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BABY NEEDS HELP
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
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OUTCASTS NO MORE
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ADOT to begin preparing motorists for a helluva ride BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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@AhwatukeeFN |
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tarting next week, billboards, social media and television and print media will carry messages urging thousands of motorists, especially in Ahwatukee and the East Valley, to prepare for four years of disruptions in their driving routines. It’s not exactly Armageddon that the Arizona Department of Transportation will be heralding. But it won’t be a walk in the park, especially for car and truck traffic on I-10. And even if you don’t use I-10, you can expect significant increases in traffic along all the freeways in the East Valley and even major arterials as motorists try to evade the inevitable tie-ups that
will be caused by the I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project. “There’s no way to sugarcoat it,” said ADOT spokeswoman Kim Noetzel, who as an Ahwatukee resident herself is bracing for the project. “It’s going to be impactful.” Seven years in the planning, the work is ready to begin as crews scrape the asphalt along 11 miles of Interstate 10 between the junction of the San Tan and South Mountain freeways and I-17 near Phoenix
see ADOT page 3
This chart illustrates the components of the I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project, a four-year effort to improve safety and efficiency for tens of thousands of Valley motorists. (ADOT)
Ahwatukee’s signature holiday party unlikely to ever return . 35
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BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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hwatukee families that enjoyed the annual Festival of Lights Kick-Off Party the Saturday after Thanksgiving and its row of dozens of vendors, two stages of holiday entertainment, bounce houses and Santa, the lighted motorcycle parade and other activities should cherish their memories. There won’t be another. For the second consecutive year, the FOL Kick-Off Party is canceled altogether. And if it ever returns, it won’t be anywhere near the grand day-long event that had be-
come a centerpiece of the long holiday weekend in Ahwatukee for 24 years and attracted as many as 20,000 people. Rising costs – mainly in the form of city permits and regulations – and the daunting task of assembling 500 volunteers have taken their toll, forcing the all-volunteer Festival of Lights Committee to pretty much punt on the holiday extravaganza. In fact, the whole reason for even having the party – paying for the million holiday lights display along the medians of Chandler Boulevard between 24th Street and Desert Foothills Parkway – won’t even be the FOL Committee’s responsibility anymore. It’s turned the opera-
tion – and cost – of the display over to the Foothills HOA. In some ways, the reasons for the Kick-Off Party’s demise echoes some of the reasons why another decades-long tradition in the community – the Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce’s Independence Day party and fireworks display – disappeared after 2016. “Fundraising was becoming harder and harder with pushback from places like the city and the state making requirements and guidelines harder and harder to comply with,” said FOL Committee President Raphael Isaac,
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see LIGHTS page 4