by Corinne Murdock | May 14, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The city of Phoenix rolled out a new, equity-focused internet subsidy program this week using federal funding.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a $700,000 grant through the $14 billion Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The funds will provide discounted internet of up to $30 off per month for most households but up to $75 off per month for tribal land households. Eligible households must be at or below 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego announced that 80,000 households were enrolled in the program, with an estimated additional 100,000 who could qualify.
The federal program also qualifies certain households for a one-time discount of up to $100 for a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet if they contribute anywhere between $10 to $15 toward the purchase.
Those who qualify for other forms of federal welfare programs may also qualify for ACP.
The Biden administration launched the ACP through the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in November 2021. The administration brokered a deal with 20 of the nation’s main internet providers to offer ACP-eligible households internet plans for no more than $30 per month.
Effectively, ACP-eligible households get free internet initially if they sign onto the 20 internet providers that worked with the Biden administration. The providers are Allo Communications, altaFiber (Hawaiian Telecom), Altice (Optimum), Astound, AT&T, Breezeline, Comcast, Comporium, Cox Communications, Frontier, IdeaTek, Jackson Energy Authority, Mediacom Cable, MLGC, Spectrum, Starry, Verizon, Vermont Telephone Company, Vexus Fiber, and Wow! Internet, Cable and TV.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel presented the ACP grant in Phoenix on Wednesday.
Rosenworcel served as commissioner under both the Obama and Trump administrations. In a 2018 profile, the Washingtonian noted that Rosenworcel had continued her equity-oriented efforts through the Trump administration.
With the apparent lobbying efforts by these main internet providers to make ACP funding permanent, it appears that Biden’s arrangement for free internet is a limited-time offer. Nearly 18 million households have signed up for ACP.
On Tuesday, Verizon Senior Vice President Kathy Grillo warned that ACP funding was projected to run out as early as the first quarter of next year. Grillo urged for a more permanent subsidy structure for internet access.
Most internet providers set their contracts to last for a mandatory minimum of two years. The ACP subsidies will only last as long as funding is afforded to it.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | May 11, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The city of Phoenix began cleaning up the mass homeless encampment known as The Zone this week, after attempts to resist a court injunction to do so. Local residents and business owners have endured the burgeoning public health and safety hazards of the area for about three years.
The cleanups began on Wednesday. City officials reportedly won’t allow the homeless to return to the area if they don’t find shelter. About 900 homeless camped out in The Zone.
The extent of the waste from the homeless encampments was so great that city workers resorted to using forklifts.
The city also re-released a plan to address homelessness on Wednesday morning, largely centered on doubling down on efforts to place homeless individuals with relevant treatment programs. The plan was published originally late last month.
The city’s plan includes creating 800 more shelter beds by the end of 2024, and parsing out the $140 million committed beginning in July 2021. The city also proposed potentially leasing hotel rooms, using vacant plots, and creating a campsite of sorts.
The city noted in its plan that the five cleanups initiated since December resulted in placement of 67 percent of the several hundred offered services.
The CEO of the shelter at the heart of the Zone, Amy Shwabenlender with Human Services Campus, told AZ Family that the cleanup was necessary, but not a “long-term solution.”
The city of Phoenix unsuccessfully fought the Maricopa County Superior Court order to clean up the Zone earlier this month. Within the same day of the city’s petition to extend the July deadline for cleanup, Maricopa County Superior Court denied the petition. Judge Scott Blaney rejected the city’s claim in its petition that it had already undertaken significant action.
“The Court interprets this argument as meaning the injunction is unnecessary because the City is already taking steps to abate the horrible conditions in the Zone,” wrote Blaney. “But the Court issued the Preliminary Injunction based, in part, upon the City’s past failure to address the issues in The Zone, as well as the City’s apparent lack of intent to do so until faced with possible judicial intervention.”
Blaney ordered the city to commence its cleanup of The Zone in late March. Blaney declared that the city had done nothing to improve the public nuisance caused by the mass homeless encampment burdening the downtown area. Rather, Blaney said that the city’s actions purporting to address the homeless crisis had served only to grow its bureaucracy and ineffective programs initiated by themselves and nonprofits over the years.
“With few exceptions, the action items about which city representatives testified centered around the creation of more bureaucracy, additional staff positions, and obtaining additional funding for programs to vaguely address homelessness in general,” stated Blaney. “The Court received very little evidence — if any — that the City intends to take immediate, meaningful action to protect its constituent business owners, their employees, and residents from the lawlessness and chaos in the Zone.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | May 2, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Last Friday, the Maricopa County Superior Court denied the city of Phoenix’s motion to extend the deadline imposed to clean up The Zone.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney apparently rejected the city’s insistence that they’d begun taking sufficient action.
“The Court interprets this argument as meaning the injunction is unnecessary because the City is already taking steps to abate the horrible conditions in the Zone,” wrote Blaney. “But the Court issued the Preliminary Injunction based, in part, upon the City’s past failure to address the issues in The Zone, as well as the City’s apparent lack of intent to do so until faced with possible judicial intervention.
In their motion to stay the court’s preliminary injunction, the city said it didn’t dispute the current conditions of the homeless encampments, but opposed the actions they were required to take, namely the court’s suggestion of campgrounds. The city took issue with the required deadline of July 10.
“[D]eciding how to spend taxpayers’ money, deliver services, and create new infrastructure for public housing is a legislative, not judicial function,” stated the city. “[T]he order intrudes into local law enforcement and prosecutorial discretion in what appears to be an order to take mandatory enforcement action — ignoring any analysis of the facts on the ground and ordering sweeping relief in its stead.”
The city further claimed that Blaney violated the constitutional separation of powers. It also seemed to question the judge’s description of homeless individuals’ conduct as a “nuisance.” Blaney’s ruling outlined the many ways that The Zone qualified as a public nuisance. The city said it couldn’t guarantee cleaning up The Zone.
“While the City seeks to maintain a clean and crime-free environment for its residents, those are outcomes that the City simply cannot guarantee, even with the expenditure of significant resources,” stated the city.
The city also claimed that Blaney’s order didn’t reflect public interest or the true desires of the Phoenix community. That contradicts the numerous business owners and residents of The Zone and elsewhere in the city that have complained about the homeless crisis.
“The City’s policies are the product of community meetings with policymakers, the gathering of information from all relevant stakeholders, and the advice of experts at the City and throughout the community,” wrote the city. “To circumvent this process and supplant the City’s plans with the Court’s own judgment is against public interest.”
The homeless crisis spiraled following the election of Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat, in 2019.
The Maricopa County Superior Court ruled in late March that the city of Phoenix was at fault for the current state of The Zone, and imposed a cleanup deadline this summer. The ruling came days after city officials promised to meet to discuss solutions for The Zone, in the wake of back-to-back murders.
Details of a settlement in a separate, federal case haven’t been publicized yet.
Democratic leadership has generally downplayed the urgency of the public nuisances and dangers presented by The Zone.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Apr 24, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Just days after a powerful Arizona government watchdog group threatened possible legal action, the City of Phoenix repealed a controversial ordinance that had passed the previous month.
On Wednesday, the Phoenix City Council voted to repeal the prevailing wage ordinance, 6-3, after a change of two councilmembers. Councilmembers Kesha Hodge Washington, Jim Waring, Ann O’Brien, Kevin Robinson, Debra Stark, and Mayor Kate Gallego voted for the repeal; while Councilmembers Yassamin Ansari, Laura Pastor, and Betty Guardado voted to maintain the ordinance.
After the vote, Mayor Gallego took to Twitter to explain her decision, writing, “Workers deserve a living wage – and we can deliver that through a robust, public process that doesn’t put the city in legal and financial jeopardy. That’s why I voted with a majority of Council to direct city staff to find legally viable ways to increase wages on city projects. I believe in doing things the right way, not the fast way, and that’s what we decided to do today. I am optimistic that we will find a path forward for better pay for construction workers while, at the same time, put sound policy on the books that survives legal challenges.”
The Goldwater Institute, which had sent a letter to the Council earlier in the month, championed the news out of Phoenix. John Thorpe, a staff attorney with Goldwater, stated, “Yesterday’s repeal is good news for businesses, their employees, and all taxpayers – and it’s a reminder that Goldwater will never stop fighting to hold government accountable and to defend Americans’ economic freedom from burdensome, counterproductive regulations.”
Thorpe wrote that the ‘Prevailing Wage Ordinance for City Projects’ law, “introduced on short notice with almost no chance for public scrutiny from anyone it would impact, required businesses that contract with the city for construction projects costing more than $250,000 to follow a slew of new requirements: they would have had to provide their employees with wages and benefits based on complicated formulas produced by the federal government, keep painstaking records, and comply with a host of other rules and regulations. Worse still, all these regulations came with the risk of heavy fines and potentially crippling lawsuits, even for minor infractions.”
On March 21, three Phoenix City Councilmembers – Carlos Garcia, Betty Guardado, and Laura Pastor, sent a letter to City Manager Jeff Barton, requesting a Special Meeting the following day to consider the Prevailing Wage Ordinance for City Projects. The three councilmembers wrote, “We believe it is time for leadership to address the lack of skilled construction workers needed to fill the rising demand for labor in Phoenix. We know that areas of the country with prevailing wages for city projects have a greater supply of apprentices and pathways for young people to find and join a skilled trade. A prevailing wage ordinance for city projects will ensure that our development growth is matched with the skilled labor we urgently need when we invest in the growth of our communities.”
The next day, the Ordinance was approved by a vote of 5-4. Councilmembers Garcia, Guardado, Pastor, Sal DiCiccio, and Yassamin Ansari voted in favor of the Ordinance. Garcia and DiCiccio have since left the Phoenix City Council, being replaced by Kevin Robinson and Kesha Hodge Washington.
On April 13, the Goldwater Institute, representing the Arizona Builders Alliance and the Associated Minority Contractors of Arizona, sent a letter to the Phoenix City Council to “express serious concerns” about the Ordinance passed on March 22. Thorpe, writing again for Goldwater, informed the City that if “the enacted version of the ordinance regulates matters that are expressly pre-empted by state law, it exposes the City to a high risk of litigation.” Thorpe outlined that “when the Legislature enacts a law on a matter of statewide concern, that law pre-empts and overrides any conflicting municipal provision. In this instance, voter-approved state law dating back to 1984 expressly provides that ‘prevailing wage’ requirements for public works contractors are a matter of statewide concern and may not be imposed by municipalities.”
Thorpe also found “it troubling that this ordinance was enacted after providing the public barely twenty-four hours’ notice and without any meaningful input from the many stakeholders it will affect.” He also pointed out that “the final version (of the ordinance) enacted by the Council has not yet been made publicly available,” which he questioned the existence of “any legal authority the City possesses to withhold a duly enacted ordinance from public inspection.”
Democrat Senator Catherine Miranda also waded into the discussion on the City of Phoenix’s action in March, submitting a 1487 request to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes on April 17, to “clarify the apparent conflict between two statutes and consequently determine whether Phoenix has the authority to enact prevailing wage at the municipal level.”
Before the new coalition voted to repeal the Prevailing Wage Ordinance, another Democrat Senator, Anna Hernandez, voiced her disapproval with Mayor Gallego’s pending action, tweeting, “(Mayor Gallego) is once again turning her back on our union brothers and sisters.” Hernandez also shared an excerpt from a questionnaire that Gallego filled out during her mayoral run, where she wrote, “At the end of the day, prevailing wage laws are good for working families in the city of Phoenix and I will do what I can to support the enforcement of federal prevailing wage law, and advocate for a reintroduction of Arizona’s state or city prevailing wage law.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Apr 22, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Phoenix City Council declared Indigenous Peoples’ Day an official city holiday, replacing the traditional Columbus Day commemoration.
The holiday, which will take place annually on the second Monday in October, was approved by the council during Wednesday’s meeting.
“Phoenix is proud to recognize the roots on which our city was founded,” stated Mayor Kate Gallego.
The city’s resolution falls in line with the recent precedent set by President Joe Biden. The president first declared the replacement of Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2021.
Biden’s resolution followed up on a memorandum honoring Native Americans that he issued within the first week of his inauguration. The 2021 resolution declared that Indigenous communities had contributed greatly to American history and culture, and had been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden’s resolution also commended Native Americans for having some of the highest rates of COVID-19 vaccinations.
“History demonstrates that Native American people — and our Nation as a whole — are best served when Tribal governments are empowered to lead their communities and when Federal officials listen to and work together with Tribal leaders when formulating Federal policy that affects Tribal nations,” wrote Biden. “The Federal Government has a solemn obligation to lift up and invest in the future of Indigenous people and empower Tribal Nations to govern their own communities and make their own decisions.”
Biden’s presidential proclamation exists without holiday privileges like bank closures, however. Only a congressional act could establish Columbus Day as an official federal holiday.
Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced Columbus Day a national holiday in 1937 to commemorate Italian explorer Christopher Columbus’ landing in the Americas on October 12, 1492, attributed as the discovery of the “New World,” as the Americas were then known.
Christopher Columbus garnered controversy in recent decades for enslaving some of the Native Americans he encountered, as well as the perspective that he encroached and overtook land that wasn’t rightfully his. Efforts to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day trace back to post-Sexual Revolution movements. In 1977, a United Nations-sponsored conference combating discrimination against Native Americans discussed replacing the holiday.
It wasn’t until the 1990s that cities and states began to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day over Columbus Day.
While former Gov. Doug Ducey signed a proclamation in 2020 announcing Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Phoenix is the first Arizona city to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day. However, Ducey didn’t renew the proclamation by signing another in 2021 or last year.
Some local leaders across the state, such as Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, have wished to see greater local support for the holiday. The recorder told KOLD in 2021 that only her husband, who isn’t Native American, was able to take the day off.
“They had school, I had work, the only person in our household who had today off for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, is my husband, who is not Indigenous,” said Cázares-Kelly.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
