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March 7 - 21, 2015
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Feb. 6 - Feb. 19, 2016 www.SanTanSun.com
‘Angel Bike’ remembers the American dreams of a Brazilian athlete Campoy said Raul normally trained at a gym. “But for some reason that day, he decided to train on the road. He was on the third loop and almost done when he was hit,” Campoy said. Campoy, who met Lacerda through mutual acquaintances at ASU, remembered his friend as “always having a big smile, and happy with the way things were going.” But it wasn’t enough just to recall Lacerda’s smile. Campoy needed to remember his friend in a more permanent way. So when Cooper suggested placing an “Angel Bike” near the site of the tragedy, Campoy and his wife, Daniella, pitched in to help make it happen. “We wanted to make sure we would remember our friend doing something he loved, riding his bike. And we also wanted to remind people that this was not the first time, and it won’t be the last time, that a drunk driver has taken a life.” The Angel Bike is an ordinary bike that Cooper painted white, “the color of peace,” as Campoy puts it. “We put Raul’s water bottle with the Angel Bike, and some flowers,” Campoy said. One other special memento of Lacerda’s life is attached to the bike: a poem. “The night before he died, Raul wrote
BY KENNETH LAFAVE
Raul Lacerda moved to the Valley from Brazil three and a half years ago, partly for safety reasons. As a triathlete, he spent hours a day on his bike, but the streets of his home city, Curitiba, were notoriously dangerous for bicyclists. When he and his wife, Angela, decided to move to the United States, the Valley was a natural choice, because Angela had attended ASU 20 years earlier. Lacerda was hit by a car and killed at 9:55 a.m. Jan. 14, while training on his bike on Queen Creek Road between Price Road and the I-10. Gila River Police arrested Scott Winterbauer the day of the incident and charged him with manslaughter, aggravated assault, endangerment and driving under the influence (DUI). “How tragic this is, with all the dreams Raul had,” said Eduardo Campoy, Lacerda’s best friend. “He had a dream to get his green card and learn English and start a business,” Campoy said. Lacerda, Angela and their son, Luccas, moved to Chandler on student visas. A daughter, Georgia, stayed in Curitiba to continue in school. Steve Cooper, another friend and a fellow triathlete, remembered Raul as “humble, even though he was a far superior triathlete than most of us. He never looked down on anyone and he supported all of us.”
Eduardo and Daniella Campoy with the “Angel Bike” in memory of their friend, killed by a drunken driver. STSN photo by Tim Sealy
see ANGEL
BIKE page 4
Adaptive Reuse Program plans to School district unveils another breathe new life to older buildings good report during annual meeting BY SRIANTHI PERERA
With downtown Chandler offering increasingly limited space for new businesses, the City is looking to its older buildings for recourse. And, rather than tear them down to make way for new structures, they are to be revamped. The City has adopted an Adaptive Reuse Program, which offers relaxed standards to buildings that were constructed prior to the 1990s, are less than 15,000 square feet in size and/or on a lot size 30,000 square feet or less and are situated in commercially zoned properties. These buildings are to receive more flexibility when applying regulations such as setbacks, parking, mechanical screening
and landscaping, according to the City’s Economic Development Program Manager, James Smith. “The idea behind the plan is to facilitate the redevelopment of underutilized buildings,” stated Mayor Jay Tibshraeny via e-mail. “By relaxing some of the challenges developers often face with older structures, we can spur investment in empty and underperforming buildings.” The areas coming under the plan, known as the Adaptive Reuse Overlay District, are Pecos to Warner roads along Arizona Avenue and parts of Chandler Boulevard between Alma School and McQueen roads. City Planner Kevin Mayo, who examined the area, found 80 percent of see ADAPTIVE page 5
SanTan
FAMILY FUN
BY SRIANTHI PERERA
Chandler United School District has an excellent report card that it wants to show to the community. During its recent presentation of the 2016 Annual Report to an audience of school and City personnel, as well as officials from the surrounding communities, Superintendent Dr. Camille Casteel made an appeal. “If you can help us promote Chandler schools, we think we have provided a good product for you to do that,” she said. “We would love the opportunity.” Based on data from Niche rankings, a website that analyzes and rates public schools and districts, CUSD ranks No. 1 in Arizona, with two individual schools, Chandler Preparatory Academy and BASIS of Scottsdale, ranking higher than the district. The district received this ranking for the
second year in a row. Among a host of other accolades, the CUSD boasts 24 National Merit finalists for 2015, a distinction that places these students in the top 2 percent of students in the nation. Niche gives a ranking of 399 to CUSD in comparison with school districts in every state in the nation. Officials said that it has a lofty goal of achieving recognition as the No. 1 public school district in the nation. To that end, it has drawn up a long term strategic plan it calls Journey 2020. To progress toward the goal, student numbers should rise steadily. Enrollment stands at 43,111. “What we try to demonstrate is that we are a district of extraordinary ability, we are the district of choice and we try to rebrand ourselves to a district of choice where we can meet every parent’s dreams and desires, as see REPORT page 4
F E AT U R E STO R I E S
Check out our Family Fun Section! You will not want to miss any of the fun events listed on Family Fun calendar this month.
Explorers’ Tactical Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . community . . . . . . . . . Page 13 LGE Design Build completes construction on Crown Castle . . . business . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 23 Hamilton student to participate in Washington Week . . . youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 30 Outward Bound—Break Time on stands now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . neighbors . . . . . . . . . . Page 54 Dmitri Matheny’s releases ‘Jazz Noir’ at party in Phoenix . . . . . . . . . arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 60
SANTAN FAMILY FUN . . . . . . . . . . . . Center Section
More Community . . . . . . . 1-19 Business . . . . . . . . 20-27 Youth . . . . . . . . . . 28-36 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Neighbors . . . . . . 46-57 Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . 58-67 Spirituality . . . . 68-70 Directory . . . . . . . 71-72 Classifieds . . . . . . 73-74 Where to eat . . . 75-78