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Wednesday, March 30, 2022
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Pair battles City Hall over Desert Foothills pickleball BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
P
hoenix City Manager Jeff Barton’s preliminary capital budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 calls for $2.14 billion in spending on roads, parks, sewers and water facilities and other projects big and small. Ahwatukee residents Jill Ostendorp and Carrie McNeish just want a little piece of that. For nearly a year, they’ve lobbied the city Parks and Recreation Department to commit
to completing never-finished Desert Foothills Park by installing eight pickleball courts. And for nearly a year, the department has been beating them back, putting them through a series of hoops that never seems to end and never gets them much past square one. But with 2022-23 budget hearings about to begin this weekend, Ostendorp and McNeish are rallying Ahwatukee residents to sign up to address Council. While the hearing at 5:30 p.m. next Tuesday, April 5, is specifically set for residents of Dis-
Deadline next Spooky serenade week for Kiwanis Easter Parade
trict 6, which covers Ahwatukee, they’re urging supporters of the pickleball courts to sign up to phone into as many hearings as possible to move their project onto a drawing board. “We are attending all the Phoenix city budget meetings and asking them to propose and vote to move forward on our project for new pickleball courts and a parking lot,” Ostendorp said. “We are still collecting names of supporters and hope to get to 1,000. In addition, we
see BUDGET page 15
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
I
f your organization, church group or company wants to stroll down South 48th Street on April 16 with more than four dozen other entities, you only have eight more days to register. And if you miss out on marching in the 46th annual Kiwanis Ahwatukee Easter Parade, cheer up: you’ll still have a front row seat anywhere along 48th from Warner Road north to Cheyenne Drive the day before Easter to watch the return of Arizona’s largest Easter parade after the pandemic stole one of Ahwatukee’s most iconic community events for two years. Entries must be submitted by April 7 and you’ll have to plan on taking a lawn chair or blanket to sit on the curb. You can find the form at ahwatukeekiwanis,org and if you have
see EASTER page 21
“The Ancestors," A.K.A. "Dancestors," loom over seated Kylie Stinson, left, as Morticia Addam, and Layla Hamilton as Alice Beineke as the Mountain Pointe Theatre Company rehearses for this weekend’s presentation of “The Addams Family.” It’s a particularly special production, as you’ll read on Page 23. (David Minton AFN Staff Photographer)
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