Light Rail Fail
Construction wreaks havoc in South Central Phoenix
The theoretical became reality in South Phoenix, as a beloved coffee shop and community hub closed its doors. We knew the light rail extension south of downtown would harm local businesses along the 5.5 mile stretch of Central Avenue. The actual stories will be heartbreaking.
On Instagram last week, the owner of Azukar Coffee lamented, “we cannot bear to see our community in shambles with construction.”
Arizona Mirror reporter Laura Gómez Rodriguez wrote an excellent piece in 2019 about the local business opposition to the rail project. She described the Central corridor as South Phoenix’s “main artery.”
Business owners in that piece expressed frustration with Valley Metro regarding what they called a lack of transparency. They wanted to keep four lanes of traffic flowing through this main artery, to preserve the cultural and economic lifeblood of the area.
Currently there are two lanes, if you can navigate the maze of cones, barricades and signs.
City leaders claim that, in the long-term, the light rail will provide not only a critical means of public transportation, connecting South Phoenix to other parts of town, but also bring an economic jolt as new development is attracted to the rail line.
Opposition to the rail extension was a weird political coalition of southside businesses and Koch brother money — libertarians being generally against rail funding. Because of the libertarian money, proponents of the light rail easily dismissed the local opposition as being inauthentic.
When it came time for voting, for the final time, on the rail extension, Phoenix voters overwhelmingly rejected Prop 105, which would have halted the construction.
The only precincts who voted in favor of stopping the extension were the ones living in the South Central corridor, according to an analysis by Evan Wyloge in the Arizona Mirror.
One of the snags of Prop 105 was that it would have halted all rail extensions in the entire city. Such was the ballot language designed by South Phoenix’s erstwhile allies.
Prop 105 failed. The road construction will continue for years on end. In the process, many local businesses will meet the fate of Azukar.
If I knew anything about construction, I might complain about the logistics of the project. Is it really necessary to tear up an entire five mile stretch of road in the first few months of a four-year project?
Probably. The construction is proceeding on the same timeframe as previous sections, like the line that cuts through Central Avenue going north from downtown.
Still, you can’t look at this road — the main economic and cultural artery of South Phoenix — getting torn up in this fashion and not feel for the people who never wanted it built in the first place.
At least the rail cutting through the north side of Central Avenue retains four lanes of car traffic. On the south side, there will only be two.
The loss of Azukar Coffee affects me personally. First of all because I loved their iced horchata café, but also because a few of my students worked at the coffee shop. What a cool experience for a young person to work at such a vibrant community hub. It was a place where you might see a city council member talking with a constituent, or a group of artists making new designs.
A business like that is irreplaceable, but the owners and customers are still around. Here’s hoping something positive emerges yet from these ashes.
Related Posts from Cholla Express
Light Rails, Trains, Street Cars, and Automobiles: How light rail became the public transportation project of our era, for better or worse. And a historical overview of transportation in Arizona. The cover picture is probably my favorite Cholla Express picture.
Rising Tides in South Phoenix: What will unfold over time? This piece addresses the hopes and fears surrounding gentrification in South Phoenix.
#MaskUpAZ
At the beginning of the pandemic I wore a mask religiously, when indoors within six feet of people other than family, upon recommendation by health officials. I even wore a mask in my Twitter avatar, for whatever that was worth, in order to show the world I thought mask-wearing was a good idea.
At the time, it was the only preventative measure we had. The goal was to slow the spread and keep our hospitals from overflowing. Social distancing and masking were the only ways to protect vulnerable people.
Things have changed. I signed up for a vaccine at the first opportunity because I wanted to socialize with other people without masking or distancing or worrying.
The most vulnerable among us now have free access to a vaccine that is highly effective at saving lives. The vaccine’s effectiveness at preventing bad outcomes applies to the new variant as well.
This great news is hampered by irrational fears. Of the vaccine, and of the virus.
I know we’re going to have natural disagreements over risk-tolerance. I understand the desire for mandatory masking, especially during a Covid spike. I think public schools should have the power to implement mask mandates, especially in Arizona where school choice is abundant.
My concern is that things seem to be getting out of hand, and I’m not just talking about the dude in Tucson who showed up with zip ties to confront a principal.
Last week, a teacher wrote an Op-Ed in the Arizona Republic bashing his administrators for not masking in the hallways:
On Friday, I witnessed one of our top administrators walking in the hallways without wearing a mask. Today, I witnessed a second top administrator, in our main hallway where more than 4,100 students walk daily, without a mask.
I assume the hallways were empty at the time, otherwise this teacher — judging by the tone of the article — surely would have mentioned the hallways to be full of students during the infraction.
This teacher’s message is that school administrators should be role models for mask-wearing. He calls for his school to implement a number of additional preventative measures, including requiring face masks “at all times” for faculty and staff.
Of course, this teacher’s fears about Covid are entirely valid. Everyone’s feelings are valid — they are feelings, and we don’t really have control over those.
Let’s take a step back for a minute though.
The original CDC guidance, after the vaccines rolled out, was to recommend masking only for the unvaccinated. The change back to masks-for-everyone caused controversy because the only metric informing the change seemed to be that not enough people were getting vaccinated.
Bret Baier (one of the two people, along with Chris Wallace, who I will watch on Fox News) interviewed CDC director Rochelle Walensky in late July, and asked a point blank question: “Are the vaccinated people wearing masks to protect the unvaccinated people?”
The answer is long-winded, but as best I can tell, the answer is “yes.”
Listening to Walensky’s answers about health risks in schools, her logic follows that mask recommendations in schools are not primarily to protect children, who are at low risk of bad outcomes from Covid, but to protect unvaccinated adults in the community at large.
Now, of course nobody wants to get sick, and nobody wants kids to get sick — whether from Covid, or the flu, or chickenpox, or anything else. We always want to take reasonable measures to prevent illness. Most kids these days don’t get chickenpox because they take the chickenpox vaccine. We teach kids to wash their hands, and we keep them home when sick so they can recover and not infect other kids.
My concern is that face masks are turning into a default setting so long as it remains statistically possible to catch Covid. We’re in a spike in cases right now. But last spring, when cases were low, Gov. Ducey lifted the statewide school mask mandates and allowed local schools to decide their own policies. The outcry was swift. Some folks kept demanding a statewide mask mandate even at a low point in the curve.
Again, I’m not denying the effectiveness of masks as a layer of protection. I’m willing to mask up during a spike in Covid — even if the main reason is to protect the lives of people who are unwilling to get vaccinated.
But at what point do we tell kids they don’t have to be afraid anymore?
What is the metric that tells us it’s OK to walk maskless in an empty hallway without someone writing a newspaper article about it?
For some, the answer is “only when it’s safe” which seems to mean “never.”
Links and News
Will this be enough to end the mask mandates? Phoenix Union offers free on-campus and at-home COVID testing, via KTAR.
Some parents are urging Arizona charter schools to implement mask mandates, according to the Arizona Republic. The charter chain Great Hearts is responding by referring these parents to their online schooling option.
As I was finalizing this issue, Laura Gómez published a detailed piece in the Mirror on the Azukar closure. The piece includes economic stats and the impact of the Small Business Financial Assistance Program. She reports that 22 businesses along the South Central corridor have shut down in the past year.
Salt River Project wants to expand natural gas production to help keep up with power demands in the Valley. The new project is slated to be built in Coolidge.
Jesus with scales: Snake at Phoenix Zoo gives birth without male partner
Somewhere in the Arizona desert, a few years ago.