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Wednesday, January 5, 2022
A VOLUNTEER'S VOLUNTEER
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MEGA PLAYGROUND
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OVID-19 levels are as high, if not higher, than a year ago. Two of Ahwatukee’s golf courses are still closed. And home affordability remains elusive for many people as inventory remains low and prices continue to rise. Did someone say we have a new year? While many of the headaches and near crises of 2021 don’t seem to have budged an inch as Ahwatukee settles into 2022, there are a few bright spots on the horizon – though maybe many might still want a time machine.
Perhaps one of the brighter developments on the horizon is detailed in today’s AFN Opinion page by Arizona Department of Transportation Director John Halikowski, who announces that work on the I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project between Baseline Road and Chandler Boulevard will be completed this year – not by 2024 as originally planned. Of course, it’s not all roses for anyone who uses the I-10/US 60 interchange, travels beyond Baseline Road to get to work or those who use Phoenix International Sky Harbor Airport. Even Halikowski admits the project will “be
Inflation, worker shortages grip restaurants here BY SARA EDWARDS Cronkite News
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EXPO STARS
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The year ahead: Not quite same old, same old BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
AHWATUKEE.COM
| S P O RT S P. 37 | G E TO U T P. 42 | C L A S S I F I E D P. 49
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hip Mahoney, owner of Wicked Brews, Bites & Spirits in Ahwatukee, hasn’t had enough silverware since September. Normally, silverware is washed and folded into cloth napkins at the end of worker shifts but, instead, he spends his days driving to shops and supply stores hoping to find silverware and other supplies for the restaurant while staff washes and folds even during busy hours. “I’m driving around getting nowhere and wasting my day,” he said. “That’s not how I want to run my business – driving around the Valley looking for products that I need to run my business.” Wicked Brews celebrated its first anniversary in November, first opening its doors when pandemic dining
highly impactful in other areas of I-10, the US 60 Superstition Freeway and State Route 142. That’s because ADOT is radically altering the busiest route in Arizona with additional lanes, a new Broadway Road overpass, a total realignment of the US 60-I-10 West interchange, a realignment of the intersection of State Route 143 and I-10 and other work. While ADOT said it is trying to minimize traffic interruptions and detours with overnight and weekend work, officials admit disruptions in everyday rush hour travel will be
Showing wood's beauty
Phoenix Fire Engineer Joe Duffy of Ahwatukee displays his carvedwood topographical outline of Arizona, his work reflecting the state’s undulating peaks and valleys. It’s one of many pieces he’s designed as The Handy Fireman in his garage. For a look at how he’s turned his mastery of wood into a small business, see page 29. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)
see RESTAURANTS page 12
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see PREVIEW page 16