placed him on a one-day suspension without pay.
Earlier that year, Neal also participated in a walk-in to support Red For Education, or #RedforEd, another national progressive campaign to increase teacher funding with walk-outs. Walk-ins consisted of teachers gathering early in front of schools wearing red and holding signs to signal Red for Education support.
The fine didn’t deter Neal from engaging in political activities again, however. Last April, Neal announced that he was serving as Arizona Department of Education Superintendent Kathy Hoffman’s campaign chairman for reelection.
I’m honored to serve as campaign chairman for the re-election of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Kathy Hoffman @kathyhoffman_az. She has fought for ALL our students, and I’m thrilled she’ll continue serving as our state superintendent. Please read the full statement: pic.twitter.com/KJv4k3VJqE
In addition to teaching, Neal has undertaken other leadership roles. Neal served as a member of the Arizona Department of Education’s African American Advisory Council, director on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), and vice president of PXU’s Black Alliance. Neal was also entrusted with curriculum development as a PXU Peer Learning Community leader.
The Arizona educators put forth for national recognition tend to share values like Neal’s. As AZ Free News reported, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs nominated an elementary school teacher incorporating social justice and activism in her classroom for the national John Lewis Youth Leadership Award.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
