by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Nov 3, 2023 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
K-12 schools in Arizona are currently flush with cash. Between billions in increased state spending from the legislature, COVID cash from the feds, and declining student populations, district school spending is at an all time high. But next week, voters across Arizona will decide the fate of 23 bond requests from schools that total a historic $3.5 billion.
This level of borrowing being sought by local school districts is both unwise and unnecessary, especially given the large amounts of money that have been pumped into the system. State funding has increased so quickly in the last 36 months that the legislature decided to override the constitutional spending limit the last two fiscal years. This is funding over and above the formulaic cap in the constitution that exists to protect taxpayers from runaway and unaccountable spending.
And contrary to what you probably hear from teachers’ unions and their sycophant friends in the media, lawmakers continue to increase school spending with every state budget. With all this new spending, district schools receive more money per student than ever before, and it’s not even close.
Not included in the state spending cap, however, are federal funds. And when schools were shut down during COVID, the federal government poured trillions of dollars into them. Many of the school districts asking their taxpayers to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars in bonds next week are still sitting on a pile of unspent COVID cash…
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by Daniel Stefanski | Nov 1, 2023 | Economy, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A local team’s unexpected run to the pinnacle of the baseball world has given its city an economic boon.
The Arizona Diamondbacks weren’t expected to go too far during the 2023 Major League Baseball postseason, but the team has proven its doubters and detractors very wrong over the past few weeks, reaching the World Series for the first time since 2001. This journey through October provides an infusion of tens of millions of dollars to the City of Phoenix and the State of Arizona, giving the local economy millions of extra reasons to cheer on their team.
Glenn Farley, the Arizona Director of Policy & Research for the Common Institute, published a piece about the expected economic impact for the region based on the hometown team’s surge through the playoffs. He wrote that “because the events are unplanned and non-competitive, the typical costs associated with attracting and hosting a major event are largely missing during a World Series, and successful hosting depends on a cities natural economic base and infrastructure rather than disposable infrastructure developed specifically for the event.”
Farley pointed out that the State of Arizona’s sports and tourism sector “employs 167,000 people,” and that “those tourism and hospitality workers were already on hand to support visitors and consumers for the unexpected World Series windfall.”
The economic benefits of the World Series in Arizona follow a busier-than-normal year for the Valley’s national sports scene. Researchers from Arizona State University found that the January Fiesta Bowl for college football garnered $170 million, the February Phoenix Open for golf another $277 million, and the February Super Bowl for the NFL topped out at $1.3 billion. The first full Cactus League Spring Training season since 2019 also brought hundreds of millions of dollars to Arizona towns and cities. In addition, Arizona hosted an early round of the World Baseball Classic back in March.
Researchers also have shared that the two cities that hosted the World Series in 2022 earned $68 million and $78 million, respectively, from economic spending attached with their team’s individual trips to the Fall Classic.
In his post, Farley added, “The state’s impending successful hosting of a World Series, following a Super Bowl and during an ongoing recovery for the state’s conventions and tourism, is another opportunity to celebrate its success in cultivating a robust and diverse local economy – including young and healthy infrastructure, a large and perennial tourism industry, and an innovative approach to taxes and regulations that supports business development.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Oct 24, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The term “family friendly” has come to include public displays of genitalia, according to the Phoenix Mayor’s take on the latest city-sponsored Pride Festival over the weekend.
Gays Against Groomers, an activist group against promoting LGBTQ+ ideology in children, posted about the inflatable penis costume’s inclusion in the Pride Festival parade. The organization also reported individuals in the nude and in fetish costumes, along with the public display of “condom bars.”
However, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego apparently took no issue with the displays of the parade or festival at large.
“Phoenix Pride never disappoints!” said Gallego. “Phoenix is a city that values our LGBTQ+ community, and that’s not changing while I’m mayor!”
Gallego also issued a proclamation declaring a weekend-long festivity of Pride and urged all to celebrate.
“We want to be a city that supports everyone, and I am so pleased to have a great city council that is right there with me,” said Gallego. “I’m going to ask the entire city of Phoenix to celebrate Pride this weekend.”
Gallego’s proclamation appears to conflict with city policy, which states that mayoral proclamations “must not take sides in matters of political, ideological, or religious controversy, or individual convictions.”
The city also served as the Grand Marshal of the parade. Councilmembers Laura Pastor and Debra Stark represented the city’s Fast-Track Cities initiative, which seeks to eliminate HIV/AIDS and discrimination against the sexually-transmitted disease.
Also present and supportive of the festival were Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Gov. Katie Hobbs.
“Phoenix Pride is a powerful reminder that love unites us all,” said Hobbs in an X post (formerly known as Twitter).
Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity (SUEI), a coalition of parents and community members, accused educators promoting Pride materials of sexualizing children under the guise of inclusivity.
“Teachers who are pushing sexual content in schools and hanging pride flags in classrooms are not ‘inclusive.’ They are sexualizing children,” stated SUEI.
One of the other main festival events was the Erotic World tent; unlike the parade, that event was marketed as closed to adults.
One of the festival sponsors was Castle Megastore, the Tempe-based sex toy store chain.
Other sponsors of the Pride Festival included Albertsons and Safeway, Amazon, APS, The Arizona Republic, the Arizona Lottery, Bank of America, Banner Health, BlueCross BlueShield Arizona, Bud Light, Circle K, Coca-Cola, Corona, Cox, CVS, Discover, DriveTime, Edward Jones, El Jimador Tequila, GoDaddy, Greater Phoenix Equality Chamber of Commerce, Intel, Jack Daniels, Leslie’s pool service, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Nascar, Nationwide, PetSmart, Phoenix New Times, Phoenix Suns, ShakeShack, Snooze, SRP, Starbucks, Target, Univision Arizona, Walmart, and Waymo.
Gilbert’s fire and police departments also made an appearance at this year’s Pride Festival parade, despite controversy last year over whether they misused taxpayer funds to attend last year’s parade.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Oct 13, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The city of Phoenix will supplement its drinking water supply using recycled wastewater as early as 2030.
Last week, the city approved the expenditure of over $30.4 million to reopen the Cave Creek Water Reclamation Plant (CCWRP) that closed in 2009 amid the Great Recession. In all, construction of the plant is projected to exceed $300 million.
The Black & Veatch Corporation (BV) will oversee construction of the CCWRP. Upon its completion, the plant will treat eight million gallons of wastewater daily.
BV is a global construction company specializing in energy, water, telecommunications, and government services headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, with self-reported U.S. revenues of over $4.25 billion last year.
The EPA defines the process of deriving drinking water from treated wastewater as “potable water reuse.”
Phoenix trails behind the city of Scottsdale, which has been the only facility in the state permitted for a pilot program of recycling wastewater into drinking water since 2018. Scottsdale Water Executive Director Brian Biesemeyer said that wastewater recycled into drinking water could hit Scottsdale homes as early as 2025.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is anticipated to propose rulemaking on drinkable, recycled wastewater by the end of this year.
The state of California announced earlier this summer that it planned to establish wastewater recycling systems to reclaim wastewater as drinking water, known as direct potable reuse. Currently, California puts recycled wastewater into an underground aquifer that naturally filters and purifies the water, known as indirect potable reuse.
The CCWRP officially closed due to slow population growth in the surrounding area, after beginning operations in 2002.
The city gave BV $660,000 in July 2017 to conduct a Phase I Feasibility Study to identify design limitations, alternatives for improved performance, and opportunities for reducing operational costs.
In December 2019, following completion of the study, the city gave BV an additional award ceiling of up to $25 million for additional engineering services for CCWRP. This included construction documents, construction administration, and inspection services.
By February 2020, the city gave BV over $12.3 million for the study, additional engineering services, as well as another expanded scope of services, as part of Phase II of the CCWRP.
This $30.4 million to BV falls within their Phase III plans for the CCWRP.
Last November, the city approved an additional $5 million for BW’s services.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Sep 24, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona’s Republican legislative leaders are wading into another legal fight.
Earlier this week, Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in City of Grants Pass v. Gloria Johnson and John Logan. According to the legislators, the case involves “three homeless individuals in Grants Pass (who) filed this lawsuit to try to stop local and state governments from combating the public safety threats, the public health dangers, and the inhumane conditions associated with these homeless encampments.”
The city has received unfavorable opinions from the federal courts at both the district and appeals (Ninth Circuit) levels, leading to the appeal to the nation’s high court.
In their brief, Petersen and Toma assert that “the Legislature also has a pressing interest in homelessness because it confronts the realities of America’s homelessness crisis every day, including only a few blocks from the state capitol complex. Phoenix, Arizona, is home to one of the nation’s largest homeless encampments, commonly known as ‘The Zone.’ With hundreds of homeless residents, The Zone is a place of intense poverty, frequent crime (including multiple homicides), social instability, and poor living standards.”
The lawmakers opined that “the Ninth Circuit decided it was better at making policy than elected state legislatures and city councils.” They argued that the opinion from the Ninth Circuit “injects the federal courts into a policymaking area reserved for state and local lawmakers, entrenches a plainly incorrect and deeply damaging construction of the Eighth Amendment, and improperly interferes with state and local policymaking on the critically important issue of homelessness.”
President Petersen issued a statement in conjunction with his announcement, saying, “We’re talking about a humanitarian crisis that continues to spiral out of control in our state, thanks to bad court rulings, judicial overreach, and a litany of vetoes by the Governor. Lives and livelihoods are lost every single day that we continue to allow homeless encampments to grow in our communities. We must have clarity from the U.S. Supreme Court in order to holistically address the systemic issues contributing to homelessness, as well as the dire public safety and public health consequences created by allowing these encampments to remain. Once again, the Attorney General is absent, but the Speaker and I are committed to engaging for the betterment of Arizona.”
Senator John Kavanagh added, “Many of the street homeless population are seriously mentally ill, drug addicted or both. It is unconscionable that these vulnerable people are being allowed to live in squalid circumstances on the street where they may abuse drugs and become crime victims. This situation is a result of federal court rulings that some say prohibit the police from enforcing street camping bans even when shelter can be provided to the homeless person. It is imperative that the Supreme Court clarify lower court rulings, so that if homeless persons are offered shelter and refuse, they can be removed from the street by the police.”
One of Arizona’s newest legislators also weighed in on the issue and filing of the brief. Senator Shawnna Bolick said, “Homelessness is one of the top issues impacting Legislative District 2, putting law enforcement and private property owners into the direct fray due to the lack of leadership at Phoenix City Hall. My constituents want safe neighborhoods, not ones littered with used needles and drug paraphernalia often left overnight for their kids to encounter on the way to the bus stop to get to school. There are quite a few civil society groups stepping up, but it’s not enough. I hope the USSC does the right thing. Government exists for public safety, and Arizona’s Governor along with the Phoenix Mayor are failing their citizens.”
The General Counsel for the Arizona House Republicans, Linley Wilson, pointed to a recent post from California Governor Gavin Newsom about the issue of federal courts inserting caselaw into “local efforts to clear street encampments,” stating, “This humanitarian crisis is not a partisan issue. The 9th Circuit’s opinions harm the homeless and the Legislature’s ability to craft effective policies.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
